Editorials
Lack of Holding Bays: Who checks excesses of Foreign Shipping Companies In Nigeria?

They treat the guidelines and directives of relevant government agencies, which have the statutory duties to superintendent over their operations, with annoying disdain and disrespect.
Their act of impunity and utter disregard for the constituted authorities is causing pains, hardship and agony to port users.
One of the guidelines which governs their operations but which they have consistently defiled with impunity is the issue of holding bays.
It is part of the criteria for their registration. But sadly, none is known to have complied with this critical criterion.
While some don’t have at all, the holding capacity of what others pass off as holding bays is far less than the numbers of empty containers they generate.
This impunity has therefore led to complications in the management of empties that have compounded the traffic gridlock on the port access roads.
It has also led to unnecessary payment of demurrage by importers who find it difficult to return the empties due to the gridlock.
The matter got to the head in 2018 when truckers had to resort to protest against the flagrant refusal of the shipping companies to establish holding bays to warehouse their empties that were fingered as the cause of the gridlock.
To restore sanity on the road, NPA directed all the shipping companies to establish their holding bays.
But the companies still shunned the directive which made the NPA slammed a 10-day sanction on four of them which included Maerskline, Cosco Shipping, APS and Lansal.
But few days to the commencement of the sanction, NPA, for undisclosed reasons, hastily lifted the order and watched as the shipping companies continued their impunity and rape of Nigerian importers.
Despite the hues and cries of port users over the agony caused by the littering empties which the shipping companies failed to warehouse in their holding bays, the NPA, which has the statutory powers to check these abuses and excesses, appeared helpless against the powerful foreigners.
This made us to ask who then can tame the monsters which the foreign shipping companies have become?
We shudder at the impunity and arrogance of these foreigners who have gleefully desecrated the guidelines and laws governing their operations in the country.
Not only do they treat the NPA with arrogant levity, they equally look the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the economic regulator which has the statutory powers to rein them in over their arbitrary charges, in the face with scorn and disdain.
Surprisingly most of the time they, get away with their impunity.
Backed by powerful Nigerians whom they co-opted into their management as either Chairmen or Directors, these foreigners have suspiciously become audacious to continue to play gods while their Nigerian surrogates provide them with the necessary cover.
But in October 10th, 2020, port operators took their destiny in their own hands when the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) gave the recalcitrant shipping companies a 21-day ultimatum to get holding bays that will suck in the littering empties from the roads or the industry risks their wrath of industrial action.
Ever since this declaration, more groups in the industry have declared their support and readiness to join the fray should the shipping companies fail to comply.
The pronouncement of the maritime workers was not only an indictment on the relevant government agencies for their lack of capacity to tame the monsters but unmistakable show of loss of confidence in their ability to protect their interests.
We are perplexed at the growing menace these foreigners have become in their operations in the country.
It is unfortunate that they are being encouraged and goaded by the unpatriotic attitude of their Nigerian godfathers whose odious influence has emboldened this misconduct.
We are saddened by the seeming arrogance of the shipping companies and their flagrant disregard for the rules of engagement.
Against international best practices, the shipping companies have turned the country into a dumping ground for empty, sometimes, expired containers.
We are more shocked by the revelation of the maritime workers Union that the foreign shipping companies have turned the roads to their holding bays as they converted the trucks to the bays which are parked along the roads.
It is more disgusting to note that the NPA is aware of this unorthodox practice which is totally alien to international best practices.
According to all the known norms, shipping companies, which own these containers, are supposed to take them back to the ports of origin after they are unstuffed at their countries of destinations.
But in Nigeria, not only did the shipping companies refuse to take possession of these containers in the holding bays they have consistently refused to build, they have decided to abandon majority of these containers in the country.
We note that they have dubiously devised means of recovering the cost of the boxes through various indiscriminate charges, including containers deposits, which is supposed to be refundable after they are returned.
But they frustrate all attempts of importers to return the containers who invariably forfeit such deposits.
With this snobbish attitude of shipping companies and lack of will power of relevant government agencies to enforce the guidelines on handling empty containers, the country has become a dumping site.
We want to implore the NPA to muster enough political will power to take on these shipping companies and compel them to play the game by the rules.
Firstly, NPA should not back down on the need for these service providers to get holding bays where they could warehouse the containers.
Secondly, the agency should not compromise on its position that no empty container that does not originate from the holding bay will be allowed access into the port.
