Leadership is key to the success of any organization. Moreover, performance measurement and effectiveness for leaders have shifted over time from traditional metrics which include revenue achievement, cost-management, and employee turnover as well as customer satisfaction scores to modern solution metrics that are Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) focused.
Therefore, in evaluating the performance of Barr. Pius Akutah in the Nigerian Shippers’Council(NSC) in one year, the objectives of the council and the intendments of the instruments establishing it shall form the KPIs which are benchmarked against the activities and achievements enumerated in the interviews herein.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) was established by Decree 13 of 1978 now Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act Cap. N133, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. This was based on the 1965 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s recommendation, urging developing countries to create National Shippers’ Councils as public sector authorities to act as a countervailing force against the exploitative excesses of foreign ship owners and other providers of shipping and related services.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council was appointed the Port Economic Regulator in February 2014, to create an effective regulatory regime at the Nigerian ports for the control of tariffs, rates, charges as well as economic services to address the negative impact of port concession activities on the economy.
The appointment was affirmed by a Presidential Order and a Ministerial Regulation as follows:
1.Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Port Economic Regulator) Order, 2015.
2.Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Port Economic) Regulations 2015.
The functions of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as Port Economic Regulator are as follows:
Provide guidelines on tariff setting in order to guide against arbitrariness;
Monitor and enforce standards of service delivery to ensure availability, accessibility, affordability, stability, predictability and adequacy of services;
Encourage competition and guard against the abuse of monopoly and dominant market positions;
Perform mediatory role among stakeholders;
Establish accessible and modern dispute resolution mechanism
Regulate market entry and exit;
Promote efficiency in the provision of port services;
Minimize high cost of doing business and prevent its inflationary effect on the Nigerian economy;
Encourage private sector investment in the ports;
Monitor and ensure compliance by all parties with the provisions of the Port Concession Agreements.
Other functions of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council are contained in the subsidiary legislations as follows: –
–The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Local Shipping Charges) Regulations 1997.
–The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Inland Container Depot) Regulation 2007.
–The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Container Freight Station) Regulation 2007.
Findings by MMS Plus revealed that Tariff regime regulation and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as well as Regulatory Monitoring and Compliance are the key brand essence of NSC. All other services are deemed to be auxiliary.
Assessing Akutah on these premises there has not been increase in tariff by terminal operators, shipping companies, apart from that of cargo trucking companies since one year now, in spite of the forex volatility and rising energy costs. He held the stool with active engagements with stakeholders.
On SOP, NSC needs to pull through its amendment bill in the National Assembly to effectively monitor agencies and other operating companies to compliance. A compliance platform and committee had since been put in place.
Given that the effectiveness of the Council is dependent on many other stakeholders’ performance with the obvious absence of enabling Act to bite, the Council in the last one year has gained significant spotlight being the result of the leadership drive and consistency of purpose and vision of Akutah to reposition the agency and the industry. He needs more collaborative efforts with all the stakeholders ranging the sub-nationals, investors, agencies and others stakeholders to score more goals
However, he deserves applause for enhancing the operations of NSC with automation, leading to the development of a digital application that saved the nation N133 billion($78m) of what would have been lost in repatriation of funds by foreign firms in the sector. Consequently,Akutah earns 65 over 100 percent score in his one in office in MMS Plus leadership evaluation.
Why We Stopped New Tariff Regime In Nigerian Ports-Akutah
He assumed office on November 1,2024 having been appointed as the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC) on October 30th,2024. Barr. Pius Akiyama Akutah, who is currently pursuing his doctorate in Law is a renowned public prosecutor with the Federal Ministry of Justice was brought to NSC to sharpen the government’s port reforms initiative and make the ports globally competitive. Like Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who wore humility as a garment into Aso Villa, Akutah came into NSC like a nobody and the fleeting impression was for a moment but before the naysayers could latch on it and celebrate, they discovered he came prepared to usher a new port order. He is a serial award winner, with the most eloquent being his recognition by the Federal Government with an national honour, which is a testament of his dedication to duty. AS a public prosecutor, he handled international and national 16 flagship cases for the Ministry of Justice but lost just one which is the extradition case of DC Abba Kyari to the United States of America. He talks little of himself and does more in action. Akutah needs a comprehensive profile of himself because he is a moving story bellied in his humble and receptive mien. It is one year, and Akutah is recounting his experience and strides against all odds. He speaks on why transport infrastructure in the South East, that is, the dry port in Abia State and Vehicle Transit Area(VTA) in Enugu have not been developed; his plan to reposition the nation’s maritime logistics space; his management style and how much he saved the nation from the repatriation profiteering of the multinational shipping firms, among others. Excerpts:
How would you describe your first year in office?
It’s a year I will live to remember the rest of my life. It’s been very challenging I must say. I came in November 1, 2023 and by December of the year there was a new policy of 50 percent automatic deduction of internally generated revenue (IGR) of all agencies and ministries, department and agencies, MDAs. Just being barely a month on the saddle, that policy came and it hit us very hard. Being an agency that receives handouts from the government, we plan quarterly with whatever allocation that comes to us. We just got allocation for the fourth quarter of the year in December and we started planning with it up to February. Before you know it, in December the policy came and wiped out all the money we had planned with. There was a new account for us that gave us zero balance. Here am I, new in the agency with a staff strength close to 500 and there was no money to pay salaries. How do I manage these people so that they would not go on strike? It was very challenging. Thank God we were able to navigate our way through. Nobody went on strike. They were happy because when I came in December, most of what was owed them, immediately that allocation came we were able to clear most of the outstanding commitments. So they trusted me and kept calm until we were able to go through. That was the baptism of fire that I received. We continued and began stakeholders’ engagement. I will say it has been an eventful year. There are a lot of success stories I have recorded and I think I can say it is a successful year.
