Stories by Isaac Anumihe
The dumping of a vessel on the Integrated Nigeria Limited (Intels) jetty by Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is causing a major crisis between the two organisations to the extent that the supervising authority, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), directed Intels to seek legal redress against AMCON.
AMCON acquired Delta Queen from Seawolf Services Limited when Seawolf Services closed down its operations in Nigeria. But for lack of skill to operate in the maritime industry, AMCON abandoned the vessel in an area, which, however, falls within the territorial waters of Intels. All efforts to make AMCON pull out the vessel to safe anchorage have yielded no result, a situation that has created a gulf between AMCON and Intels.
However, the corporation was established on July 19, 2010 to resolve the non-performing loan assets of the banks in the Nigerian economy.
As a result of global financial crisis and domestic events, the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), conceptualised the idea for the establishment of a body that will prevent financial crisis in the country. At the time of the establishment of the corporation, the body identified 10 banks with crisis in the system and responded by injecting N736 billion liquidity to buy up their assets. Among the 10 banks, only three banks were unable to meet up and were finally acquired by AMCON and tagged as Bridge Banks: Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank and Enterprise Bank.
So, as part of its mandate to acquire the assets of distressed firms in the country, AMCON took over the assets of Seawolf.
Addressing the Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Emmanuel Olajide Adesoye, and other board members of NPA in Onne, Rivers State, the Deputy Managing Director of Intels, Adamu Abubakar Atiku, said that the abandonment of the vessel on Intels’ jetty was obstructing his company’s operation and so pleaded with the management of NPA to ensure that the vessel is removed.
Atiku urged NPA to assist the company to access all spaces allocated for its operations in Calabar port, while also urging the board to look into the activities of some private jetty operators that are struggling for cargoes that belong to Intels.
“Intels pays $6 per tonnage while other operators pay $1 per tonnage. Intels paid $10.3 million entry fee for oil and gas cargoes, while other operators paid between $1.1 million and $2 million as entry fee to operate general cargoes,” he said.
According to Atiku, Intels paid a commencement fee of $10,300,000; lease fee of $253,859,051; throughput fee of $305,201,534 and land industrial area fee of $155,291.135.
He said that in 1982, NPA invited the private sector to operate at the Federal Lighter Terminal and also awarded concession for Federal Lighter Terminal B (FLT B) and Federal Ocean Terminal A (FOT A) in Onne as well as Terminal B in Warri and Terminal A in Calabar for 25 years.
Abubakar Atiku said that Intels had concession agreement from 2005 to 2031 on consolidated lease agreement in FLT B, Warri New Terminal, Warri Old Terminal and Calabar Port Terminal A.
“The logistics and equipment infrastructure needs of the terminal concessioned to Intels require much higher investments and specialised skills in contrast to other terminals. These were projected to yield higher returns to the concessionaire as well as the government. This informed the basis for fixing a higher throughput fee per tonne to be paid by concessionaires of terminals located in those ports under Intels at the time of concession. Other terminal owners pay much lower fee under the concession agreement. The fee for the terminals granted to Intels under Annexure was also higher compared to the much lower commencement fee paid by concessionaires in other terminals,’’ Atiku said.
In his remarks, Adesoye advised Intels to go to court over AMCON’s trespass into its territorial waters or ensure that AMCON pays for illegally occupying Intels jetty.
Adesoye said the management of NPA would try to move all abandoned vessels in various terminals to safe anchorage to improve the operations of concessionaires and increase government revenue.
He suggested that Intels should dialogue with NPA and the owner of the abandoned vessels to see if there would be alternative ways of evacuating the abandoned vessels.
The chairman promised that both the board and the management of NPA would do their best to enable indigenous investors in Oil and Gas Free Zone to sustain the business and generate more revenue for government.
He said that there are opportunities for other operators who would like to be on the same level with Intels to make Nigerian ports more competitive and to achieve the status of being the hub in West and Central Africa.
Intels, being one of the indigenous companies in the Oil and Gas Free Zone, provides logistics services to the oil and gas industry operating government-owned port facility/free zones in Nigeria.
