The Cabal Behind Nigerian Port Uncompetitiveness In West Africa – Niger Trade Envoy

 Alhaji Idi Hamissou, the Niger Shippers’ Council representative in Nigeria, in this interview with MMS Plus, opens up on challenges in transit trade within the West and Central Africa routes, why Nigeria is looking uncompetitive before its West African neigbouring countries; frustrations and the scramble for a hub port state in the sub-region. Excerpts:

 

When are the Niger Shippers coming back to use Nigerian corridor and why did they stop years back?

I have kept telling my people that Nigeria has changed. Even, after the visitation of the ports, facilitated by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, they were convinced Nigerian ports are better positioned for business. With the port concession wharf-rats became a thing of the past compared to Cotonou port. Cotonou port up till today, they have port rats.

 

We want to know why Niger stopped using Nigeria as transit port

If I can recall the geography and history, Niger is an extension of Nigeria. We share 1,500 kilometer border, from Maiduguri down to Kebbi State. Most of our cities are Nigerian neighbouring countries. Since Colonial times during the era of groundnut pyramid, cotton,etc., we used Nigeria as transit point whether export and import. When I was in school, any carton you see you would see an inscription as goods on transit to Niger via Apapa or Port Harcourt. We don’t know any other port apart from Apapa and Port Harcourt.

 

Niger stopped using Nigeria as transit point in 2006, when the port was concessioned. Before this time, we had stacking area in the port, we had warehouses in both Apapa port and Tin Can port  given to us by the Federal Government. In Apapa, we had shed 7 and 6. So, when the port was being concessioned there was no consideration for those places given to us. However, when our people came in 2006, we did fertilizer at Tin Can but we faced a lot of problem for which the government had to mobilize security for those operations. We enjoyed it and thanked them. In 2007 and 2008, we brought in some goods which faced a lot of problems. At this time, I was on transfer in Togo, so the person who took over was not familiar with things in Nigeria and therefore he faced problems. But before these problems could be resolved, the Shippers, resolved to relocate to Cotonou, Ghana, Togo and Ivory Coast. I came back in 2012 and met Nigerian Shippers Council and Federal Ministry of Transport putting in place Nigeria-Niger  Joint Commission for Co-operation(NJCC) to seek the return of our importers. In 2013, Nigeria gave us full diplomatic status to make my operation smooth. Since my return, however, we done only two operations  which were to serve as a test run of the new era and we are satisfied with them. It shows that Nigerian ports are working under port concession. The only snag is that the charges are high but we are trying to convince the terminal operators to adjust their charges by way of concession. But they (terminal operators) are insisting on knowing the volume of cargo tonnage before they give concession. But the Niger shippers said other neighbouring ports do not operate that way, arguing that in a competitive business, terminal operators should make efforts to attract them. The Niger shippers are very willing to return to Nigeria corridor but the terminal operators are not encouraging them. The last meeting we had in Niger, the Nigerian terminal operators did not come. They were supposed to come and present their charges but they did not come. It is not longer the Nigerian Ports Authority that should be marketing the ports; it is the terminal operators who should come and present their competitive charges. I have taken the charges myself officially to my country but they are supposed to come and present areas of concession. Other countries, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, have representatives of their ports in Niger, and these are the people advertising the ports in Niger television. We have told Nigerian terminal operators to do same. They are willing to do it but they never did. Indeed, they need to market Nigerian ports in Niger because other countries are offering Niger Shippers mouth-watering offers. Even though the Shippers have done a visit and are convinced by what they saw, the terminal operators need to make efforts to market their facilities to the Shippers to make up their minds. When they came, they visited the eastern and western ports. They even said Port Harcourt is good for their chemicals. Lagos and Tin Can is good for their food items such as rice.

 

What about Calabar Port?

Calabar is supposed to be a free zone. For Calabar, we are looking for mining companies, like those mining Uranium and Sulphur. Even Nigerian Shippers Council has Calabar in their agenda as proposal to us but we have told them that we can use it.

 

For Port Harcourt  port, there has to be a rail link from Port Harcourt to Kano and from Kano, where there is Inland Container Depot (ICD). Even, what we are planning is bring the goods to the North. If this works, our people prefer it to Kaduna, which is currently operational. Funtua is much closer to us. From here we can truck our cargo to Niger. The other route is Lagos – Sokoto – Kebbi. This will also facilitate the transaction.

 

Can we have an idea of the charges in Nigeria and other countries?

