How Apapa gridlock, IMO elections, boat mishaps, piracy headlined 2019

INLAND WATERWAYS

2019 began with the commissioning of the Baro river port by President Muhammadu Buhari in January, thereby raising hopes that the nation’s inland waterways was set to come of age.

According to a statement signed in January by the NIWA spokesman, Tayo Fadile, President Buhari expressed personal attachment to the Baro river port because he assisted in the design of the port complex as Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).

“The Baro port will enhance intermodal transportation connectivity in Nigeria. My administration will do more if re-elected into office, especially in the rehabilitation of roads leading into the port,” President Buhari had stated.

However, eleven months down the line, the nation’s inland waterways have remained riddled with incessant boat mishaps that have claimed so many lives, even as the various river ports in Baro, Onitsha, Lokoja remained unutilised despite claims of completion and commissioning by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

 

APAPA GRIDLOCK

Another issue that headlined 2019 is the persistent traffic snarl now known as ‘Apapa gridlock’. With Apapa gridlock came congestion at the ports, and by the close of 2019 Q1, two shipping companies, CMA-CGM and Hapag Lloyd had issued electronic statements announcing the increment in their freight rate with the introduction of what they called ‘Peak Season Surcharge’ (PSS) on all cargoes originating from anywhere in the world to Tin-Can, Apapa ports in Lagos and Onne port in Rivers State.

With congestion issues rocking Nigerian seaports, Netherlands leading consulting firm, Dynamar, by March of 2019, announced the Port of Lomé (PAL) in Togo as the new hub port within the West African sub-region. According to Dynamar, PAL rapidly expanded from 311,500 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers in 2013 to 1,193,800 TEU in 2017, thereby overtaking Lagos Port Complex due to congestion issues hampering the Nigerian port.

Worried over the lack of competitiveness of Nigerian seaports following the persistent traffic snarl around the port access roads, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in May of 2019 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a logistics and marine transportation firm, AP Moller Capital to seek for alternative means of cargo evacuation by barges at the ports..

The MoU between the NPA and AP Moller Capital ushered in the rush by other operators to participate in the movement of cargoes by barges, and by November of 2019, NIWA had raised the alarm of containers falling into the Lagos lagoon due to substandard barges and tug boats being deployed by operators participating in the cargo evacuation by barges operation.

Still bothered that the persistent traffic snarl rocking Nigerian port has not abated, the NPA in April of 2019, revoked the long-standing agreement it had with APM Terminals over the Lillypond Terminal otherwise called the Ijora terminal, and converted the facility into a truck park.

By May of 2019, all efforts to get the trucks off the ports access roads had failed, and the Presidency had to wade in with a 72hours ultimatum for trucks to leave the roads or face forceful evacuation. On the 26th of May, 2019, the Presidential Task Force on Apapa gridlock headed by Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo forcibly towed away non-compliant articulated vehicles parked on Lagos ports access roads to various centres of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) following their refusal to vacate the roads despite a 72hours order by President Mohammadu Buhari that they all vacate the roads leading to the ports.

Months after the forceful evacuation, the trucks are back on the port access roads and still constitute a major hindrance to Nigeria’s port competitiveness.

 

MARITIME INSECURITY

The issue of maritime insecurity leading to kidnap for ransom cases in the Gulf Of Guinea (GoG) was a major concern for Nigeria, thus in May 2019, the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi announced that the nation’s Israeli partner, Messrs HLSI Security Systems and Technologies would begin the deployment of anti-piracy equipment in the nation’s waters by June 2019.

However, months after that statement from the Minister of Transportation, the nation’s waters are yet to witness the deployment of anti-piracy equipment thereby leading to different piracy attacks on vessels in Nigerian waters, with most recent being the kidnap of 19 crew aboard a super tanker Nave Constellation in Bonny waters.

By the close of 2019 Q3, the International Chamber of Commerce of the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) also revealed that Lagos waters recorded the highest piracy attacks, recording 11 attacks in all; the highest number for any port world over.

Currently, the $195m security contract signed with HLSI Security Systems and Technologies is a subject of investigation by the National Assembly, leading to fears that insecurity might persist on Nigerian waters. In the words of the President of the Nigerian Ship-owners Association (NISA), Aminu Umar, “Bonny anchorage remains the hotbed of maritime insecurity in Nigerian waters, and no vessel dare roam around that area once it is nightfall.”

 

IMO ELECTIONS

For international maritime politics, Nigeria was primed for a return to the Category C seat of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and much was expected at the IMO elections which held in November of 2019.

Ahead of the IMO elections in November, Nigeria, through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in October 2019 hosted 38 Navies and 27 Coast Guards from different countries of the world at a Global Maritime Security Conference (GMSC) held in Abuja, Nigeria.

The confab was held ahead of the IMO elections in order to showcase to the world Nigeria’s effort at combating maritime insecurity and its related crimes. However, Nigeria would lose out to Kenya by a single vote at the IMO elections, thereby denying the country her quest of returning to the elite group of maritime nations when it comes to IMO policy formulation.

Though the country missed its bid for membership of the Governing Council, IMO’s highest decision making organ, Nigeria’s performance was a remarkable improvement from 2017, when it lost by 12 votes. Nigeria polled 110 votes to come 21st, one short of the 111 polled by Kenya, which came 20th, the cut-off point for Category C membership of the Council.

 

MARITIME EDUCATION

It was mixed feelings in the area of maritime education in 2019 because while the nation’s foremost maritime academy benefited from a reform agenda, her maritime university struggled with Presidential accent that threatened its foremost existent and survival.

The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), in Oron, Akwa Ibom State fared well with a refocused and re-orientation of its curricular activities. The institution which had been bedeviled by successive maladministration in recent past, benefited from a reform spearheaded by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and implemented by its Rector, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (rtd).

Amongst the turn around that hit the maritime academy were the rebuilding of the institutions Survival pool, a modern computerized centre, completion of the Academy’s Auditorium and collaboration with the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) in the area of sea time for cadets, amongst others milestone.

The decision to reduce cadet intakes of the maritime academy rejuvenated the learning culture inside the institution as the era of overcrowded hostels and classrooms became a thing of the past.

While the maritime academy made headlines for all the right reasons, the nation’s first maritime university, the Nigeria Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State struggled in its bid for relevance as President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to the bill seeking for its establishment.

In the words of the President, “I am declining my assent to the bill establishing the Nigeria Maritime University because the funding provisions are grossly excessive and will disrupt the operation of a number of government agencies and institutions.”