We are convinced that if these directives are strictly enforced, the menace of the empty containers on the port access roads will be curtailed.
Another measure to tackle the menace is to co-opt bonded terminals operators into the management of empty containers .
Most bonded terminals are presently unviable .
While some had packed up, those that are yet to go under are living on the throes of death.
Except for very few ones that are struggling to survive, majority are barely existing.
Their services became dispensable following the port concession programme of 2006 which took away their business and relevance.
Prior to that time, they became a child of necessity nurtured and sustained by the inefficiency of the NPA.
Now that terminal operations have been conceded to private players, the operators of the moribund bonded terminals are looking for means of survival.
Our recommendation is that the recalcitrant shipping companies could out-source holding bay services to the bonded terminals operators who, to our mind, are looking for a life line to stay afloat.
Since the shipping companies are not attracted to owing holding bays despite the directive of NPA, obviously due to the running costs, this function could be given to bonded terminals operators whose facilities are under utilised under a mutually agreed business partnership.
This partnership could be facilitated by the NPA which could act as unbiased umpire to ensure its success.
If this is done, we believe it will also take away most of the stranded empty containers which are causing confusion on the port access roads.
Another measure, which may appear drastic but feasible is for the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to compel the shipping companies to scrap the dubious and controversial containers deposits.
We believe that it was this deposit that allows the shipping companies to abandon their containers with the importers, knowing fully well that it has cover the costs.
So they would not want to be bothered with the extra costs of owning and maintaining holding bays.
But we are sure that if this exploitative fee is abolished, which is by no means an easy task, shipping companies will be eager to take back their boxes.
We must however warn that the Shippers’ Council should expect a tough battle and resistance from the service providers, but it is worth trying.
Our passion is to see all the encumbrances in cargo delivery system are removed which to us, will not only engender quick clearance and evacuation of goods but enhance quick turn-around of vessels that will boost port efficiency.
It is only when these foreign shipping companies are tamed and made to play by the rules that normalcy will return to the port access roads, notwithstanding the efforts of government to fix these roads.
Customs
Now that Tinubu has confirmed Adeniyi as CGC

Customs
Editorial! The incursion of Chinese into Nigeria’s revenue vault.

The ubiquitous Chinese is gradually getting a foothold in the nation’s economy.
On May 30th, 2022, the controversial concession of the Nigeria Customs Service was consummated at the national headquarters of the service in Abuja.
Despite the outcry of stakeholders against the concession of the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service, the Federal Government signed a tripartite concession agreement with a Chinese company, Huawei Technologies, and their Nigerian counterparts, Trade Modernisation Project Limited with Africa Finance Corporation as the lead financiers.
The agreement was facilitated and midwifed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission(ICRC).
The concessionaires, under the agreement, will drive the modernisation project for 20 years.
Last Monday’s consummation of the concession agreement was preceded by the approval granted by the Federal Government in September 2020 to concede the operations of the customs to concessionaires
The concession agreement, which spans a period of 20 years, will involve the modernisation of the processes and procedures of the Nigeria Customs Service, including its revenue generation which the concessionaires will take over through which they are to recoup their $3.2 billion investments.
Expectedly, the decision of the Federal government, which was clinically executed in the mould of a coup d’é tat, caught many industry stakeholders pants down.
It also generated animated discussion as the approval and eventual concession was granted in defiance to the popular wish of the operators.
Since 2019, when the industry got wind of this concession deal before the 2020 approval, there has been concerted opposition mounted by the aghast operators who felt the move was an attempt to give away our common patrimony to the foreign interests.
Then, Hon. Jerry Alagbaso, a former Customs chief and erstwhile member of the House of Representatives, rallied the National Assembly against the move.
But to the chagrin of everyone, the Federal government pulled a fast one on all the antagonists of the project.
We are less disconcerted over this concession deal which we believe was willing away the nation’s cash cow for 20 years to the foreign imperialists and their local collaborators.
We are at a loss on which powerful forces could have forced the hands of the Federal government to enter into this type of deal against the popular counsel of knowledgeable stakeholders.
Modernisation of Customs, they said.
What is there to modernise in the processes and procedures of the Nigeria Customs Service?
At the risk of being controverted, we dare say the Nigeria Customs has the most advanced form of automation process among the government agencies in the industry and one of the most automated in Africa.
