By Isaac Anumihe

Going by operators’ estimates, investments in the Apapa and Tin Can ports are worth over $650 billion but because of the deplorable condition of Oshodi-Apapa Road, popularly known as Wharf Road, these investments are already at risk.
Such investments, include banks, eateries, hotels and other terminals. For instance, Unity Bank which used to have four branches now has two; Ecobank with eight branches, cut down its branches to two. Eateries like Tetrazini, Mr Biggs, Kingstone Joe have closed down. Major hotels like Rockview, Excelsior and many others are groaning for lack of patronage as most of their rooms are empty. A room rate which used to be between N25,000 can now be negotiated to between N8,000 and N10,000.
Also, most terminals in the ports are having skeletal services. Sifax, whichnow imports vehicles, had to relocate its warehouse to Okofa. Hitherto, other importers had to relocate their offices because of the road condition.
The road to the nation’s biggest ports – Apapa and Tin Can – is laughable when compared to the less-developed countries of Benin, Togo, Kenya and Ghana.
The two-lane road has now been reduced to one because trailers have taken over one lane as their garage while the remaining one lane has been rendered impassable with gullies and potholes.
Against this background, stakeholders say the ports, which generate over N2 trillion yearly for the government deserve a better treatment. They argue that apart from oil, the ports are the second highest revenue earners for the Federal Government. But unfortunately, there is no access to them, a situation that has forced them to use other routes to convey their cargoes.
According to the spokesman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Mr. Bolaji Akinola, the Wharf Road, which is the only major artery to Apapa and Tin Can ports has collapsed for over five years without any solution in sight.
He averred that the road needs to be reconstructed and regenerated as no palliative work on the road is enough to put it back to shape.
“Wharf Road as the major artery to Apapa and Tin Can ports has collapsed for over five years and we have tried as much as possible to bring it to the attention of government and this is having a very serious impact on ports operation. What we have said is for the government to reconstruct those roads –total reconstruction and not the patch work they are doing. There is need for total reconstruction and regeneration of the Apapa community, which is primarily a port community.
“The infrastructure around ports like the roads is a problem. In many of the ports in Asia and America, the evacuation of cargo from the ports is through what we call multi-modal channels. Number one, you can evacuate by road, but primarily, you can evacuate by rail and by waterways.
Their roads are highly enforced roads. You don’t even see portholes on the way and they are very wide roads.  You are talking of three lanes in and three lanes out.
“You have a situation where a truck is coming from the ports and a container is falling down and in a container you have goods worth over N50 million. This is taking a heavy toll on the activities of the ports. And I know that the government has at one time done a feasibility study and they said it is going to require N110 billion to carry out a total regeneration of the road. And then we are wondering what is N110 billion compared to what the government is generating from the ports?  The ports are generating close to N2 trillion per year. For instance, go and check Customs revenue. It is close to N1 trillion a year.
“Look at what Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is generating per year, how much clearing agents are making per year. Look at how much truck operators  are making per year. The ports are generating well over N2 trillion every year,” he said.
Also speaking, an importer, Mr. Eddy Akwaeze, said that he prefers to convey his cargo from through a different route instead of going through the Wharf Road.
“The Wharf Road I know is an embodiment of problems. Problems in the sense that the congestion on that road alone makes every importer feel like travelling to Ghana to clear his goods. There is no good vehicle you put on that road that will not have problem. No wonder we are using dilapidated, old antiquities in the conveyance of cargo on that road.
“If you go to Cotonou, you don’t spend up to three minutes to get to your warehouse. The roads are ‘home’. The Wharf Road is so terrible that we prefer the road from Cote d’Ivoire where we offload. We prefer that long journey because the road is fine,” he said.
However, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, said that she has given the contractors on the road timelines within which to conclude the construction project.
“We have concluded discussions with Dangote Flours on deploying and fixing the road, taking into consideration the need for drainage. Final drawings will be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Works in four weeks whereby Federal Ministry of Works will conclude on the framework with which this road will be built. There are considerations that the framework used with Obajana in the development of the road will be considered but the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing will communicate the details to the public once it is done.
“We also discussed extensively and got our Creek Road and two other roads within Apapa into the 2017 Budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. The Minister has confirmed that these items will be in the 2017 Budget and they will be constructed within that period.
In addition, one  of the challenges we have noted in the area is the need for holding bays and trailer garages. The Ministry of Power, Works and  Housing has also confirmed that the completion of the  trailer park it is building in Tin Can area has also been captured in the 2017 Budget.
“The World  Bank has come to us to put in place this electronic system where the trailers will remain in the trailer garages and holding bays. We have identified them but this is indeed a wholly private-sector driven initiative where the NPA and other agencies of government will work on compliance. On compliance, we mean ensuring that every trailer that  is not going to collect a cargo is within the holding bay. The holding bays and trailer parks will be operated and run by the private sector,” she assured.