One of the things that encouraged the Niger shippers then was the storage or warehousing facilities. A trader cannot bring in a ship load and is expected to move it the same day. When we had those dedicated shed, it motivated us to use the Nigerian corridor. Before concession, we had also almost 30days free period before demurrage starts counting. Now, the terminal operators are giving us only 5 days free period. You can’t take your container from Lagos to Niger for five days. Before you even leave the port, demurrage has started counting. In other countries, the starting point with any shipping company is 10 days. When they see that your tonnage is increasing they will give you 30 days. For instance, in Ghana, we have 31 days free period. And they did this to attract shippers but look at the distance. Yet shippers don’t have any fear or doubt about taking their goods. First, they have 21 days, which is enough for you to move your cargo to destination and bring back their container. But in Nigeria it is difficult  to do. If the terminal operators can even give 12 days’ free period it will be okay because. We have no doubt that within this period a container can go to Maradi and come back. But when you give 5 days, the truck can break down on the way to Kano. And the rail system is not yet working fully to guarantee that speed delivery. So, we are emphasizing that the terminal operators should agree on those period of time, and then we will convince our people to come back to Nigeria. It is the closest port to us. Lagos – Maradi. All these cities are border to Nigeria. When you take it to Katsina, it is 84 kilometers to Maradi, when you take it to Kano, it is 160 kilometers to Maradi. When you take it to Sokoto it is almost 19 kilometers to the other end. This is why we are trying to see how the terminal operators will co-operate with NPA and Nigerian Shippers’ Council and NJJC to promote the Nigerian ports. Even, our brothers from Chad are willing to come back to Nigeria. They have said that if Niger is back to using Nigerian port why not them? We share the same border and they believe that the same facilities are there for them. NSC is also trying to bring them back. So we are appealing to terminal operators to go in line with the efforts of NSC to bring us back to Nigeria and promote the port. It will create employment opportunities; increase the revenue of the country. Only Cotonu handles not less than 3 million tons of cargo from Niger yearly. If Nigeria can hijack 1.5m or 2 million tons annually, it is something. In Togo, we drop not less than 1.5m to 2million tons of general cargo. And the main problem we have in Nigeria is un-stuffing. This is one aspect that irritates our people. When we asked them to come back to Nigeria, they ask if Nigeria can un-stuff cargo. It is not all cargo we freight with container. In some ports, like Cotonou, Togo and Ghana, the customs authority creates a space or area within the port where cargo are unstuffed in the presence of all the port agencies; these cargoes are sealed. In 2003, in Nigeria the use of seal was agreed but the Nigeria Customs Service later said they would not agree. All the countries in the West Coast accept seal, only Nigeria rejects it. Again, when this cargo is sealed, in Ghana they track the truck from Tema up to the border of Ougadougou, no Customs escort. If the truck breaks down they will call you and ask you what is happening to your truck.

 

But Nigeria trucks the cargo with escort?

 

Yes, Nigeria goes with Customs escort. It has the potentials and resources to do what Ghana is doing. Just like the NSC port automation being planned, when you go to Thailand, their shippers’ council is 100 kilometers away from the sea port but they control all the ports from their office-control room. Even when there is mistake, they will call you to correct the error to avoid a breakdown of the chain.

 

I would like to know if the terminal operators have agreed to all the conditions you are giving here now?

 

They have agreed but failed to appear at the last decisive meeting in Maradi. As a result of that the meeting was re-scheduled for November 2016 because Niger is hosting the African Shippers’ Day. So, a time was created for the Nigerian terminal operators to face the shippers. So, we are willing to conclude everything then after which Niger shippers will recommence transshipment trade from Nigeria. The event is for November 21st. However, some Niger Shippers have said that after the Salah break they would make a trial import with Nigeria to see how they could be treated.

 

Can you give an idea of what the tonnage is like in terms of dollar volume? How much is the tonnage worth?

The calculation of tonnage cannot be given by me; it is the terminal and the shipping company. We only intervene in event of hike in price.

 

Have you had any issue with customs people in Nigeria over transit goods?

Yes, the last issue we had with the customs is bank bond. In some other places, it is insurance bond, here customs says bank bond. The last time in Miami, our shippers told them that they can never use bank bond because it is the value of these goods. If the goods are 100 million dollars and then you demand 1 and put 50 million dollar bank bond. How can I get it? All customs need do is to facilitate trade; they are not there for revenue. And any goods on transit do not attract duty in the country of transit. Tell them to simplify transaction for our people. The clearing agents should be allowed to use insurance bond. Again, if customs is willing to help, they should give us escort and the escort should not be by per truck. In Nigeria, customs charge by per truck, it is not possible. If for instance, I bring in 10 thousand metric tonnes of rice and the capacity of Nigeria truck is 30 tonnes. If you divide the 10 thousand into 30 you have one thousand trucks. Can the customs allocate one officer to one truck? No. We have also told them that the charges should be by officer not by truck. If we are conveying like 20 trucks how many officers will escort these trucks? In Nigeria, customs calculate the escort by the number of trucks for transit cargo, so if we have one thousand trucks, we pay for one thousand officers. Of what benefit is this to the shippers?

 

How much is their charge per officer?

N25, 000 per officer, officially. So if you do this per one thousand, how many millions are we talking about? This is one of the factors that discourages Niger shippers from using Nigeria as transit corridor.

Are all stakeholders invited to the November event?

 

Yes. All maritime stakeholders in this transit trade will be there. This will be the final meeting. It will either make it or mar it. We have agreed that we have had enough meetings on this subject. NSC and the Federal Ministry of Transport have done enough work on this. The terminal operators and Customs should help us to achieve success in November meeting. Customs should reduce the escort fee. In Cotonou, we pay N5, 000 per officer, in Ghana, we pay tracking fee of N2, 500. In Nigeria, we pay N25, 000

 

You said Niger has oil? Have you started producing?

Yes, and we even have refinery.

 

How many refineries?

One refinery

 

What is the quantity of your oil?

We are not exporting the crude yet. We just produce for local consumption. We produce 100 barrels a day for local consumption with a population of 17 million people. Out of this quantity, we send to Togo, Mali and Benin Republic and some parts of Northern  Nigeria get oil from us when there is fuel crisis in Nigeria.

What does your office in Nigeria do?

It is the equivalent of NSC in Nigeria. We are here to assist our shippers for the transiting of their goods. CNUT is Niger Shippers’ Council. We have representation in all countries in the West Coast.