IN an ever more complex global maritime milieu, Nigeria’s seaports remain an economic hole largely because of their uncompetitive, backward, corruption-ridden operations. A fresh push by the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise to untangle the turmoil buttresses the entrenched chaos that has defied all the half-hearted solutions being applied. The dysfunctional ports severely inhibit the economy. Therefore, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), should step in decisively.

The global maritime trade is vast, but Nigeria is excluding itself. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, maritime trade volumes expanded by 0.5 per cent in 2019 to reach a total of 11.08 billion tonnes.

After years of promises by successive administrations, Nigeria’s premier seaports in Apapa, Lagos, are still in a shambles. Notorious for delays in clearing cargo, shabby associated road infrastructure, absence of railway, legendary traffic lockdowns, government weakness, corruption and insecurity describe the remiss in detail. These are multiple problems, exacerbated by mismanagement by the Federal Government and piracy.

Just like previous probes, the House committee has again discovered that the muddle is badly undermining economic growth. Conversely, shadowy illegal operators, lawless security agents and their cohorts are raking up vast incomes in bribes and extortion.

For the acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Mohammed Koko, the major factor causing gridlock and driving up costs prohibitively is the erection of multiple illegal checkpoints mounted by the police and the military. “The people that are supposed to impound are the ones extorting,” Koko told the inquest. “At times, in a day, you can count up to 15 to 30 checkpoints and it’s really affecting the flow of traffic. Now it has graduated to ‘area boys’ (street urchins) as the fifth man or whatever they call it.” This shows the security agencies have lost control. It behoves these institutions to restore discipline in their ranks.

The ports represent government failure. A reform under Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 stood out briefly before it collapsed. All the government agencies expelled then are back in force at the ports. Along with the Nigeria Customs Service, they are still screening goods manually. This is tedious, prone to delays and corruption.

Apart from the dilapidated road infrastructure in Apapa and the brazen extortion by security agents, manual operation is at the heart of the congestion. Goods overstay the internationally recommended days. A May 2017 Executive Order by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo mandating 24-hour clearance of goods has been pointedly ignored by the NCS and other agencies. The Buhari regime flops on this count. In 2019, the President empowered a task force nominally headed by Osinbajo to redress the congestion. It has not worked. Traffic remains a topical issue. Neither has the Lagos State-backed ETO call-up system succeeded.

Attempts to upgrade the system using scanners have failed woefully. The economy loses N800 billion monthly to the manual clearing of cargoes, or about N9.6 trillion annually, a report by the Shippers Association Lagos State says. This is huge. Unwittingly, the Buhari regime has embarked on a borrowing binge to fix infrastructure when it has money right under its nose. It correlates with the submission of the business mogul, Aliko Dangote, that because of the woeful roads in the Lagos ports, the economy loses N140 billion a week.

The House committee found that shipping companies do not clear empty containers as and when due. It said empty containers numbering over 5,000 had been in place for over two years, aggravating the congestion. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry says delays, traffic jams, illegal charges and insecurity at the ports cost Nigeria $19 billion yearly or about five per cent of GDP. Thus, cargo meant for the Lagos ports are re-routed through ports as far as Pointe Noire in DR Congo, levying extra costs on operators, which is transferred to consumers. A 2020 note by a Dutch consultancy, Dynamar, said that translates to losses of $55 million daily.

Operators state that the cost of importing containers from China is cheaper than clearing from the Lagos ports. This adds unintended costs and is a major drawback for business and economic growth. Exporters lose contracts because their perishable items like cashew expire due to delays. Consequently, Nigeria ranks 131 out of 190 economies overall, and 179 out of 191 countries on the ‘trading across borders’ sub-index of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index. Similarly, exporters and importers shy away from the other ports in Warri, Onne and Calabar because they do not meet standards.

On another level, crooked importers exploit the manual clearing system to flood the country with expired/substandard products, arms and ammunition and fake drugs. That presents a danger, seen in the proliferation of arms and the widespread insecurity across Nigeria.

Now, it is obvious Nigeria’s public agencies have failed miserably in managing the ports. Peter Drucker, an influential thinker on management, says, if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Experts list six key performance indicators for effective port management: voyage productivity, container dwell time, reefer dwell time, container traffic, truck visit time and gate moves. Nigerian ports perform poorly in all these key business objectives.

Therefore, the solution lies in privatising them to reputable international companies with the pedigree and financial muscle to invest in modern technology and transport infrastructure. As of 2016, Dubai Ports World, owned by the Emirate of Dubai, had become the world’s third-largest port operator after buying seaports in New York, Miami, Newark-Port Elizabeth, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Baltimore, the Council on Foreign Relations noted. Saudi Arabian and Chinese-backed companies own ports across the world. To attract the best qualified operators and investors, maximise the country’s interests and safeguard its security, Nigeria could open bids to only the proficient, or opt for targeted privatisation with companies from countries that align with its interests. The NPA should just be a landlord/regulator.

Before that, Buhari should whip the security agencies into line. Rather than dismissing the allegations of corruption and sabotage, there should be a constant assessment of the military, police and other security personnel posted to the ports. The unending excuses of dilapidated roads should stop through effective remedial action.

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