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Ban on 41 items: Inferior goods may flood market

It is no longer news that Nigeria’s borders are not very secured and the influx of inferior smuggled goods into the markets might increase with the ban on 41 items at the interbank market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The recent seizure of expired bags of rice initially thought to be plastic rice by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) goes beyond a threat to one commodity but a joint-threat that involves tomato paste triple concentrate.
The NCS Comptroller General, Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), represented by the Deputy Comptroller General, Mr. Umar Ilya, had to organise a joint media conference in Abuja with the Acting Director General of National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs. Yetunde Oni, on the outcome of laboratory tests conducted on the alleged “plastic rice” imported into the country.
Oni said that no plastic rice was imported into the country but added that the seized rice was “contaminated with microorganisms above permissible limit.”
But the Minister for Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has urged Nigerians to calm down, saying, “there is no way that could be possible, not without salt in it.” He emphasised that the tests conducted by NAFDAC found “no evidence” of plastic material.
The fear now is since rice and stew are staples in the country, there is every possibility that the ban on 41 items, including tomato paste triple concentrate, from forex interbank access can stimulate excessive smuggling of fake tomato paste products that can harm the unsuspecting consumer.
The demand for both products outstrips supply causing massive mark-up of price by importers, smugglers and retailers, all seeking to achieve profiteering from the growing demand. Essential ingredients such as tomato cannot be ignored as no one eats white rice without stew. Even as jollof rice, what makes it jollof is the tomato ingredient, which serves as stew and gives the carbohydrate grain some taste and nutrients.
Former NAFDAC DG, Dr. Paul Orhii, admited that 85 per cent of tomato paste brands sold in various markets across Nigeria, mostly imported from China, are substandard and unfit for consumption. But they still find their way through the borders into the country.
He also revealed that 91.1 per cent of the foreign brands of tomato paste failed NAFDAC’s product test. According to Orhii, the tomato paste brands were filled with bulky agents such as starch and banned colouring to make it look reddish but this could cause cancer, organ failure, kidney and liver related ailments among young and middle-aged Nigerians.
The obvious solution to this menace is to encourage local production of tomato paste rather than importing finished brands of the products that NAFDAC has declared unfit for Nigerians. The government would be killing many birds with a stone if it revised the ban on 41 items from forex interbank activities especially for an item such as tomato paste triple concentrate.
The demand for triple concentrate tomato paste is not for itself a concentrate, but its derived use to add form and utility in the production of finished products such as tomato paste, ketchups and sauces. There is significant addition of value in the process of conversion and given the capacities which have evolved over time, Nigeria can become the hub of tomato paste re-processing for the less developed neighbouring countries thus replacing Chinese finished products imports in these places.
Take, for instance, cassava that is grown in Nigeria; this crop is used for many other things aside food. Even as food it can be processed into diverse kinds of food. Sugarcane is not just for food consumption, it is also used to make ethanol fuel for vehicles and other machineries.
Nigeria produces an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of fresh tomatoes every year, making it the 13th biggest producer in the world, but most of it goes to service the fresh tomato market in the country.
Tomato paste plays its role, primarily as a substitute for fresh tomatoes. When there is reduced availability of fresh tomatoes, tomato paste variants are used to shore up supply and reduce scarcity. It is also a very good way to store tomatoes that would ordinarily go bad in their natural and fresh state being a seasonal crop with Nigeria still lacking adequate storage facilities.
The country had developed a vibrant local processing industry but the importation of finished tomato paste products over the years has been affecting the growth of the industry. Hence, out of the imported $170 million tomato paste in 2014, around $50 million was for the triple concentrate.
Since the triple concentrate tomato paste is not produced locally, this has to be imported and then value added by local processors with benefits such as employment, taxable income to state, production technology, growth of local industry and the county’s economy.
While there have been attempts at local production of triple concentrate tomato paste by some companies, including Dangote since 2012, there is a lot to be done to organise the industry in terms of suitable seed varieties, farming technology and inputs, so as to get the right quality and quantity to process fresh tomatoes to triple concentrate.
It is also virtually impossible to feed the local demand for triple concentrate till the local processing industry evolves over time to acquire and execute the required backward integration to make this possible. The US, European and Chinese tomato paste industries are examples, which took many years to establish and standardise.
The decision to include triple concentrate tomato paste among the 41 prohibited import goods is still raising dust among consumers, labour and manufacturers alike and many have been expressing frustrations over the forex policy.
Director General, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, asked succinct questions in an interview, saying, “what is it that has made the CBN to prohibit tomato paste manufacturers from the foreign exchange that should not be extended to numerous products including petroleum. Right now, NECA is trying to determine how many companies are set for redundancy. This cuts across all sectors.
Petroleum may be the mainstay of the economy today, but the future of that sector looks very dim and bleak as global pricing for crude oil keeps falling. This is perhaps the major reason the government has intensified its drive to diversify Nigeria’s economy in a bid to shore up the county’s revenue.
Oil aside, the consistent fall in naira’s value has not spelt good tidings for entrepreneurs who have been producing and groaning from the already hostile production environment. Manufacturers, especially those in the tomato industry, are merely holding on to the last straw as they do business but with the exclusion from forex activities, it is tantamount to an execution of the tomato industry.
President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Frank Jacobs, said “several of its member companies are presently operating below capacity and only few may be able to survive.”
According to the President, National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Lateef Oyelekan, “all the companies involved in the forex exclusion should be given the latitude to plan for backward integration, as one of the downside of the policy is that it has started leading to massive job loss.”
Hence, the best approach would be a phased implementation, which will facilitate local backward integration of the key players through sound and stable policies and support measures. This will also retain and build the local processing capabilities of the downstream re-processing industry, so that in the long run, not just Nigeria but the entire region can be serviced using local capabilities.
The President of the National Union of Shops and Distributive Employees (NUSDE), Kelly Ogbaloi, added to the list, stating that “CFAO sacked 36 employees, Dana laid off 42, Daylong sacked 10, Kewalrams asked 48 workers to go home, Dizengof terminated six workers’ appointments and Goldig sacked 53 breadwinners.”
While the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the business community have expressed concern about the consequences of CBN’s approach to the management of foreign exchange market over the last few months, one wonders how the consumer is coping with all the realities militating against him with recession and inflation being the king and queen of all the problems.