The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene said as much when he visited Apapa Customs command last week.
Mr. Mene said Nigeria Customs has the most advanced and comprehensive automation programme among its peers in Africa.
The only challenge which the service has is human.
Some of the men and officers of the service are clearly aversed to full automation due to their selfish and pecuniary interests.
The automation process will eliminate human contacts which is the avenue for extortion and exploitation.
Since 2003, Nigeria Customs has gone through a series of automation processes that have made its processes and procedures seamless.
The Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) and its advanced form of ASYCUDA+, ASYCUDA++, the Nigeria Customs Integrated System (NCIS1 &11), and Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) are some of the automation platforms created by the customs management over the years to make customs operations seamless.
Even, in 2013, the Service developed a web-based application to provide information and guidelines for international trade business processors, export and transit trade which is called Nigeria trade Portal which is interactive.
To our mind, what the service needs is to upgrade these automated platforms, and integrate them with other players in the cargo documentation and clearance chains under the neglected single window project.
With adequate capital outlay, we believe Nigeria Customs can achieve full automation status without the involvement of foreign economic imperialists, aided and abetted by their avaricious local collaborators.
The anti- automation officers, who are averred to technology due to their selfish interests, could be reformed.
If they are adamant, they could be shipped out.
Cargo scanning could be emphasised while physical examination of cargoes could be sparingly used.
With these and all other automation platforms well integrated into the single-window under the supervision of a willing Customs administration, the Nigeria Customs will be a world-class agency.
We are however least surprised at the tenacity of these economic vultures in their quest to lay hands on the Nigeria Customs Service, which is gradually emerging as the cash cow of the nation.
Apart from oil, maritime is the second-highest revenue earner for the country and Nigeria Customs plays a key role in this regard.
With the yearly earnings in the excess of a conservative estimate of trillions of naira and the capacity to do more, as well as the dwindling earnings from oil due to the global crisis in the oil market, the maritime industry nay Nigeria Customs is understandably the preferred bride for these economic speculators.
Various attempts have been made in the past to dip their hands in the Customs’ till without success.
In 2011, the illegal concession of Customs key functions between the ministry of finance and a company called Single Window System and Technologies was shot down.
In 2017, another move for Customs modernisation was made by the technical committee on the Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme(CISS) which was pretentiously acting on behalf of the Federal government, with a technical partner called Adani system Nigeria limited.
The attempt, which sought to concession the Customs then for 25 years, was frustrated.
However, in a blatant disregard for popular opinion, the Federal government, after several failed attempts, eventually forced down the throat of the unwilling stakeholders, the concession of the agency.
However, the deeds have been done.
Any further lamentation by the stakeholders on the issue is crying over spilled milk.
Now that the government has had its way, we can only hope that its aspirations for the concession will be realised.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said the government stands to realise $176 billion from the project without spending a Kobo.
The question is how much will the concessionaires realise within the 20- year period of the deal beyond the $3.2billion investments they are expected to sink into the project?
What would be the fate of the customs officers whose jobs will be affected by the take-over of the revenue functions of the agency?
Even though the Comptroller General of the service, Col. Hameed Ali, has allayed the fear of job loss, the redundancy of some categories of officers could not be totally ruled out.
It is instructive to note that one of the two core functions of the customs, which is revenue generation, has now been concessioned under the guise of this new modernisation project, leaving them with the anti-smuggling function.
We hope rather than render some crop of officers reductant which may lead to possible right-sizing of staff, they could be redeployed to beef up the anti-smuggling function of the service.
We are worried about the involvement of the Chinese in the project as represented by Huawei which serves as a technical partner.
The ubiquitous Chinese have gradually become a leech on Nigeria, sucking on the economy of the nation.
We can only hope that the modernisation project will leave the Nigeria Customs service better than it met it.
We equally hope the project will not be sabotaged by disgruntled insiders whose means of livelihood is being threatened.
The misadventure of the Professional Import Duty Administrators (PIDA) between 1996 and 2000 in the Nigeria Customs Service is still poignant in the memory of those who were in the know.
At that period, a firm of an accounting/consultant was engaged as professional Import Duty Administrators to complement the Nigeria Customs Service in the task of revenue generation.
They left the service worst off than they met it.
We appeal to the Federal government to ensure that this project transforms the service into a technologically-driven agency whose operations are seamless and paperless.
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