All efforts by this reporter to contact the Managing Director of AMCON proved abortive.
However, Daily Sun made fruitless efforts to contact the Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru to comment on the issue.
Igbo Maritime Association calls for synergy to grow maritime industry
President Association Igbo Maritime Practitioners in Nigeria (ASIMPIN), Eze Damian Emeka Obianigwe has called for synergy among its members and other members in various associations irrespective of tribal inclinations so as to help grow the maritime industry and achieve a greater Nigeria.
He said that while it was necessary to identify with where one comes from, the growth of the maritime industry which is also the growth of Nigeria should be of utmost importance when association members gather together and so they should work as one family. He therefore asked his members to co-habit in harmony with other groups.
The ASIMPIN President made the call when the association went on familiarisation visit to its chapter at the Seme border. The group also visited other maritime associations at the border station including Association of National Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).
The group was given ecstatic welcome by the chapter members who were already waiting for the arrival of guests from Lagos. Obianigwe who is also the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fano Shipping Group told the gathering that they had come to familiarise themselves with the people at the border and also to give them moral boost.
He called on them to work in harmony and to be true ambassadors of the body in particular and Nigeria in general.
At ANCLA office, Obianigwe expressed confidence in the chapter chairman Barrister Bisiriyu Fan and encouraged him to work together with members of ASIMPIN in harmony and to operate as one big family to achieve a common goal.
He said that although there are issues that arise from time to time in the industry, they should handle it with tact so nobody will be unduly suppressed.
At NAGAFF office, the group couldn’t stay because the chairman was nowhere to be found.
While welcoming the guests, the ANCLA chairman said they had no reason to discriminate against anybody promising to even improve on the camaraderie existing within the group.
National General Secretary of ASIMPIN, Dom Obi, told newsmen that the group is as old as the maritime industry. “The name was changed recently from Igbo Maritime Forum (IMF). Recently we grew from Forum to Association. As association we are not more than five years but as IMF we are more than 50 years in existence.
“ASIMPIN is the umbrella body controlling all maritime operators of Igbo extraction. It does not discriminate against any of the industry associations. Most of us belong to these associations; for example I am the executive secretary, presidential monitoring task force of ANCLA, The Board Chairman, Chief Peter Obi is a member of BOT of ANCLA, Eugene Nweke immediate past president of NAGAFF is an official of the group, Ben Ndee, also one of us is the current President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Frank Ukor, is the President Association of Registered Freight forwarders, Nigeria (AREFFN). We may operate in different associations outside, but still come together to brainstorm on Igbo interests within the industry.”
He noted that the gathering is not peculiar to the Igbo but cuts across all tribes as there exists Arewa group and Oodua Maritime.
OGFZA’ll be repositioned for industrial revolution –Umana
The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) is poised to revolutionalise the Nigerian oil and gas sectors for investment and employment opportunities.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the zone, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, in Lagos in a paper titled, “Oil and Gas Free Zones as Catalyst to Economic Diversification.’’
Umana Umana, who was represented by Head of Department, Trade and Investment of the agency, Adamu Mamman Kontagora, said the OGFZ was very fundamental for economic diversification and development.
‘’Evidences are available to show that all free zones under the OGFZA are successful and have the ability to completely change the economy and lifestyle of local and regional communities. We have seen such in countries like UAE, Malaysia, Asia and India, among others,” he said.
Umana stated that due to the level of investments in the sector and its continuous rapid investment, the OGFZs have created positive impact in the Nigerian economy via capital growth, skills acquisition, revenue generation, huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), increases in export, promotion of foreign exchange earnings and creation of employment opportunities.
He further said that the agency, through conceptualising and executing transformational oil and gas industrial zones, centres on the benefit of maximising and diversifying the nation’s economy; development of industrial cities, parks and hubs. It also facilitates infrastructural development for the hubs, he said.