Looking at where you are coming from, the Ministry of Justice and the role you played and the challenges here under one year, apart from the issue of disruption, how would you compare both?
Basically, I will say that I did not deviate so much from what I was doing in the Ministry of Justice. At the Ministry of Justice, I had been a prosecutor. I handled a lot of high profile cases in this country, not just normal criminal cases, but even terrorism cases. At the end of the day I pitched my tent in international criminal law and because of that I developed the international cooperation mechanisms on criminal matters to the point that I headed the Nigerian section for a number of years before I left to come here. I had direct contact with public international organizations like the UN, Commonwealth, other development partners like the USAID, GIZ, and so many of them. I also had a robust relationship with embassies and High Commissions, all working in Nigeria. My interactions with the outside justice sector also was very robust. I was involved in many of the cases like the P&ID case. I did a lot of work in those cases. I’m not taking the credit but I know that the team we worked together know the roles that I played in those cases. So, coming here, actually I would say I was fully prepared in the Ministry of Justice to step into my role here. And in this agency also, there is a lot of international cooperation platforms. You have the IMO, and others like the Union of African Shippers Council. These are public international agencies that are working together with the Council to see how to move forward the maritime sector. You know the maritime sector is an international sector that has to deal with different countries. So being someone that has worked to the extent that I became conversant with legal jurisdictions of different countries around the world, even in the civil law jurisdictions, I have knowledge in so many legal systems of different countries. I think I stepped into this position seamlessly. Now the only thing I can say I miss is the courts. I think I’m just on leave. I will certainly go back to the courts.
What would say are your milestones for one year in Shippers Council?
The major milestone I will talk about for now is the completion and commissioning of the inland dry port in Funtua. I was in line with the directive of Mr. President and also the directive of the minister as handed over to us when we signed our performance bond. That was one of the top most things on that performance bond for me to achieve. I was able to achieve it in the first quarter of the year.
Let’s talk about the legal regime. The Nigerian Ports Agency Regulatory Bill which is pending at the National Assembly.
I would have been happier to report that the bill is passed and has been assented to. This is because the president has his eyes on the sector to grow the economy. And the president is right because our dependence on the oil and gas sector has made us poorer than we thought we were going to be. Elsewhere people focus more attention on this sector because the sector will grow the economy faster. By and large, the oil and gas sector may give us $50 billion a year or thereabout but the maritime sector can give us over $200 billion a year if well managed and harnessed. The structures of the maritime sector support any kind of business in Nigeria, including oil and gas. It is the foundation of any economy. And the president got it right when he decided to focus attention in this part of the economy to grow this country and develop the country with speed. You will see that the infrastructure in this sector has decayed over the years. So he is looking at revamping the sector and he created the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry. Now as an agency in this ministry we know that the 2014 presidential directive for the ports to have a regulator was by design because over the years after concessions of 2006 there was this gap of not having a port economic regulator. Shippers Council has been playing that role since 2006 when the ports were concessioned but to make a pronouncement was 2014 when the president decided to make Shippers Council the port regulatory authority. But you know the nitty-gritty of what a port regulatory authority will do in terms of stabilizing the sector, growing the economy from this sector, achieving the efficiency of the port system were not captured in that presidential directive. So there is a need to have a legislation that will take care of that. As a result of that so many attempts had been made for a legislation which failed. You also know that this agency is founded on a 1978 law which has never changed. For over 40 years that law has not changed. You can see that the reality of what is in practice today is far apart to what is obtainable in that legislation. There is no way 1978 legislation would contemplate what is happening in 2024. Going forward there is a need to have a new law and the president has submitted a law that will give us not just a new sector but provide the legal framework that will drive the efficiency of the institutions that are working in the sector. You can see NIMASA, they are also amending their law. NPA is also trying to amend its law. We also took the bill as one of our major agenda going forward. Thank God that the House of Representatives has passed the bill. The Senate is about to give concurrence. I believe that as soon as it is out the president will assent to it. Most of the stakeholders have agreed that there is a need to have that legislation to boost the activities of the sector. We at the ministry level, Ministry of Marine and Blue economy, the minister provided the needed leadership, called all the stakeholders and agencies. We sat down together in one room and reviewed that legislation line by line, word by word; from one section to the end. We have all agreed that this is one we want to be passed. The agencies complement each so we cannot be working at cross purposes. It will not help us so we all agreed on what we want the National Assembly to pass as a law for the establishment of the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency. The bill when passed will be a major milestone in terms of giving us what is needed in this agency.
You are aware of the negotiated minimum standards for maritime workers in the shipping subsector of the economy. This has eluded us for over 30 years. With the directive of the minister and the support the minister gave us we were able to achieve that in record time. We are at the implementation stage now. We are calling on shipping companies to go ahead and begin the implementation as quickly as possible.
We held the international maritime law seminar for judges. We are at the implementation stage of the recommendations that came out of it.
There are so many other things. This building was given to us by a dedicated Nigerian. If you go round this building you will see that it looks as if at some point it was not maintained may be because of resources. We are speaking with the minister to see how we can raise money to turn around this building. There is a conference facility built to international global standard but it is not put to use because of certain maintenance challenges. We are looking at how we can quickly arrest some of the wrong with this building. The integrity test has been conducted. We have seen there are some areas where this building needs quick attention to reclaim it. It is also a major thing we are looking at achieving so that this place will come back to life. People can come from all over the world to hold conferences here and we can also generate revenue.
We have just done promotion exercise. We have developed a new succession plan because when we came in we observed that there was a gap. The agency was top heavy; the middle was very lean. By the end of this year five directors would have retired, deputy directors, it may be about seven or eight. So people are retiring. We realized that in the next five years most of the people at that would have left. So what do we do? We need to develop capacity as quickly as possible. We started a succession planning program. There are consultants we are working with. Already we are identifying some high flyers. We have a very transparent process to select them. We will train them quickly and equip them with necessary skills and capacity to step into some of those roles.
