· N142million to coordinate process of establishing National Carrier
· APMT, TICT indicted for delaying cargo evacuation via Police queries
By Kenneth Jukpor & Yusuf Odejobi
Amid the much publicized tough economic times and paucity of funds in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Transportation will spend N100 million carrying out performance audits of agencies under its supervision, while another N681 million is being spent on national freight offices in Ogun, Sokoto and Katsina States.
The breakdown of the Ministry’s budget obtained by MMS Plus also had numerous activities that should have been contained in agencies budgets domiciled in the Transport Ministry budget.
N82.3billion will be spent on Research and Development,as Monitoring and Evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will cost N437 million, while anniversaries and celebrations will gulp N323 million.
Efforts to establish a national carrier also sees the Ministry budget N142million for the Coordination of the Process of Establishing a National Carrier, while construction of protective fences along the rail corridor in Abraka, Oria, Oruwhorum for Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Aladja railway will cost N595million.
The establishment and management framework for National Freight Offices in the six locations nationwide will cost N142 million, while the offices in Sokoto costs N349 million, Katsina project costs 342million, Idiroko (Ogun) N190 million.
Railway projects (counterpart funding) would gulp over N71 billion, while computerization of registries will gulp N16 million and it is said to be ongoing. Electricity charges for the Federal Ministry of Transportation Headquarters will cost N48 million, while Sewerage charges cost N10million.
Training for International Travels and transport will cost N15 million, Local training and transportation gulps N30 million and another distinct local travel and transport will cost N45 million.
The budget leaves a bitter taste for the media as no budget for media and publicity while Newspapers and Magazines & Periodicals were allocated N2,000,000 and N1,189,685, respectively
However, Office Stationeries/ Computer Consumables will expend N20,000,000 while N58.8 million was budgeted for Miscellaneous, N25 million for Annual budget expenses and administration, while Welfare Packages and Sporting Activities got N18 million and N10 million, respectively.
Attendance of the International Maritime Organizations(IMO) statutory meetings was budgeted for N95 million while transportation inter-governmental engagement, sensitization and awareness programme on intermodal coordination cost N57 million.
Ongoing project for Human Capital Development and Capacity Building for Special and Intervention Programmes/Initiative for the sector was put at N190 million while new project for Nigeria outstanding (2015-2020) counterpart contribution to the Abidjan Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO)for HIV/AID mitigation along the corridor member state seaports would gulp over 133 million.
The Ministry budgeted N71.2 million for purchase of Office furniture and fittings, N28 million to purchase library books and equipment while N45.6million to purchase sporting/gaming equipment.
Construction and provision of headquarter building will cost over N1 billion while railways gulp N71.8 billion.
A new project for the Implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement in the transportation sector was put at 142.5 billion while ongoing project for the provision of electrical power supply, water supply , construction of protective fences along Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Aladja railway corridor cost over 590 million.
Ongoing engineering research and development of rail and marine infrastructure will cost N19million.
New projects like railway infrastructure capacity building in design, construction and operation will cost N28.5 million while modernization of Lagos-Ibadan railway section will gulp over N80 billion.
The implementation of the FOI Act by publishing Ministerial Annual Reports will expend N11.4million, but annual Press Briefings of the Ministries Activities will cost N28.5million, Transport sector HIV/AIDS Social Intervention Program Conferences and Sensitization at Train Terminals and Seaport Communities cost N36.6million.
Ongoing projects for rehabilitation of the central air conditioner system, toilets and office leakages on the roof will gulp over N33 million, Purchase of Office furniture and equipment will cost N19 million. New projects for security equipment and access control would cost N28.5 million; rehabilitation, fumigation and cleaning of ministry’s building cost N14.2 million; and monitoring of clearing of water hyacinth, floating debris and it her regulated services along Inland Waterways by National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) costs N28.5million.
Ongoing projects for National Road Transport and Mass Transit Administrative Server and Projection was put at over N4 million while N32 million was budgeted for National Transportation Survey and Projection (NTSP) programmes.
New projects to replace and upgrade ICT infrastructure was budgeted at N132.5 million, N28.5 million for the activities of the Digital Transformation Sectoral Technical Working Group of the Transportation sector in conjunction with NITDA; and N34.2 million for development of Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) in the ministry.
Ongoing projects for Guarantee Seed Fund for Interstate Road Transport Scheme (ISRT) was put at N95 million, Ports Management of West &Central Africa (PMAWCA) would gulp N142.5 million, while ministerial tenders board meetings of Federal Executive Council documents cost N47.5 million.
New projects for acquisition of test equipment, tools and materials for quality control of rail and marine infrastructure projects was put at N28.5 million, leadership workshop for union leaders, workers day uniform for staff and FMOT union week will cost N47.5 million, budget preparation and NESP implementation by sector working group (SWT) will gulp N95 million.
Also new projects for National Development Plans: Medium and Long Term Plans, Agenda 2050 and annual Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) will gulp N38 million;Production of annual transportation digest statistics in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was put at N42.7 million; and N19.9 for Finalization of the National Transport Policy (NTP) documents and its production and stakeholders sensitization in the six (6) geo-political zones.
In another development, two of the biggest container handling terminals in Lagos State; AP Moller Terminal (APMT) and Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), have been listed as the major culprits in cargo delays in partnership with Nigerian Police.
Findings show that APMT and TICT engage in sharp practices in collaboration with the Police under the auspices of the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) in-charge of Maritime.
Goods which have been cleared by Customs at the terminals are usually subjected to delays following letters from the Police division about suspicious contents keeping the cargoes for three or more days with additional storage charges for the terminals while Police also extort the importers and their freight agents.
There are also indications that leading freight forwarding groups are also part of the illicit arrangements as some associations bag frequent settlements from the police and terminals.
While Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has frowned at the menace, the arrangement has become a grand one, enriching the perpetuators and elongating the cargo evacuation process at Lagos ports.
A veteran freight forwarder and former Chairman of the Governing Board of Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Mr. Hakeem Olarenwaju pleaded with the Police to stop the frequent interception of cargoes already examined by officer of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Olarenwaju also admonished the affected terminals to make freight forwarders aware of Police concerns prior to the examinations, so the Police could be invited to participate during the examination to curb delays.
His words: “The terminals, especially APMT and TICT are guilty of these delays via Police queries. The terminals already have information about the cargoes prior to the arrival and they should hint freight agents about any challenge to enable us to invite Police for the investigation when necessary.”
“We have a situation where the terminals benefit from three or more extra storage charges for consignments already cleared by Customs. The terminals shouldn’t make us believe there isn’t a problem by inviting us for examination without prior notice about Police concerns.”
According to him, the notice of Police interception is usually revealed at point of writing Terminal Delivery Order (TDO), while the terminal had the information several days or weeks earlier.
“Out of all the affected containers Police have written letters to stop, how often do we hear or watch on television that the interception led to seizures. Over 90 percent of what they have stopped will be released immediately, if you do the needful settlements,” he lamented.
