The Eyewitness Reporter

The age-long rivalry between the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council seems far from being over as the two sister government agencies are set to collide over the dollarisation of barge operations in the country.

The NPA around 2018 and 2019, introduced barge operations as one of its multi-prong approach measures to tackle congestion of port access roads due to the excessive use of road transportation to evacuate cargo from the port.

The agency, therefore, licensed interested business interests to operate barge operations that will be used to evacuate cargo from the ports through the inland waterways, thereby taking pressure from the overstretched ports.

However, the barge operators, have cried out that the NPA is stifling their business with charges in dollars and a huge deposit of N50 million as a prerequisite for registration.

Nura Musa Wagani, the Director of Operations and Enforcement, Barge Operators Association of Nigeria(BOAN) cried out that the NPA’s suffocating tariff regime is gradually killing the barge operation business.

At the one-day breakfast meeting convened by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria(MARAN) held Thursday, July 6th, 2023 to discuss the challenges of decaying port infrastructure in the country, Musa accused the NPA of charging the barge operators in dollars.

”Our regulators are the ones that licensed us as barge operators. We operate on the inland waterways. The barge operations are indigenous businesses run by Nigerians and operated on inland waterways which belongs to Nigeria. But our biggest shock is that our regulator charges us in dollars.

”How can we, as Nigerians, operating in Nigeria with Naira, and our regulator is charging us in Dollars? The tariff regime of the NPA is not sustainable. We are dying gradually. To barge one empty container, it cost us N265,000.

”If we have to pay this cost on the empty container, what about the laden one? The tariff regime of NPA is not doable and we need to review this tariff because it is not sustainable.

”Before the NPA licenses you as a barge operator, you must deposit the sum of N50m and if you don’t have patronage from your clients, how would you survive?

”Because of the high cost of barging as a result of high charges and tariffs from the NPA, nobody wants to operate the barges.” the operator lamented.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Emmanual Jime, who was in attendance with other dignitaries from the NPA, and the shipping community, expressed shock at the revelation and expressly declared that dollarisation of barge operations is alien to the Nigerian Constitution.

Jime, who superintendent the Council which is the economic regulator in the maritime industry, declared that the NPA as a service provider, is under its statutory regulatory powers.

”The Nigerian laws that the Nigerian Shippers Council as an economic regulator has been mandated to implement, do not recognise

the denomination of landside charges in dollars. Where this is happening, that is completely inconsistent with the laws of this country and I can say that authoritatively” the Shippers Council boss declared unequivocally.

He lamented the conflict of interests and clash of functions existing among government agencies in the maritime industry which he blamed on the weak regulatory framework that he said has created the gap.

”The Nigerian Shippers Council has been given the mandate to regulate the providers of services. On that list, NPA is the number one service provider that the Shippers Council has been mandated to regulate.

”If there are areas that appear there is a sort of breach, we have a duty to seat together with the management of NPA and point out these areas to them where their action is inconsistent with the laws of the land.

”As I said, there are some challenges where the weaker regulation has caused a sort of conflict among the agencies of government whereby they give one agency power with the right hand and they take it away with the left hand. These are the conflicts that are needed to be resolved.

”So we keep working on these areas of conflict and negotiating in a bid to resolve the issues”

He however asked the complaining barge operators to make a formal request to the Council so the agency can interfere with the NPA with a view to resolving the issue.

”I will also urge the barge operators to bring this complaint up formally with the Shippers Council because, to the best of my knowledge, that information is not available to us.

”Now that I have been made aware, we are going to activate our internal processes to examine this situation with a view to addressing it frontally. But I want to assure you that as far as landside charges are concerned, they cannot and they should not be denominated in dollars”, Jime reiterated.

However, the NPA put up a robust defence against the allegation of the barge operators, explaining that the agency does not impose any tariff but only made provision for varying sums of money ranging from N50m, N150m and N250m by the barge operators as a prerequisite for registration which serves as a guarantee against any mishaps caused by the barge operators in the channels.

Explaining the role of the NPA in barge operations, Mr. Ayo Durowaiye, General Manager in the office of the Managing Director of the NPA, declared that the money used as the bond belongs to the operators and it sits in their accounts, saying their problem is because they could not access it.

”The NPA introduced barging operations around 2018 and 2019 to remove pressure on our ports. It was one of the interventionist methods adopted by the NPA then to decongest the port access roads and the ports.

”NPA licensed them without charging a fee. NPA does not charge barge operators any fee for licensing.

”What we have in place is a bond requirement. The bond requirement of N50m if you are operating within the Lagos pilotage district, N150m if you are operating outside the Lagos pilotage district, and then N250m if you are operating across the borders.

”It is actually a bond and it is their money which is secured in the bank. It is financial security in the event that there is an accident in which the operator may not have the capacity to remedy the situation. For instance, if a barge goes down and the operator does not have the capacity to refloat it and you know the implication on the channel.

”So your bond is used to refloat it as quickly as possible to ensure safe navigation.

”So this bond they are complaining about is their money, it is in their accounts but their grouse is that they don’t have access to it.

”We do this to ensure that while the barge operators do their business around the channels, other users of the channels are protected.

”The members of the barge associations are aware of the challenges their operations are causing in the channels.

”As for the charges they complained about, the Shippers Council ES has promised to take it up with the top management of the NPA where all the issues raised will be resolved” Durowaiye declared.

He however warned the the barge operators to be mindful of their allegations so that they will not scare away other intending operators that may want to come into the business.

Barrister Temi Omatseye, the former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA) condemned the dollarisation of barge operations which he described as a cabotage trade.

”I have a problem with the dollarisation of barge operation because it is a cabotage trade. What the operators should pay is the 2 percent charge to NIMASA as provided for under the Cabotage law.

He said the only charge to which the NPA is entitled is the use of their quay apron by the operators which he said should be charged in naira.

Omatseye also frowned at the bond requirement which he said is no longer applicable in international trade. He said that what the NPA should do is ask the operators for insurance from reputable insurance companies that will underwrite any risks which the NPA is wary of.

Olubunmi Olumekun, the President of BOAN said that they have held several meetings with the NPA where they even suggested bulk insurance that will cover all the operators, the goods on board, and the owners of the goods.

He also said that the operators are the ones responsible for clearing the channels of wrecks to ensure their own safe passage.

He berated the NPA for holding on to their N50 million in a bank when the operators are cash-strapped.

”You can’t tie our N50m in the bank, no, it is unfair. We need that money. We badly need it” the BOAN President pleaded with a pain-lading voice.

The repressed animosity between the NPA and the Shippers Council dated back to when the Federal government was shopping for an economic regulator to supervise the economic activities of the terminal operators and the shipping companies at the dawn of port concession in 2006.

Both the NPA and the Shippers Council have engaged in a fierce battle to clinch the position but the federal government eventually settled for the Shippers’ council, since the NPA is already a technical regulator.

The loss of the juicy postion has since then embittered the NPA which has been allegedly trying to frustrate the regulatory function of the shippers’ council.

It could be recalled that Emmanuel Jime has similarly accused the NPA of an attempt to frustrate the reintroduction of the Cargo Tracking Note.

Jime, in a no-hold-barred speech at the Appreciation night organised by the League of Maritime Editors in honor of the immediate Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Muazu Jaji Sambo and his Minister of State, Barrister Ademola Adegoroye, had declared that it was the intervention of the former Minister which eventually restored the CTN back on track.