Then we came up with the issue of AMS. We want to go paperless and we started building a brand new data bank for this agency because we know that in today’s world data is everything. We want to be able to have data that is accurate, reliable and will give us the right information about what we are looking at. For instance since I came in, we put the issue of tariff review on hold because we know what is happening in the economy. We will not grow the economy through incessant tariff reviews lest we chop the economy and kill business completely. How do we even ascertain that tariff review is needed when we don’t have adequate data; data that is very reliable that will give us informed judgment about tariff reviews. When we have this it is going to help us going forward. Then we came up with an application to help us to ascertain the reasonableness of charter party and tariffs because the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN gave us a role to play in ascertaining the reasonableness of companies’ requests when they want to repatriate profits. We have to ascertain what is reasonable. With that app we were able to save about N60 billion last year. In this year we have already saved N33 billion. By the end of the year we would have hit N40 billion. The other day we demonstrated it with the minister and he was very impressed. We are going to discuss with the CBN governor so that we can have that hand shake and then the app will be fully launched so that it can be the only way to confirm reasonableness of the requests.
There are so many other milestones in the pipeline. We have visited most of the zonal offices. We have met with stakeholders and doubled our stakeholder engagements to be able to gather information that would help us organize our affairs properly to serve them better.
On a final note, let me talk about this: we are looking into the issue of African Continent Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Nigeria came late into that agreement although we were part of the negotiations and when it was time to sign we reneged. By the time we were advised to sign and we assented to it, all that would have been open for us to compete had been taken away, the job opportunities, the secretariat had gone, the office of the secretary general had gone. Everything was gone, so we came into the open market of over a billion people with a combined GDP of over $4 trillion. Now what do we do? Do we sit down and fold our arms and allow the rest of Africa flood our markets with their goods? We have to do something. Now we are looking at the issue of maritime logistics as one of the major areas of the failure of that agreement’s implementation. As a council, we are looking at what to do to make Nigeria a hub for maritime logistics. You might think that we are day dreaming. Some other persons have even said that Nigeria is disadvantaged and they have already mapped trade routes. How do you recreate the trade routes to make Nigeria a hub? But we believe that at the moment 99 percent chances are that goods moving from country to another African country will first of move to Europe before coming to Africa. So connectivity problem is a big issue. The other day we got report that over 2,700 export containers were at some terminals for over 90 days. We went to some of the terminals and after we had meetings with them and confirmed that this was true, we directed that within four days all of those containers should move to their various destinations. So they moved. That’s the issue about connectivity. If a container had already spent 90 days on ground and when it leaves our port it’s going to Europe before it starts going back to wherever it is going. If it is in Africa then you can imagine at what time it will arrive. What about the contract that was signed? We are trying to tackle these issues head on to see how we can resolve them. We are also looking at the internal problems of connectivity, the inter- modal transportation to support the movement of goods from the seaport to the hinterland because the inland dry ports that we have today are supposed to be ports of original destination but at the moment they are not functioning like that. They are functioning like bonded terminals because of the means of transportation and the liability regime. That is why we are also pushing for the carriage of goods by land to be passed as an Act of the National Assembly so support the liability regime so that goods coming from anywhere in the world can establish any of the inland dry ports as the port of destination. Shippers living within the areas of the inland dry ports would not need to come to the seaport. The goods just and they are transferred to the rail line or the trailers that would just move them to the inland dry ports.
These are some of the things we are looking at that we need to mention.
What is the position on sea link and position with Nexim Bank?
Recently, I had an engagement with country representative for the implementation of AfCFTA, Segun Awolowo and we raised this issue of sea link. We will be meeting to discuss ways of implementing sea link. It is an idea that will help movement of goods around Africa in particular. It is very crucial to us particularly now that we are looking at making Nigeria a hub maritime logistics. It is very crucial we discuss that. We also try to contact other shipping companies like PIL. We had a meeting with the global CEO in our head office. One of the things we talked about was the issue of making Nigeria a maritime logistics hub. That shipping line is one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. Nigeria has a huge population of shippers that make use of the company. The challenge is that they come to Nigeria with cargo and going back they will be no cargo. Or when there is cargo to take, the cargo is not going straight. They will have to start moving from point to point and by the time they get back the cost is higher, the insurance is also higher, the length of days it will take them to go round is longer, and it is not good for the cargo that they carry.
So what do we do to establish direct link with them so that they begin to come and go back straight?
By that we are also looking at raising the cargo that they can take from here so that it becomes more attractive for them to come and go back straight.
What kind of cargo do they move from here?
Agro based and raw materials of various kinds basically.
It requires integrated concept. You know that recently FP&T recently did the RORO ship transshipment between China and Europe right here in Lagos. And they did two of them which was a very good sign that what we are looking at and what we are trying to promote is doable. It’s so soothing to know that after the transshipment there was no single scratch. Everything was done professionally.
Is there a committee in place for the maritime logistics hub?
(He shows and guides his media guests through the electronic logistics masterplan in his office)The very first stage of developing the logistics hub – you can see the seaport down there, you see Lagos, Onne. Going into the hinterlands you will see those red dots. You see Kano, Katsina, and Kaduna. These are the inland dry ports that are working at the moment. By the western side which is Lagos port, you see that there is already a rail line from Lagos all the way to Kano. But on the eastern side there is none. You can see we have the old light gauge. You can see it there going all the places through Enugu and going up there. But it is not in use. Then you can see the roads. Borno alone on the other side is bounding with Niger, Cameroon and Chad, three countries. So there is a lot of volume of trade going over that area. What do we do to provide it with adequate inter modal transport system that will carry cargo from either the eastern port all the way to Borno and then may be across into the other countries. These are the things that Shippers Council is looking. This is the initial stage .at the end of the day we will look for investors. Of course this is the role of the Ministry of Transportation as it is now. For Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, our own concern is cargo. We cannot sit down and fold our hands. We know it is the role of the Ministry of Transportation. We are not taking over their role. But if we can advocate for this to serve our shippers better and we have partners who are willing to work with us. For instance, when you talk about building rail line there are technologies today that to build a rail line is no longer a problem. There are technologies that in two months you can build a thousand kilometer rail line. If we are able to advocate for this and we have investors who are ready to put their money in this concession, for instance, for 30 years to recover their money. We know that rail is the safest, the cheapest and the best means of cargo transportation.
