A maritime lawyer, Barrister Osuala Nwagbara, has lamented that epileptic power supply at the nation’s seaports costs investors a whopping N100 billion in annual loss, calling for potent measures to end the traumatising situation.

He disclosed this at the weekend and expressed concerns over the high cost of diesel to power the ports by the concessionaires in the country.

He charged the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to optimise Nigerian ports efficiency with innovations on excellent power supply arrangement.

He lamented that each of these terminal operators in Lagos, comprising Tin Can Island Port and Lagos Ports Complex use up to 800 litres of diesel daily, adding that such estimation alone could cost an approximate N50 billion annually.

According to him, ports terminal operators in Onne, Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports also record such humongous figures when calculated, adding that the cost of doing business at the nation’s seaports was skyhigh.

Nwagbara bemoaned that Nigerian ports remain the most expensive in the world, insisting that lack of power supply was a major factor militating against pricing and other charges associated with cargo clearance.

According to a letter dated February 25, 2024 and addressed the the Federal Government through the Minister of Marine/Blue Economy, by the lawyer, a copy made available to newmen, reiterated that one of the intractable problems of the Nigerian ports was power supply.

He noted that the problem of electricity has been in existence even before the commercialisation of the nation’s seaports, adding that the arrangement that saw the ceding of cargo handling operations to private investors through the concessioning arrangement of 2005/2006 has continued to linger till date.

While proffering lasting solutions to power outage in the port communities in Nigeria, the maritime lawyer urged the pioneer Minister of Marine/Blue Economy to issue licenses to reputable operators in the power industry.

He pointed out that with permit granted to Electricity Regulatory Commission, the service providers would help reduce the cost of doing business in the ports.

“Since the issue of power appears intractable, it is humbly suggested that as the shorter tenure of the port concession/lease agreements draws to a close, the Nigerian government should providers into possible renewal of factor independent power Concession/lease agreements.

”This would mean that an independent power company builds a power plant using the best available technology for power by Nigerian generation to serve the port areas in Nigeria.

“This is one of the reasons the Nigerian Ports costs are the highest in West Africa. It is not the case that the issue of power and its impact on the operations of the Nigerian Ports and the Port area Communities is not known,” he added.

The maritime lawyer noted that what is true, is that Nigerian institutions place individual interests over and above public interests. “When one takes into account the Nigerian Ports Authority facilities within a given port complex across the country, the number of terminals within the Port, plus the off-dock terminals within the port area communities and environs, and adds up the cost of power used by each facility and each operator, certainly the cost is gargantuan.

As long ago as 2016,” he said.

He opined that seaports all over the world contribute substantially to the GDP of littoral states and Nigeria is not an exception in this regard.

“For ports to be in position to make such contribution, such ports must be efficient in service delivery, cost friendly, safe

and secure, predictable in terms of logistics and planning. and must be

accessible.

“The sea port is a gateway to international trade and a critical asset of any littoral state, We shall be writing to you from time to time on specific recommendations for the development of the Nigeria’s marine and blue economy.

“And we shall address our recommendations on the various frontiers of the Nigerian marine

and blue economy. In this letter, we shall make a short recommendation on the

optimization of the Nigerian Ports.

“From recent events, it is clear that one of the intractable problems of the Nigerian Ports is Power. This problem has been there even before the commercialisation of the Nigerian Ports, the arrangement that saw the ceding of cargo handling operations to private entrepreneurs through the concessioning arrangement of 2005/2006. The problem has continued till date,” he explained. (Daily Sun)

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