By Zika Bobby

Rotimi Raimi-Hassan, port general manager of Kaduna Inland Dry Port, in this interview, explained how best Nigeria’s first dry port could be maximized for national economic growth.

He also did some agenda-setting for the new executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council.

Give us an overview of your half-year activities and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP) so far

As regards the C0VID-19 pandemic, nobody expected it, but it really affected the economy of Nigeria, not only KIDP, but the whole world in the sense that people were unable to go out for business. It affected international business and it affected us because port business is related with international trade. The exchange rate as at last year was N360 to a dollar but now it is about N500. Our customers have reduced importation; that notwithstanding, some are still getting it through the secondary market. 

But when you talk about the import as at last year I can still thank God because, despite the pandemic, we were still able to do something reasonably more than what we did in 2019. So, what we had then was over 3,000 TEU , but for last year, we had over 4,000 TEU for the whole year.

If it is half year, we are talking about more than 2,000 TEUs. Well, this year, at least there have been improvements because of these exchange rates. We have given ourselves a target of 7,500 TEU for this year, because of these extreme rates and inconsistent Customs policy affecting the business. But mind you we are already having problems in respect of how the KIDP should operate, because there is a standard procedure as an origin port and a destination port.

All over the world, the cargo has to move from port of loading to port of destination, but that is not the case here, and that also affected us . It contributed setbacks, because if the customer knows that he can get his goods from port of loading direct to port of destination, that can give an advantage in terms of time factor in getting the goods to their destination. Documentation process is not agreeable to the standard of dry port operation.

For example, we are still using the existing status of bonded warehouse. As a dry port, for a container coming down to KIDP, the Customs formalities need to be looked into.

Like the issue of container dropping and then Customs Area Controller from Kaduna will make a request to his counterpart in Apapa, whose officers will now forward a transire with the request and they now start processing. All these processes are time-wasting and it is not good particularly for a dry port like ours.

Cargoes destined for Kaduna Inland Dry Port should be given preferential treatment of faster exit to Kaduna for all other formalities 

Do you have a KIDP agenda for the new executive secretary (ES) of the Nigerian Shippers Council? What does KIDP expect the new ES to do?

First and foremost, we want him to address so many things that are affecting inland dry ports, that is, for inland dry port to successfully operate.

The former ES tried his best by addressing the problems at the initial stage, as a result of these foremen and the pre-inspection agents. Particularly for the Kaduna State Government to come in and do the needful. But the teething problem that we are still facing is the area of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in providing the wagons for us to operate, and the shipping companies, which is the major thing we have been facing.

How they can call all the MDs of shipping companies, we the operators and the ES to a roundtable discussion on making the dry ports work better. Remember, we (KIDP) are the pioneer dry port in Nigeria. If things are made right for us, it will be easier for other upcoming dry ports and better for the overall economy of Nigeria. The Federal Government objective for establishing dry ports is to decongest the sea port, deepen maritime business in the hinterlands and to render services to the hinterland shippers. We must not lose sight of these.

The new ES of Shippers’ Council should inquire about efforts that can make the inland dry port operate at the maximum level by shipping companies and terminal operators.

In addition to that, there is the need for him to address the teething problem of how we take delivery from the ports. We are being subjected to delays and other inhibiting factors.

Dry port cargoes are supposed to be evacuated en mass from the mother ports as a way of achieving ease of doing business and trade facilitation.  There should be an arrangement where the port concessionaire is able to allow seamless evacuation of dry port cargoes to guard against demurrage.

I don’t see reasons why shipping companies shouldn’t have offices at the dry port so that they can release at the same time and collect their payments as well at the dry port.

If there is any export, they should from there issue the bill of lading after the export processes have been completed. There is also need for the ES to have a meeting with the railway corporation, because without rail haulage there is no how the dry ports can be successful.

When you look at cost of transportation, it is very high because our road infrastructure is very bad and under pressure. If the rail system is working, even though it cannot be enough to move all these cargoes, it will help a lot and at the same time encourage exporters to move their goods through the hinterlands to the seaports.

All these are very important to us and are key things that we expect the ES to address .

What is the level of government agencies’ presence in KIDP? Apart from Customs, are there other agencies there?

Yes there are others there. I can even say the only difference in our dry port is just water, because there are a lot of security agencies here, like we have in the seaport, as approved by government. We have the SSS, NAFDAC, NDLEA, SON, Quarantine, pre-inspection agents approved by the CBN, the police and even the EOD, they are all here.

They move en masse during examination to ensure that a container completely complies with the Customs procedure. And before we move the cargo, duty must be paid and undergo 100 per cent examination in our port.

There are complaints of double clearing and additional cost of using KIDP. How should government solve this issue of double clearing in Lagos and also in Kaduna?

Firstly, I would like to correct the idea of double clearing. When you say you want your goods in KIDP, what you need to do is tell your shipper at the port of loading that you want it moved down to KIDP as final destination.