We are also looking at the inland water ways which the ministry of marine and blue economy is looking at dredging our inland water ways, 10,000 kilometers in the next four years. These are options for us to begin to look at investments in this area. Look at our airports. International airports you can see where we marked them. Kano is there, Abuja is there, Port Harcourt is there, and Lagos. These are key entry points for air freight. Now how do we also look at harmonizing the air freight to see how air cargo will become lucrative business in Nigeria and less expensive because at the moment it is very expensive? Today, we met with the law firm of Babalakin & Co for us to look at the issues around infrastructure concessioning because Dr. Babalakin has practical experience as the only company that is operating a privately owned airport in this part of the world. He has technical and practical experience to be able to guide us so that we can even look into some of these concession agreements that had been done over the years and nothing has happened. We are of the view that some of them are as a result of incapacity on the part of some of the concessionaires to raise the money to be able to construct the various projects. We are looking at all these to come up with something that we can present. And this has already gone to the minister and he has set up a committee. The committee has our members on it but we are also working to improve this and then feed the committee. As we work and improve on it, we feed the committee. At the end of the day when we get to that point, the minister will present it to the council.
On the Enugu issue, how much of resolution have you done with the governor?
On the Enugu issue, I must commend the governor. I had a meeting with the SSG on the issue of that land. He came to me, in my office here, and he raised the issue of government being concerned that the land is not developed, hoodlums had taken over the place committing crimes and atrocities and all that. So, they were thinking that they would change the purpose and turn it into an inland dry port. And I said no.
When you talk of inland dry port, if your target is Enugu you shouldn’t be thinking of taking an inland dry port farther away from the seaport. Obolafor is north of Enugu. Why not look for a location south of Enugu that is getting you closer to go to the seaport? A shipper in Enugu for instance who wants to take his goods to the seaport should first of all transport his goods to Obollo-afor which is in the north and then begin to take the goods back to the seaport. No, you don’t take it farther away. Obollo-afor by all standards is a vehicle transit area. That is what goes on in Obollo-afor till today. It is a natural setting. That’s the way it is. You go there any day, it is a vehicle transit area, nothing short of that.
I don’t see why we will turn that place into inland dry port. Besides, it is not going to be viable. If you put an IDP there it will not be viable but a vehicle transit area is going to be very viable. It will create a lot businesses there. Already, this is happening. It will only enhance it.
He would get back to the governor and talk to the governor. I was here and I got two letters in one day; one letter notifying me of government’s intention to revoke the C of O, and a second letter, both dated the same day and signed by the same person, revoking the land. I instructed my lawyers to go to court. As we were preparing to go to court I met the governor in the Villa and I said, Your Excellency, you and I have an axe to grind. I am preparing a case against your government over my land. He said what happened? I am not aware. Which land? I said, the land in Obollo-afor. He said, what happened? I said, you have revoked the land. He said, no, that he never directed anybody to revoke the land. He said there was nothing like that and that we needed to sit down and talk. It is the time for us to sit down and talk that we have never had yet. So I asked the lawyers to calm down until we are able to resolve the issue. He told me that he didn’t that he only wanted to know and that he didn’t even request to change the purpose and that he was concerned that nothing was being done there. And I said, we have enhanced the land. We have put in a lot of resources there to fence it, to clear the land, and others. But then the state also has its own role to play. Look at what the governor of Ogun state is doing. If you look at the transit park he has built, it is amazing. Adamawa is doing the same thing too.
Look at what has recently happened in Jigawa, that tanker explosion and the president mandated the Secretary to the Government of Federation, SGF to go there to see what happened and come up with means and ways to ameliorate that. And we are saying that we are promoting the establishment of the vehicle transit area for a reason because the Nigerian Shippers Council conducted a study which showed that there is an international protocol on the hours that a driver should be on the road for haulage businesses which is eight hours, after which they have to take a rest. But at the moment because of the lack of vehicle transit areas you drivers keep driving all through. Because of fatigue some sleep on the steering, lose control, destroy properties, kill people and all that. I think we need to come up with a position very clearly in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy on this issue of vehicle transit areas and see how the partnership between the state government and private investors who want to invest in this area will become very effective and we make sure that these vehicle transit areas take effect and are working, and we enforce the eight-hour rule. We are already working with road safety on this issue. We must see to the extent that we implement this and ensure that no driver works beyond eight hours. They should park their vehicles and sleep, relax, refresh and check their vehicles before setting out for night journey. We must have to find a way to enforce this working together with other relevant agencies.
What’s the position with the inland dry port in Abia State?
