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As Nigeria looks forward to the first anniversary of full-blown privatization of her sea ports to private terminal operators, echoes of the ground-breaking economic reform exercise seem hardly settled. Critical stakeholders have continued to insist that many grey areas still exist while much is left undone to fully fine-tune emergent issues along the line in order to tap the benefits of this policy for the advantage of the ordinary Nigerian. One of them is Tony Cookey Iroegbu, an Apapa-based marine engineer and expert in remote sensing. To this helmsman of Marine Logistics Surveys Ltd, Lagos, port concessioning as a policy is good but sufficient care must be taken by the Nigerian authorities early enough to progressively sort out policy issues hitherto neglected even as the system takes root. Why? This is to integrate Nigerians into the system thereby forestalling a replication of the situation in the oil and gas sector where government and the oil majors have lately realized the need to carry indigenous expertise along even as the harm is already done. Remember the local content policy through which the authorities now want to give some regard to indigenous input and expertise, a system that should have been installed ab initio? Iroegbu, among other serious issues, predicts massive agitations and restiveness by Nigerians against the domineering disposition of the port concessionaires themselves who have already denied them opportunity to become integrated into the system now. He also visited the merger of former National Maritime Authority, NMA, and the Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council, JOMALIC, to form NAMASA. What is the rationale? What are the issues involved? He was fielding questions from D&E.
For about a year now, Nigerian ports have remained concessioned to private terminal operators. As a critical stakeholder in maritime logistics, is Nigeria near achieving the aims and objectives behind the concessioning?
Concessioning the ports by the government is a purely economic decision and in an economic decision, cost is considered as well as profit. But why did government go into concessioning? One reason is professionalism; two, to improve on vessel turnaround time in Nigeria. We were known with vessels staying much more than is necessary when you compare with any other port in the world. Government didn't feel good about that. And then, security in the ports: our ports were porous. Not only that, vandalization of goods, pilfering were predominantly practised in the ports. Cargo management: it is becoming more of a hi - tech thing. Concessioning has its numerous advantages but right inside those advantages are embedded some disadvantages too. It is the ability of the government to manage those little disadvantages that must appear as you practise concessioning. If you manage them well, that is only when you can say that concessioning has become a great success. But if you mismanage them, in the next 30 -40 years we will be talking about port colonization. It will become a system that will fight against the government and you can liken it to what is happening in the oil industry where locals are becoming agitated everyday. What are they looking for? Participation. You can't run away from it. The only thing is that it is the responsibility of government to make sure that those little disadvantages that may come out of the huge advantages of concessioning will be taken care of and turned into a better advantage. It can be done because they are tractable.
The advantages…?
When we talk about professionalism, it means, in the maritime industry, competence and who is the regulator of competence in the world? It is still the same European country. Look, the ship comes from there; there are no ship construction industries here. The cargo or goods you buy come from them. And then, the management of the ports has now fallen into the same hands. And there is always a room for the regularization of your competence.
System change because you can see now: from the old order to a new semi hi - tech system, to a hi - tech system now like is found in Malta or Singapore. We are getting to that level now if you see what the concessionaires are doing in the ports- refurbishing, reforming and reconstructing the ports. Who are the Nigerians understudying this system that are being put in place? What competence can your local professionals boast of? That's what we are talking about. It is the place of government, maybe NAMSA, to take up professional training of maritime operators. If you leave it to those foreign investors, they have their own national interest to protect. As long as they can remain managing the ports, make their money, go back to their country, there is no problem. But then, regard it this way: if NAMASA invests in human capital, human resources system, Nigerians will come out to get the same qualification that is globally accepted for you to be called a maritime professional, then you can come in. When you present your certificate of competence, then it will be acceptable. The man will have no option than to take you in and then you learn. That is the only way concessioning can benefit the locals, else the foreigners will…. (continue to dominate).
There is a small disadvantage there. Government can harness it and turn it into a huge success further and concessioning can be said to be a success.
Turnaround time.
When you come to turnaround time, we are talking about a vessel coming in, her cargo systems put in place, the port cargo reception systems are put in place; within a short time, the whole cargoes are discharged and the vessel leaves the port. In this, you require the same professionals. Your men should be the ones doing all that pertains to cargo discharge from ships.
You mean the Nigerian people…?
Yes, because it has a great implication also. If you are carrying ammunition, toxic waste and all those things coming in, if a foreigner is handling the cargo, you may not have the opportunity to know what is coming in, where or when it is coming in. These are little things we must take care of. For a big country like Nigeria, we must be conscious of who does what, where, and when. We cannot overlook that. So, we need to be right inside the system (the port system). We may not have all it takes (like they're selling) to buy the ports. But Nigerians must have a place. Don't forget our population is exploding and as far as I am concerned, the maritime industry can employ 5% or more of the entire population of this country, not just the working group but also the total population. The maritime industry alone can take that conveniently because it is quite available.
