Eastern Ports can rescue Lagos

By Izuchukwu Ozoemena

It stands to reasonably argue that with the impression being created for now, the Federal
Government is already bereft of ideas on how to resolve the logistics conundrum plaguing the Lagos ports for years. It will also not be out of place to posit that the challenges which have made the eastern ports unworkable have become so huge and intimidating that the authorities in Abuja can neither confront nor overcome them. The Federal Government would rather offer excuses and blame previous administrations instead of confronting the issues headlong and overcoming them. But is that the way to go? For how long will Nigerians be served with this defeatist position? If the Federal Government has become so overwhelmed by the challenges, is it the common man or foreigners that will now
fashion out the way to go?

 

Experts and those who know it all know
that the federal government is simply trying to dodge a constitutional
responsibility it owes to the easterners and the generality of Nigerians
who are already feeling a sense of neglect.
This position, for sure, may sound too pessimistic and can easily be
dismissed with a wave of the hand by those who think the assessment is
too harsh. Even though this assumption sounds unrealistic when it is
considered that the federal authorities have all
it takes to initiate actions and follow them conclusively to reverse
the situation to the delight of port users in Lagos, it is now left for
the federal government to prove pessimists wrong by doing the needful in
the shortest possible time even as governance
has now painfully yielded way to politicking.

 

For sure, if the operational condition of
the eastern ports is improved upon and importers are attracted to the
area, Lagos ports will become the greatest beneficiary in terms of
efficiency and ease of doing business. In this
wise, recent suggestions on the role of functional eastern ports must
come in handy.

 

While unveiling a report entitled
‘Maritime Ports Reform In Nigeria: Feedback From The Organized Private
Sector’, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Industry, LCCI, recently advised
the Federal Government to extend the port reform
plans of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council to the
eastern ports. According to Mr Babatunde Ruwase, the LCCI president, a
survey carried out by the OPS and the Center for International Private
Enterprise was inspired by the need to call
the attention of stakeholders and government to the lingering
challenges at the eastern ports with a view to finding solutions to
them. The report which he stated is an update on the 2016 report
entitled ‘Nigeria: Reforming the Maritime Ports’, x-rays the
present realities in the ports, outlines the cost of frequent
operational crisis and highlights gaps in the implementation of policy
measures for the attention and action of the Presidential Enabling
Business Environment Council and other relevant interventionist
initiatives. As a practical step to attract activities to the eastern
ports, Ruwase advised the federal government to improve the security
situation along and within the Warri and Port Harcourt Ports so as to
ward off miscreants and touts who terrorize the
area. Stakeholders, he stated, insist that the government must approve
and make public a package of incentives to importers and exporters who
patronize ports outside Lagos as a special encouragement to remain in
such areas. Such an arrangement will make doing
business in such ports attractive for importers and exporters, thereby
reducing the current pressure on Lagos ports and the over-used roads.

 

But going forward, does LCCI’s call
suggest that before now, implementation of this vital economic blueprint
has been essentially limited to only one side of the country? If the
intended benefits are designed to reach out to all,
why must the implementation be denied ports in the eastern flank?

 

Much as the federal government is quick
to present reasons the eastern ports have remained unattractive for
business, can it convince stakeholders that the challenges are beyond
her ability to overcome?

 

Even talking about Lagos ports, the
‘favoured baby,’ the LCCI is concerned that despite all interventions
aimed at improving the business environment in them, the ports still
trail behind her peers in Africa and beyond especially
in the area of operational efficiency. In the last two years, for
instance, traffic gridlock has led to a 500 percent increase in the cost
of transportation of cargo in and out of the ports in Apapa and Tincan
Island. Other minuses include longer cargo dwell
time, disruption of production schedules of manufacturers who cannot
move raw materials to factories as planned and the costs and risks of
companies holding unreasonable level of inventories in a bid to guard
against running out of raw materials following
problems of unreliable supply arrangement. There is also the risk of
increasing interest cost on funds borrowed to import raw materials for
production purposes. It is on record that dilapidated ports access roads
account for 90 percent of accidents that usually
cause damage to fragile imported items, a situation that leads to
avoidable losses.

 

“In addition”, Ruwase stated, “there are
painful reports of loss/damage of perishable agricultural exports due to
the extended time spent by trucks before getting to the ports or even
the poor condition of warehouses at the ports.
For instance, in 2017, about 25 percent of cashew nuts being exported
from Lagos to Vietnam went bad or were downgraded due to these factors.”
He noted that increasing pirate attacks and kidnapping of vessels
in Nigerian territorial waters and the Gulf of Guinea had led to
increasing shipping costs which are usually transferred to the ultimate
consumers of products involved. What about increase
in insurance premium on the goods and services in transit? The LCCI
chief also expressed concern over safety and cost implication of wrecked
ships and abandoned crafts that litter the Nigerian waters as well as
shallow channels working against the entry of
big vessels into the harbour.

 

In other climes, there are port reform
initiatives that have yielded positive outcomes in short, medium and
long term. Can Nigeria copy such measures to improve efficiency in the
eastern ports while easing out the problems in
Lagos ports?

 

Since it now appears every other thing is
failing, the Federal Government must look in this direction in line
with recommendations the LCCI is offering. Failure to do this amounts to
failure to take into consideration the need
to satisfy the genuine interests of Nigerians.