Recently, I was with governor of Abia State and we had a discussion on that. The good news is that he has asked me to see him in Umuahia, so that we can sit down and talk about that. He was of the view that the inland dry port may not be viable in that location. He too was talking about the same thing I have talked about, the location. He said that about is down. Isiala Ngwa is up. Will you pass Aba and go to Isiala Ngwa and then begin to bring back your goods back to Aba? I noticed that he had done a lot of consultations in that regard. He has interest in having this in his state but his worry is about the viability. He told me that he would rather the government dredged the river. In fact he even knows the number of kilometers that will get to his location. So, if the government is dredging the river, his target is that while they dredged to where he is looking at, he has the people who are ready to build a seaport for him. And that seaport will be better. In terms of transportation of goods it will be easier and cheaper. That is what he is looking at. He has his focus on something else which I believe that from my conversation with him, he has done a lot research in that area to be able to come up with this. But then when I persisted on inland dry port in Abia State. In the whole of the southeast the concentration of business in terms of manufacturing, import and export is in Abia and Anambra, Aba and Onitsha, these are the highest. So if we have Abia State set up something there, it’s going to help the other around especially, even going up north. With Anambra’s proximity to River Niger, it could serve the other states going even up to Midwestern Nigeria, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Benue and all that, wherever. But then this other side, Abia state cannot service Ebonyi, Benue, Taraba, going up. He said, okay, let’s sit down in his office and talk. Probably when I come with my team we will talk.
When we commissioned the Funtua dry inland port, the president directed the minister to ensure that all other legacy inland dry ports are worked on as quickly as possible for commissioning. The minister directed us to go round and look at the investments that had been put in each of them, ascertain what was going on with them and give him a report which we have done. We went round and checked some of them. There are some we have not visited but we have received reports from the concessionaires and some project advisers have been appointed to work on them. We can see that majority of them are at 5 percent, just very down there. I went to Isiala Ngwa myself, it is just bush. That is why we are worried about the concession agreement and the concession processes. We need to look into those agreements to see may be there are certain clauses that ought to have been inputted into those agreements that will make the concessionaires know they are not there forever, if you cannot commence work. Look at the one in Ibadan, I was there myself. Some investments have been done there but it is still in the bush and the community came together and donated the land. They have a very strong meeting for the inland dry port and every Saturday they meet for all the years. They are so committed to the extent that they came here. We had meeting with them together with the concessionaires and the new investors that want to come onboard. We are also trying to advocate that new investors should come and join the concessionaires like in Maiduguri, the Jurei inland dry port, where it is located because of insecurity, nobody can go there at the moment unless government provides security. But can you be building a facility of that nature under that kind of security arrangement? So they will continue to guard it all through? Every time people go there for business they are afraid. The governor is committed to having an inland dry port for his people. He’s committed. He came here. He is the first governor to visit us since I assumed office as the ES. With the commitment he gave us, we have set up teams working together with new investors and the concessionaire. He is even ready to assign another portion of land different from the earlier location because of insecurity. He has done so much. I told you about the vehicle transit park he has built. If the concessionaire and the new investors agree, they can have that port very close to the vehicle transit park.
This is how it is. Governors must also show commitment in developing some of these critical infrastructures in their states because you know they are the landlords and owners of the land. If they don’t give you land, there is nothing you can do. They have to give land. When we went to commission the one in Funtua, Katsina State, the role that the governor of the state played in terms of developing some of the infrastructure for the inland dry port were highlighted and the governor was applauded for the role that he played. And then the role the Shippers Council played in ensuring its realization. The one Kano too, the governor played a key role in ensuring the success of the project.
On relationship with the Nigerian Railway Corporation
We have a very robust relationship with the Nigerian Railway Corporation. Just recently we signed an MoU and the benefit of the MoU to shippers is enormous. In it we highlighted the need for rail transportation to be the most preferred choice means of transportation for movement of cargo. At that event one of the things that the managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation said was that now we have rail line from Lagos to Kano, the issue is the cargo. We are looking for the cargo to carry. At Shippers Council we looked at the MoU we have signed. At the implementation stage we are concerned about the cost. As much as rail transportation is supposed to be the cheapest, at the moment it seems the opposite because the difference may not be so much from trucking. This is because of the handling charges. When a vessel arrives with the cargo the handling charges for the cargo to be taken from the ship and loaded to the conveyor belts that will carry the container to the hinterlands has to be borne by someone. It is not the inland dry port that bears it. It is not the railway corporation that will bear it. It is actually the shipper that has to bear the cost which is done by the terminal operators. Of course it is a service they are providing so someone has to pay for it. That is where we have identified now as the cause of the high cost of movement by train to the hinterland. Once we are able to sort out the handling cost, we will understand how to reduce that cost and make it very cost efficient.
Do you also have a relationship with Federal Road Safety Corps?
Yea, the Road Safety Corps has a big role to play with us. There is a synergy and we also have an MoU we have signed with them and we are working together for safety on the roads. Recently we had conferences. We had one in Lagos. There is one in Abuja coming up next week or so. Then there will be one in Port Harcourt and another one in Kano. We are holding four of them for this year. We are promoting safety of cargo on the roads because our concern is that when cargo leaves from wherever location to its destination, its safety is our concern. We work together not only with road safety but other private sector, public sector institutions that have to do with safety of cargoes on the road. Even the road transport workers we try to collaborate with them to ensure the safety of the cargo that is on the road. We also work with truck owners association, and so many of these bodies to ensure the safety of cargo on the roads.
How much have you worked on the template for pricing freight forwarders services?
For the eastern ports, we negotiated the freight charges. We brought stakeholders together. It was a long process. At the end of the day we were able to launch that freight regime for the eastern ports. But immediately after that there were very serious agitations, we had to call all of them back to Lagos and we had a meeting with them. I also went to Port Harcourt and during my stakeholders’ engagement this issue also came up. The issue was that some parts of the groups said they were not carried along and that the cost was too high so they wanted it to come down. We renegotiated it and we pleaded with them to let it free of choice, depending on what is agreed between parties. We deregulated it and asked them to go back and look at the indices and bring it back to us. We will look at our own indices and harmonize. That’s where we are. We haven’t really taken a conclusion on what the rate should be.
We are also looking at the air freight. We are having an air freight conference in Port Harcourt. We are looking at harmonizing the freight not only the one for trucking but also for air freight and rail.