Security:
Because we have invited the concessionaires, they have demarcated their portions; personnel movement is highly restricted and security is in full practice. If you don't have any business in their yard, they don't allow you to enter. So, now, it is evident that (wharf) "rats" won't go there. But the thing to do is, insurance should come in; most of the cargoes that come there, like the cars and other things, are not insured. That is why the security lapse is allowed. If the insurance has to pay, the security would have been in place. But now that the concessionaires are operating, you can see security has become a top priority on their list. But when it was an all-affairs ministerial port, anybody from anywhere could do what he liked.
What about Nigerian security outfits such as the Customs who are always there? Can't they be in a position to detect whatever negative importations these foreigners who are now in charge could make?
For a port operator, sincerely speaking, you can only detect what they want you to detect. As a professional, I know what I am talking about. Because I operate the port, I know where I will place you in my logistics chain; I know what should come out of the ship and come to where. Look, you don't need to carry ammunitions in containers for you to discharge them into a country. That's not what we are saying. When we talk about security, people will think it is with those boys that stay at the gate who will not allow you to enter into the port. That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about national security here which has to do with detection of any system that can sabotage our interest at any level. It is necessary we must learn to be part and parcel of the investors' requirement; else, we will be selling much more than we have sold.
Cargo management: what is the involvement?
It involves buying the cargo, getting it on board, selling the cargo, getting it to the port of discharge and discharging it and allowing the owner to 'clear' it (according to our own language locally). The European nations own the industries; they produce. Check it, all our goods here come on CIF, that is to say, Cost: you pay; Insurance: you pay and Freight: you pay. Everything is pre-paid. When they come here again, who is the port owner? It means you pay for the cost of the cargo, somebody out there insures the cargo - a foreign insurance man. A foreign ship carries the cargo. So, everything is paid out and you come here again, a foreigner is handling the freight forwarding, that is what you call clearing. So, where is the Nigerian?
What's the security implication?
It has both economic and security implication.
Security implication is that cargo can be completely concealed until it gets to its destination, unless the customs detects it and that is at the grace of the owner of the port because he knows his ways. The second thing: who are the consumers? Are they not Nigerian? Is it wrong for us to participate at least in what comes to our shores? We are not saying it is wrong for you to produce and sell. We are saying, at our ports … (let us be part of operations). Let me tell you my own experience. I went to India to take a vessel for demolition. I am qualified to take the vessel to their beach. They know I am qualified to beach that vessel but immediately I got to their port, they told me politely that is where the jobs stops (for me). They called their men to come and take over to beach the vessel. The problem is that our people feel that if you place restrictions that are economically advantageous to us, it will backfire. No, it will not! We are a growing population and that is understood even by the world. The world has given that privilege to India. Skill is what will determine the next generation and you can't sit down in school and acquire it. You have to practise. You may make your mistakes but along the line, you learn and the system throws up the very best. Don't forget that the whole system is tending to one. So, what do we do? We must allow our people to participate. Let it be regulated. Left for me, I would recommend that we institute a freight-forwarding exam. Not just the association regulating themselves. No. That is an association, a union. But there should be a regulator who oversees. You will pass your exams to be able to call yourself a chartered freight forwarder so that when you enter, you are recognized not as a person but as a professional so that you go in and do this job. Even if a foreigner has come to practise, he comes to go through the same exam. That is what obtains in their places, I have been there. You can't go to UK and be articled on- board a ship if you are not qualified by the British standard, not by any other standard you had your certification. What did they do? When the world started agitating, they placed it on the IMO (International Maritime Organisation). We are a predominantly growing and youth population. We should be careful with our policies. Concession is fantastic but they have to learn to manage these little advantages so that we can be a very huge success. So many people lose their jobs because you want to do reform. Even in the reform, there is a large stomach to contain the workforce. It is there!
Going by the way the reforms are progressing, what, in your own opinion, will the situation be like in the next 20 to 30 years if efforts are not made now to fine-tune some grey areas?
If you leave concessioning the way it is now, in the next 10 years it will backfire because the locals will agitate against non-inclusion, just like what is happening in the oil industry, which didn't start one day. People had thought then: no, these fellows (Nigerians) are not good enough to handle responsibilities. But now, government is fighting tooth and nail to bring locals into the system (that is the oil industry). But the investors are already used to doing things their own way. It's now a tripartite fight: the government is fighting, the people are fighting; the companies are fighting. So, if you don't do it this time that we are just at the embryonic stage of ports concessioning, the next 5 to 10 years, it will backfire. And then what should the government do? Look into the system and see that there are more openings that are untouched. Some are in their crude stages, like the inland waterways. These are job-spinning endowments that God has given to Nigeria. Can somebody look around and do something right for us?
Recently, two key regulatory agencies in the maritime sector, National Maritime Authority and Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council, were fused into what is now known as National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NAMASA. Was government right in this merger, going by divergent views on this exercise by stakeholders in the sector?
