By Isaac Anumihe
Two thousand and seventeen which began with the ban on importation of vehicles from land borders on January 1, 2017 was equally inundated with legal battles between the Federal Government agencies (who are the regulatory agencies) and the private sectors.
The former spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Wale Adeniyi, who disclosed the ban on December 6, 2016, in Abuja, said the prohibition order was sequel to a presidential directive restricting all vehicle imports to Nigerian seaports only.
“The restriction on importation of vehicles follows that of rice, whose imports have been banned through the land borders since April 2016. Importers of vehicles through the land borders are requested to utilise the grace period up till December 31, 2016 to clear their vehicle imports landed in neighbouring ports,” Adeniyi stated.
On April 19, 2017, there was a shakeup in the NCS with over 48 Customs officers being redeployed. The redeployment, which was in line with the ongoing reforms of the service moved Comptroller Madugu, M. J. from Sokoto/Kebbi/Zamfara to Ogun Command; Comptroller Udo-aka, E. A. from Investigation to Oyo/Osun Command and Comptroller Isiyaku, K. from Tariff and Trade to Port Harcourt 1, among others.
A statement from the Customs spokesman, Mr. Joseph Attah, said: “Similarly, the Comptroller General’s Compliance Team has been disbanded and a new team reconstituted. The new Compliance Team is divided into three. Team A for Western Axis, B for Northern axis and C for Eastern axis. They are to complement the Federal Operations Units in order to vigorously crack down on all forms of smuggling activities nationwide with particular focus on the enforcement of non-importation of rice and vehicles through the land borders. The new CGC’s Compliance Team is co-ordinated by Comptroller Azarema A. A. who before now has been the Comptroller, Licence and Permit at the NCS HQ. The axis is led by Assistant Comptroller of Customs.” While effecting these changes, the CGC expressed his determination to strategically reposition the service as a crucial contributor to the success story of the nation.
On May 19, 2017, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo directed the resumption of 24-hour operations at the Apapa Port and outright ban on touting by officials or unofficial persons at any port, be it air, land or sea ports in Nigeria.
Earlier, Osinbajo had signed three Executive Orders dealing with the business environment, local content in public procurement and timely budget submission.
“The Apapa Port shall resume 24-hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of this Order and there shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria,’’ he said.
According to the directive on port operations, on-duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards while off-duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head.
However, what brought the industry to its knees were the crisis among the regulatory agencies and those they are regulating. First was the case between the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Maritime Academy, Oron.
Following the uneasy calm as a result of leadership tussle in the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT) under the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, set up a six-man committee to reposition the academy to resolve the protracted squabble among the academic staff of the academy. The committee had the mandate to recommend how the academy should be run seamlessly and restore sanity. But this triggered a strong disapproval by the students, academic staff and the Oron community to the extent that the academic work was disrupted for days. The community and the academy are still in confused state, not knowing the way to go and not respecting the minister’s own view.
On September 11, 2017, Customs intercepted 1,100 pump action rifles of different types concealed in a 1×20 feet container in Lagos. This recent interception in Tin Can Port, Lagos, was the third this year. On March 10, 2017, Customs intercepted 661 pump action riffles and on May 23, 2017, another 440 pump action rifles were intercepted. The container with 661 rifles was intercepted along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway after it was duly cleared from the Tin Can Port but the other two were intercepted before they were cleared from the Tin Can Port. While the latest seizure came from Turkey, others came from China.
Addressing newsmen, the Controller General of Customs (CGC), Colonel Hameed Ali, said the consignment was concealed in a container number GESU2555208 and the bill of lading falsely indicated a content to be wash-hand basins and water closets. He explained that the culprits of the previous seizures were facing court trial and the Customs officers involved have been dismissed.
The types of rifles, he said, included Jojef magnum black pump action (600 pieces), Jojef magnum silver pump action rifles (300 pieces) and Jojef magnum plastic single barrels hunting gun pump action rifles (200 pieces).
Ali said that what aroused the suspicion of officers was that the container was not originally listed for examination but was positioned with other containers for the day’s examination and its seal already cut and padlocked.
Being the third arms seizure in eight months, the Federal Government, Ali said, therefore, devised a means whereby both the shipping agencies and the terminal operators would be accountable.
“These arms are semi automatic rifles that can make humans or places to become history and desolate. The container contained 1,100 pieces of pump action rifles under the guise of wash-hand basins for Nigerians. Most times, we travel by road and kidnappers and robbers can get hold of these easily and unleash terror with them.
“The steps we have taken have gone beyond fishing out the importers and shippers, because it is a known global shipping process that there is no way you can onboard your ship without knowing the content of the container. We will effect the law on shippers to either block them completely until they become compliant or detain them (ships) as the case maybe. The seizure of 1,100 rifles in a time that Nigeria is going through security challenges is dangerous. This is the third arms seizure within this year,” he said.
On October 3, 2017, the Federal High Court, Lagos, declared the blocking of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) channel by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) illegal and awarded cost to NLNG.
NIMASA had blocked the Bonny Channels of NLNG for 22 days for refusing to pay taxes and dues to the administration. But NLNG had claimed it was still enjoying a five-year tax holiday given to them by the government’s agency before they started business.
But when NIMASA insisted on payment, NLNG filed a case at the Federal High Court, Lagos, against NIMASA, seeking a judicial determination on, among other things, the legality of NIMASA’s demand. After a four-year legal battle, the Federal High Court resolved the case in favour of NLNG.
But NIMASA headed back to the appeal court to challenge the judgement of the Federal High Court.
On October 16, 2017, NLNG demanded $315 million judgement debt from NIMASA but instead of paying the judgement debt, NIMASA headed to appeal court. Till today, the two warring parties are still in court.
On October 10, 2017, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) terminated the pilotage contract between it and a logistics firm, Integrated Logistic Facilities and Services (Intels) over non-compliance with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy. But Intels’ management kicked against the termination of the pilotage agreement with NPA.
Intels argued that the termination of the agency’s agreement was “clearly preposterous and the consequences highly injurious” to the interests of Nigeria. The company also hinted that the development could lead to its withdrawal from the multi-million dollar Badagry Deep Seaport project. This has led to exchange of hot words between the two organisations.
The crisis between the two parties led to the withdrawal of residence permit of over 100 expatriates in the employ of Intels. Their case is still in court.
On December 19, 2017, NIMASA offered automatic employment to 20 cadets. Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made the announcement during the flag-off of the first phase of the NIMASA-sponsored sea time training for cadets, said the cadets passed out with distinctions in their various fields of study.
He acknowledged the fact that sea time berth is a global challenge, which the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also admits, but said Nigeria is leaving no stone unturned in changing the tide, hence, the agency’s determination to ensure that all the cadets in the NSDP scheme get the mandatory sea time training in batches.
While giving a breakdown of the beneficiaries of the programme, he stated: “So far, the NSDP initiative has produced 243 graduates, 1,600 cadets at various stages of completion of the programme out of which 887 are ready for sea-time training.”
In the first phase, 150 cadets under the scheme are bound for Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Marine Transportation in Alexandria, Egypt, to commence their mandatory sea-time training; 89 others are bound for the South Tyneside College, United Kingdom, for their on-board sea-time training, making it a total of 239 in the first phase of the programme.