What’s the position on the cargo defense fund?
The cargo defense fund, thank God for those who came up with the idea. The fact that the case that went to court came out in our favor and at the end of the day most of the shipping companies and terminal operators are coming for settlement. As we speak, we have received payment from one of the shipping companies into the account of the cargo defense fund with the Central bank of Nigeria. We received that fund because the settlement has been reached even before I came in here. But because the case was still at the Supreme Court nobody was interested in taking the funds. You know how money keeps losing value if you don’t take it. For me, it was important that once the Supreme Court has given its final verdict in a consensus judgment it is important for us to start taking these funds, at least, let them be with us. We took the first company that paid N13 million which is in the TSA account. The second and third companies would have paid already but the challenge we now have is that shippers Association, Lagos State chapter has been in crisis and they were the ones joined in the suit at the point. We are using them as a point of contact for the entire shippers in Nigeria because the money is meant for the entire shippers in Nigeria. Anything that we can do for the benefit of shippers. But because Lagos State Shippers Association was with us in the suit we want to be able to carry them along at any point in time. The crisis they have is delaying our collection. Some of the companies are ready to pay what they have negotiated even before I came here but I said no. To sign the agreement there is a column for them to also sign. I can’t sign the MoU alone. They also have to sign to show the transparency but because they are embroiled in this crisis the thing is delaying the whole process.
Recently, I invited all of them here and I called the national president of the shippers association here. And the national president declared that if we did not resolve nobody would leave the hall that day. So I think a resolution was made but when they leave the meeting and go back, that’s when you know whether the thing has actually been resolved. We are at that level but we are still doing everything possible to resolve the matter. We have contacted Mr. Hassan Bello, since he had worked with them to call some of them and speak to them to see how we can come back together because it is only when they are united that we can bring all of them to do what we want to do. Already we are looking at what the judgment says. Within the ambit of the judgment what are the options? What can we do? Is it that that money is meant to be given to shippers to share? No, I don’t that is the intendment of that fund. When it was operational it took care of even cost of litigation of cases. For instance, you set up an export processing facility where you have computers, electricity, internet, shippers can go there and do whatever they want to do by themselves, even study the available opportunities for them and we have people who will put them through. We were in Kano the other and we saw a shipper who got a consignment to ship some goods out of the country and he committed about $70,000 without consulting a lawyer, without consulting anybody and without having a business plan and he was about to lose the money until we came in. The director of the northwest zonal office was right on hand and immediately they contacted the complaints unit and the issue was resolved. The shipping company has paid back the $70,000 and the goods were returned to him.
Management of women and their ratio in the council
You know, you can’t do without women in an organization like this one. I have a lot of women although I don’t know their ratio. I know that we have a lot of women. Looking around you will think that we have more women than men. I don’t know. The director of human resources is a woman. The immediate past director of regulatory services is a woman. The current director of regulatory services is a woman. And I have many of them like that who have contributed immensely to what this place is. There are so many like that. In some departments you have three women as deputy directors and they are contributing immensely to the growth of this organization.
On Border Information Centers
The BICs were created with the intention to monitor international trade at the borders. You that most of our border lines are respected by us from a distance. But people who live around the borders don’t understand that they are borders because they live over the years as a community. If you go to Cotonou, they are Yorubas both in Nigeria and in Benin Republic. They all speak one language. So they do not understand if there are borders. So when they carry out trade they are not doing so within the context of international trade. No, it’s local trade for them. They don’t know. For us it is important because of the information that will go into our data base to show the volume of international trade that we are involved in. The BICs are to help us to formalize those informal trades so that at the end of the day we are able to capture them as part of the international trade we are engaged in and also the kind of investments that come into the country and out of the country, and to also be able to control what is taken out of the country in the border areas. So the border information center are very important. We have different international organizations come and visit the border information centers to obtain information and they come back here with great excitement at what they saw. The challenge is that we have not developed them to the point where we want them to be. At the moment, they do not have the required technological innovation to have them generate the type of information that we require. But we are looking at partnering with UNDP and AfCFTA secretariat. We had a meeting with the country representative, Segun Awolowo. He told us that he was interested in partnering with us in the work that the BICs are doing. We are looking at enhancing the capacity of the BICs to be able to work.
STAKEHOLDERS” IMPRESSION
Politicking Between Ministry And Its Agencies Bugs Shippers’ Council-Agu
Chief Cajetan Agu is a retired former director of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). He is one of the few versatile technocrats in the maritime industry one can assign a responsibility and go to sleep. He is never tired at adventures. In this brief chat with MMS Plus, he previews the performance of the Executive Secretary of NSC, Barr. Pius Akutah who just spent one in office as chief executive officer. Excerpt:
Thank you very, very much for being around. I want to start this interview with the appraisal of the performance of the ES, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council, in the last one year. He became one year 30th of October.
I want to look at how much of effort he has put in terms of regulation, how much of the industry has he been able to, you know, take under his control and do the work expected. Let’s look at this from the viewpoint of regulation. How much would you say he’s done in the area of regulation, which is the core responsibility of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council?
Well, let me start by, at least, appreciating you for giving me an audience to throw some light on what the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council, Barr.Pius Akutah, what he has achieved in the past one year.
Unfortunately, the ES resumed office at a point the Nigerian Shippers’ Council was in a tariff war. That was a war between the Nigerian Shipper’s Council itself and the freight forwarders and some shippers. Because there was certain increases in tariff and some stakeholders felt that they were not adequately consulted.
So that was what the ES met when he resumed the duty at the Nigerian Shipper’s Council. And we know that tariff review forms part of our regulatory functions. I can say authoritatively that within the first one week in office, the Executive Secretary was able to resolve that matter.
He was able to resolve that matter and there was a drastic reduction on earlier increases in tariff. There was a reduction. That’s the first assignment.