NAMASA, NMA, JOMALIC, or the Government Inspector of Shipping, GIS, merger or no merger, it's a question of the key personnel, human interference; policy makers or policy implementers. You can divide NAMASA into forty places; there are still people there, because the same people are carrying out the same functions. The only problem is unnecessary jurisdictional conflict. That is what the government is trying to check. I give you an example: If you check the statutes establishing former NMA, and JOMALIC, what did JOMALIC achieve; where did it fail? What did NMA achieve; where did it fail? What is the reason for the merger? Is the reason justifiable? JOMALIC was getting into it because I was part of the advisers that said bring in shipping federation into JOMALIC which was originally for dockworkers before the seafarers came in and they now became the joint maritime. All these can exist in one organization. But please, who is in charge? Has he or she got a good understanding of the various functions of these departments that are within? Whether you call it JOMALIC or NAMASA, there is a director. It is the ability, the competence of people on the policy seat that matter. Let me break down a little on the seafarers. There is a statute that a seafarer comes in a category of qualification. For you to get on a tanker boat this is what you should have; for you to work on a bunker, this is what you should have; if on LNG, this is what you should have. There is a level or experience you should have before you become a captain! The thing is: what was NMA or JOMALIC doing? They don't regard human capital and it is so unfortunate. That is the basis of economic growth in the maritime industry. Nothing else! It is not just about the structure. All those cranes they built in the 1940s, where are they now? They are constituting a hindrance to cargo movement today. So, whether you merge or de-merge them, it is not the case. The case is functionality of the various departments. What is NAMASA doing and what is expected of her? We are a moving generation. If you fail our generation, inadvertently you have failed the next generation. So, it will take two generations to catch up again. People must be given duties and given time. If you say in Nigeria you are going to have 20 ship captains by the year 2070, if you start the training in 2015, you have failed because no good captain can be made in 5 years. If you want to have Nigerians who are professionals in cargo management, that is loading and discharging of cargo, you just have to start today. We don't have them now. My problem is you can put anybody in any position, but you can't put everybody in a particular position. This is a specialized field and any time you make mistakes with personnel placement, it is to the advantage of a foreign country.
Some stakeholders, who say even though she is a maritime lawyer, have criticized Mrs Usoro's appointment as head of NAMASA, saying she is not a hard-core maritime person. What's your view?
Mrs Usoro, from information available, is a qualified lawyer and a management person. She must have a large heart to use those who know. Her job is purely management; coordination of those who are competent. There are people who know it and those eager to know it. There are people you send out there and they will do exactly what should be done whereas there are others whose concern is to make you fail so that they, themselves, can come up.
But God is great in his ways. I see a few of those who claim to be good hands right around her. She coordinates them. Mrs. Usoro will not go to pilot a ship, discharge cargo; count how many vessels and their categories on the waters. She is not the one to go out there asking seafarers to come and register so as to determine the competence level of Nigerian maritime industry. She is not going to be involved in pilotage or tracking system. There are others under her who are supposed to be experts that know these things. The thing is that some of them are working their own agenda. But the question is: did the government define its policy, expectations and time to achieve same? Let us know how many Nigerians that are competent to man specialized vessels (some of them in the oil industry that charge as much 40,000 dollars per day and they are all working here). On such vessels, Nigerians are not there. By my own list, there are more than 320 service boats in Nigeria. How many Nigerians are masters or chief engineers on such boats? How many foreign tankers are calling in everyday?
Last November, dock labour workers demonstrated at the Apapa port regarding the non-release of their severance benefits following ports concessioning. Can you assess the entire scenario, especially on the backdrop of what the umbrella union - Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, the government and others should have done to forestall this ugly experience?
I will always tell you: Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) is an association that should cater for the benefit of their members who pay their dues. The issue of non-payment of their severance benefits revolves around the problem of planning with those who did the concessioning. I don't think they envisaged it (what is happening now). Else, they would have worked it out with the then JOMALIC, knowing the number. They didn't think it this way. That is one of the pitfalls of concessioning. They did not include it that stevedoring where maritime workers unions normally operate is one subsector that will be required by the concessionaries. Formerly, it was an all-comers affair. But now it is no longer so. It is not just everybody go there first because you can carry one bag of cement. Then it was like if you import rice here, you will lose up to 70% of the cargo. But today, you can't afford to do that, because if you do it at your port, I send my ship to another port. That is competition. But then government should have envisaged that such thing would come up and would have prepared itself for it. The day they had their demonstration, it really paralysed work here in Apapa because they were singing and dancing. They depend on that job for their livelihood and once you take that away, they will fight to finish. So, the committee on ports concessioning should have planned it. They wouldn't have allowed such a thing to come up. For God's sake, they (the dock labourers) have worked. There severance benefits should have even been configured into the cost of concessioning the ports. Government wouldn't have gone into its own pocket to bring out the money. Such things are properly planned. So, it's a mistake on the part of those who planned the concessioning.
[ more stories in this edition ]
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