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What a lot of people don’t understand is that there are certain procedures that the importer must follow. Because you want your goods from port of loading to port of destination, that means you have to pay for inland and ocean freights, you don’t pay only for the ocean freights and expect your goods to come to Kaduna. Additional cost of inland freight should be factored into cost during budgeting and planning for importation.

Although what they are doing now is to make a clause that will accommodate if you want your goods to go to Kaduna from the port of loading, but in an ideal situation, at the point of moving your goods, you tell your shipper that the goods are going to KIDP, so you are mandated to pay for inland and ocean freight. Once that is done, it will reduce all these issues you just mentioned.

They shouldn’t call it double clearing, but Customs handling , that is; here we are still using the status of bonded terminal operation to do a dry port operation and it does not augur well.

What we are supposed to do is what I mentioned, that the stakeholders need to sit down and work out how the port will operate.

Those that are coming up don’t have bonded license and they are going to face the same problem we are facing but still, we are managing because we have a permit to operate as a bonded warehouse operator.

I remember that the Kaduna Inland Dry Port was upgraded to a dry port, and before that was done, we complied with some requirements and had to put some things in place before we were allowed to operate as such, and it was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 4, 2018. So what is left now to address are the major tools, and I believe with the new ES  will be able to fix these in a very short time.

The rail access to the port has stopped working for some time. Does this place some burden of cost on your organisation? Does your company spend more when the rail is not working?

Well not only just the company; the importer and exporter spend more when the rail is not working. It increases the cost of doing business.

Like I said earlier, even if the rails are working, it cannot meet up the target because the moment customers, importers and exporters know that the rail is working, it will attract more business. Except the NRC is ready to provide at least every day; that is in a week, we should be able to move 200 to 300 containers,

I think that can work but with the present wagons they have, I doubt if it can happen. But notwithstanding let them start and there will be improvements

So talking about cost, we can imagine moving cargo from Lagos to Kaduna for about one million or more, depending on market demands. But if it is rail, it should be less than 50% to move same amount of cargo . You can now imagine less than 50% of one million spent, you can see that the remaining 50% is a lot to the importer and also for the end user, because at the end of day, particularly the manufacturing company, they don’t joke about the material cost

If this is achieved, it will have a multiplier effect, and it enables all manufacturing companies that have been closed down in Kaduna to spring up again, because we are within the industrial area.

What gives Lagos an edge is the international airport and seaport. In Kaduna, we have international airport and we have a port, and I have been saying it that if these are addressed, within three to five years, we will see how activities will transform because we have wide catchment areas.

If you look at the Nigerian map, KIDP  is located at the centre. So we have catchments like; Abuja, Niger, Katsina, Kaduna itself and even Kano. We are also very close to the border with Niger Republic.

The Niger Republic shippers were saying about two years ago, while we were having a meeting with them, that to move their goods from Ivory Coast or Benin Republic is expensive and they will prefer their goods pass through Kaduna, which is about three to four hours to the border by road.

So we are into that discussion and the Shippers Council has already formed a committee to that effect.  This is also part of the things I want the ES to work on, because to me, it will help the exporter especially with this African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

It will enhance intra African trade  because already KIDP is at the centre, so all the goods going to Niger, Chad, and Mali can be pushed from there. And if they have exports too from there, they can bring it down to Kaduna and from there straight to the seaport by rail. So these are the things that I believe if quickly addressed will enhance the operation of KIDP.

You are like the pioneer in this branch of business and we hear of new dry ports coming. Tell us what specific advantage does KIDP have over other new dry ports that are coming up in the country?

KIDP has the advantage of being the first even though it has faced a lot of challenges at the beginning which I believe if government can address, within a very short time; it will be a thing of the past.

KIDP like I said earlier is strategically positioned. It is at the centre in the north, looking at the Nigerian map. It is linked to so many states and those who have cash crops and the mineral resources, can consolidate it at KIDP warehouse, and from there to the seaport, that is the number one advantage. 

Secondly, all over the world and in Kaduna, ginger is a popular product and a high source of revenue. The farmers and the brokers can take advantage of KIDP to consolidate in our warehouse and take their produce to the ports. So, that will facilitate the movement and fast track it from port of origin, which is KIDP to port of destination.

In addition to that, we will empower the rural area and it will encourage the farmers to produce more and make more money, while the state government also generates more revenue.

And lastly, it will expose the shipping business to those who might want to go into that line of investments.

There are so many areas to tap into because the shipping business has so many products.

You can be an exporter, importer, transporter, clearing agent or even consultant to people who want to import and export. As a manufacturer you can also receive your raw materials through the port.

If you look at Lagos all the manufacturing companies are very close to the seaport to get their raw materials, like companies in Agbara and those around Lagos-Ibadan expressway. So in other words, Kaduna Inland Dry Port will be a kind of opportunity for the Kaduna manufacturing sector to pick up.