That particular incident opened the eye of the then incoming Executive Secretary to observe that the framework, the existing framework for regulation is not in favor of the Shipper’s Council in terms of the powers of sanction and also the powers to issue notices. And what he did was to swing into action. He called for a total amendment of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council Act.
And this brings us to the issue of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council Port Economic Regulatory Agency bill, which is still before the National Assembly. I was part of the team and we vigorously pursued the enactment of that bill. I think for now that bill has gone the first, second, and third round before both chambers of the House.
And I believe that what is actually holding that bill is the issue of politicking between the ministry and its agencies. There have been some territorialism in terms of feeling that the new bill might impeach on the existing regulation. But the Executive Secretary has done what he’s supposed to do within his strength to ensure that the bill is passed.
And definitely if the bill is passed, you know in the past they used to say that the Nigerian Shipper’s Council happened to be a toothless bulldog. Definitely that bill is expected to give the Shipper’s Council a bite. It’s expected to give the Nigerian Shipper’s Council the power to control some of the inertia within the sector.
That bill is supposed to give the Nigerian Shipper’s Council the power to correct some of the abnormalities in the system because there’s a lot of abnormalities in the Nigerian transport system. The issue of corruption is there, the issue of human-to-human contact within our port system is there, which also leads to the same corruption. And also the issue of many agencies doing the same work.
These are some of the things that this bill is supposed to address. I think regulation-wise, this is exactly what I can tell you that he was able to do because for the past one year that he resumed duty. He started pushing vigorously the issue of ensuring that we have a new regulatory framework to guide the Nigerian Shipper’s Council in carrying out these activities.
Now having looked at it from the viewpoint of regulatory framework, which is basically that of the bill at the National Assembly, do we also look at how much he has done in terms of tariff control? There have been cases in court, Appeal Court and I think now the Supreme Court, if I’m right, on tariff discrepancies and discretionary way of bringing in tariff, imposing tariff on shippers. How much has he been able to do, if not from the legal side, the one existing, what about the other one? Terminal operators and shipping lines just wake up slam bills and all that. Has he been able to control that?
Well tariff-wise, you know I told you that the first assignment he handled when he arrived at the Nigerian Shipper’s Council was the issue of lingering disagreement between some shippers, freight forwarders and shipping companies. Because Shipper’s Council actually authorized certain increase in tariff for shipping companies and terminal operators and the freight forwarders felt that they were not consulted. You see the regulation of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council made it mandatory that both the users and the provider of the service must come to round table.
So actually it was not done properly, due process was not followed and that was what the ES did. He made sure that he quickly called a meeting and all the stakeholders were there at the meeting. At that meeting there was an agreement that the increase should be reviewed downward which was done and the stakeholders were satisfied with the settlement.
That was the first thing that we did and I can equally authoritatively tell you that since after that incident up to date there was a zero increment in tariff for both shipping companies and terminal operators. So he was able to stabilize the tariff increase for terminal operators and also for shipping companies for the past one year. There is no incident of increase in tariff and rates for that past one year.
So that is an outstanding achievement. But you can equally look at other areas where he made some remarkable achievements. Even when he also came, he met also another problem on ground and that was the dispute between the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria and the shipping companies. There was a disagreement on minimum standard of service for shipping company workers.
The Maritime Workers’ Union has threatened to shut down the port if the issue was not addressed there. And the Honorable Minister of Transportation then and later the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy asked Nigerian Shipper’s Council to intervene. Shipper’s Council intervened in that matter and it was a series of meetings that took more than one year.
A series of negotiation. Shipper’s Council actually mid-wife that round of negotiations between shipping companies and maritime workers. And at the end of the day there was an agreement on the minimum standard of service for shipping company workers.
And I think that agreement was consummated on the 23rd of August, if I’m not correct, 2024 at Eko Hotel. And the Honorable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy presided over that ceremony where an agreement was signed between the Maritime Workers’ Union and also the representatives of shipping companies on the minimum condition of service for workers in the shipping sector. That’s one aspect.
Then another one again, when you also look at the issue of the support infrastructure, you are aware that Nigerian Shipper’s Council is also promoting the establishment of inland dry ports. And within that one year, Shippers Council was also able to commission a brand new inland dry port. That’s another milestone achievement by the Executive Secretary.
Even though I left in April, but I was also aware, I left, I’m retired, precisely on the 24th of April. But I know that after that, the council had embarked on aggressive enlightenment. Not necessarily engagement, but enlightenment.
More especially on the issue of non-oil exports. There was one that took place in Kano, another one in Makurdi, Benue. There was another one that also took place in Port Harcourt.
The purpose of this engagement is in line with government policy to diversify the non-oil sector. Because when you look at the Nigerian economy, you discover that we are not doing very well export-wise. We are supposed to export more.
And that is even the bane of what the economy is suffering from now. Because when you export more, you generate more forests. There are certain indicators that we are observing that is not the best for Nigeria as a country.
Take for instance, when you look at the issue of ginger production, you discover that Nigeria happens to be the largest producer of ginger in the whole world. But unfortunately, the largest exporter of ginger happens to be Ghana. The largest producer of yam in the whole world happens to be Nigeria.
But the largest producer of yam happens to be Ghana. The largest exporter happens to be Ghana. So this is an issue that is worrisome.
And that is the reason why the Shipper’s Council has to embark on an aggressive enlightenment. Because it was discovered that, number one, the issue of packaging has not been taken seriously. When you see the packaging done in Ghana and that done in Nigeria, you will see the difference.
And you know that in international trade, packaging makes product to be appealing. So these are some of the issues we try to enlighten the exporters. That for you to export, you have to brand your product and do the correct package.
Then also the issue of cost. And that is the reason the Shippers’ Council is committed to ensure that the bill is passed. When you look at the cost, cost-wise our port is not doing very well.