Among the facilities in the planned parks are petro-chemical plants, fertilizer plants, methanol plants, veterinaries, bulk storage fabrications, among others. The agency, he said, is also developing a masterplan for the park, cities and clusters to provide the ideal location for foreign companies to use as an entity in sub-Saharan Africa.
Umana disclosed that OGFZ, Onne, enjoys an unrivalled strategic position in West Africa and it is no doubt the ideal location to serve the oil and gas projects in Nigerian offshore &onshore and throughout the sub-Sahara region.
He noted that the zone offers high-speed services and seen to be the largest oil and gas free zone in the world.
Other free trade zones under OGFZA, include Warri Port Complex, Eko Support, Lagos Brass in River States and Ibaka in Akwa-Ibom State.
Concession: Pressure mounts on N’Assembly to withdraw NPA’s regulatory function
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Stakeholders in the maritime sector, have called on the National Assembly to pass into law the proposed Ports and Harbour Bill to give legal backing to the ports concessioning of 2006 and set performance benchmarks in accordance with global best practices.
Speaking at a one-day Public Hearing on Amendment of National Inland Waterways Authority Act (Amendment Bill), 2016 and Nigerian Ports Authority Act (Amendment Bill), 2016 organised by the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, representatives of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Ports Terminal Operators, Nigerian Shipping Association and Maritime Advocacy Group were all unanimous in their appeal to the National Assembly to take a deep look at the Ports and Harbour Bill with a view to separating the regulation functions of the ports from the day to day functions of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) with a view to making the ports work more efficiently.
Chief Chidi Iluogu, who represented Nigerian Ports Terminal Operators, said there was need for the National Assembly to ensure that adequate framework was in place for private sector participation and to promote efficiency based on principles of accountability, competition, fairness and transparency.
According to him, it was only fair that functions are streamlined in the sector to reap the maximum benefits from the ports. He said, “it is a source of concern that many years after the concessioning, the laws were still being awaited,” emphasising that the nation’s ports must be empowered by law to work efficiently.
A former Director of Post Privatisation Monitoring at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Kashim Ibrahim Mohammed, said the transportation bills currently pending before the National Assembly will stem the tide of crisis bedeviling cargo handling and clearance at the nation’s ports.
He said for the ports to work optimally, the legislature must enact laws that will separate the functions of the Nigerian Ports Authority as the landlord from that of the regulation, urging the legislature to speed up the passage of the National Transport Commission Bill that was also before it.
He said he anticipates a situation where the Nigerian Shippers Council will be adapted to transmute into the National Transportation Commission (NTC) since the Council had latent statutory functions that are similar to those of the proposed NTC.
In her contribution, Senator Khairat Abdulrazak Gwadabe who spoke on behalf of Maritime Advocacy Group said concessioning of ports was the modern trend globally as virtually all maritime nations have carried out one form of ports concession or the other but lamented that in Nigeria, the exercise was done without first putting the legal frame work in place.
She urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the transport related bills pending before it so as to provide a level playing field that will see Nigeria rake in billions of naira in non oil revenue from the ports.
Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ahmed Rufai Sani had said he was optimistic that the nation’s maritime sector would contribute tremendously to the nation’s economic recovery efforts, saying “With the concessioning of the Port Terminals in 2006, the Nigerian Ports Authority is should no longer be an active participant in the day-to-day running of ports in Nigeria.”
He said the Senate will set new benchmarks and give the needed legal backing, adding that the proposed amendment would look towards the direction of huge revenue generation and creation of jobs.
Meanwhile, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday lamented that Nigeria was losing huge sums of revenue through inefficiencies in the Nigerian maritime transport system.
Declaring open the public hearing, Senate President Saraki who was represented by the Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda, stressed that the nation’s Marine sector has fallen short of meeting the needs of water transportation system and by extension, the nation was losing huge revenues.
He noted that the effective means of water transport was the creation of enabling environment for private participation, saying the 8th Senate was committed to making sure, Acts of NIWA and that of NPA were amended, adding, “The 8th Senate will take time to create enabling laws for private sector participation and NIWA must be part of Nigeria’s agencies that generates revenues for economic growth.”