There was even a quote by the president of African Development Bank, our own brother, where he was saying that to export a 40-foot container in Ghana, you would have to spend around $4,000. But the same 40-foot container in Nigeria, you would be spending fortunes. An amount even running up to $30,000 per one ton, I mean one ton of cargo.
You spend $4,000 in Ghana and you spend almost $30,000 in Nigeria. That’s not the best. And these are some of the issues that the Shippers’ Council bill is supposed to address.
When you also look at the global performance index, you will discover that Nigeria is equally not doing very well. Look at the year 2023. Nigeria is 110 out of 139 countries ranked in terms of global performance logistic index.
So if your child is in a school and he is 110 out of 139, we will not give him a pat on the back. He’s not doing very well. So these are some of the issues that we are trying to address.
How do we perform better in terms of ranking in global logistics performance index? We need to do better. And what are some of the indicators? What are those factors that are responsible or that the World Bank will take into consideration when they are doing the ranking? Some of the factors is the issue of custom. Yes, custom is doing well now. They also need to do better. Issue of custom is there. Then issue of logistic infrastructure. How are we performing in terms of logistics?
And you see that is part of the work that even our new ES is doing. To promote efficiency of the logistic infrastructure.
And that was the reason why the Funtua Inland Dry Port came up. What is the implication of the Funtua Inland Dry Port coming up? The implication is that if there is somebody in Funtua coming to Lagos to come and process their goods, he will do it in Funtua. So you can see the cost in saving, cost of transport to Lagos, cost of accommodation to Lagos, and also the hassles at the Lagos airport.
You see the convenience that the Funtua Inland Dry Port will provide. So another factor that the World Bank takes into consideration is the issue of tracking and traceability of cargo. Do we have that competence to track and trace cargo? The answer is no. So other factors. Then other things that he has equally done and is still doing is that he’s actually promoting the development of the blue economy.
The ES is committed to the development of the new economy. And good enough, you know sometimes when people come to a sector, you will feel, you will know the kind of experience that they have. I was a part of the team that actually prepared the Lome Charter.
The Lome Charter is a convention that laid the background for the development of the blue economy in Africa in terms of the safety, security, and the economic development of the blue sector, of the maritime domain. We worked on that document under the Foreign Affairs Ministry. I was also in Ethiopia in 2016 and I presented Nigeria’s position on that charter.
So good enough. ES was in Lome, Togo in 2016. Precisely 16th of October 2016 when that charter was signed.
He represented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was one of the experts because they have to go through the document to ensure that Nigeria as a country agrees with the content. So if he was part of the team that actually went through that document, it means that he has a great deal of knowledge on the issue relating to the development of the blue economy. So when people now hear him championing the need to develop the blue economy, you will know where the zeal is coming from.
It is because he has the background information. He has done a lot of things towards that. You recall that even a few weeks after he took over at the ES, there was a meeting in Four Points by Sheraton.
Akutah Is An Hardworking CEO- Shippers’ Association President
Barr. Leonard Ogamba is the President of Shippers Association Lagos State(SALS), one of the key stakeholders of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC). He bares his mind on Barr. Pius Akutah’s one year in office.
My sincere evaluation from personal point of view is that, let me start from the regulatory environment,, legally speaking Barr. Pius ,Akuta has been very hard working. He .has brought a great deal of experience he gathered from Public Prosecution to bear on his new office. But unfortunately, he doesn’t have that legal teeth to bite or enforce any regulation, because whether he likes it or not, he is still acting on the enabling Act of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC).The regulation per se order is given by the Honorable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy. It lacks the biding effect like the act of National Assembly. So until the new Act comes up, I don’t expect him to do more than what he is doing now which is building bridges, making friends, going into alliances and all that. So he is preparing ground, laying foundation for the assignment to come. For now, he can’t do much, from my own point of view, because the law is not on his side to implement. One thing is to go into negotiation, sign MOU, and when it comes to implementation and execution, where is the legal teeth to bite or to implement it?
So I give him a very good mark. He has, from records, performed exceedingly higher than his immediate predecessor, having come from a different background. He didn’t go through the Shippers ’Council system, unlike Hassan Bello, was there for years, and grew, through the system. That is why he could do and achieve what he achieved. The other man that became the immediate successor of Hassan Bello did not understand the system all. The same thing cannot be said of Akutah; he has done a great deal of efforts since assuming office. I told him at one of the occasions we met that he is the hottest bride in town; that every man wants to marry him. And people were laughing. But I mean it because he has that energy and passion for the job..
Okay, do we look at his intervention from the viewpoint of his intervention in shippers’ association crisis, which has been there for about four years, now. How do we describe his strength of intervention?
The Executive Secretary is barely one year in office. But the crisis in the associations started as far back as 2016 when the man who was there, Rev. Nicole refused to conduct election. So he met the crisis on ground. I’m not sure that he has been properly briefed. If you listen to him very carefully, you discover that he has not had a clear information on what the issues are.
Nweke Scores Akutah 70% In Humility
Dr. Eugene Nweke is the Secretary of Customs Consultative Council(CCC) and a former President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders(NAGAFF).
Akutah is relatively better than Emmanuel Jime in mastery of the industry, human relations and stakeholders’ engagement. He discusses the industry as though he had been in the industry. He is an all- rounder. He has also focused on training and promotion of officers. He is very humble and bold. When you see a man that is committed to delivery of performance, you have to commend him and equally assist him to succeed. By my personal rating, he has humility 70 per cent. He understudied the industry and he is relating well with the press and stakeholders. In area of representation, he attends most of the events himself, he doesn’t send representative. He is a participatory and engaging leader. He is a good listener. He is confident, willing and determined to add value to the industry. Above all, he’s got the oratory power.
