By Kenneth Jukpor & Okuneye Moyosola
Mr. Adeyinka Bakare is the President General of the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC). In this interview with MMS Plus newspaper, he bares his mind on the numerous port charges in the country and reveals why the Apapa gridlock may continue despite the introduction of a manual truck call-up system. Bakare also speaks on other pertinent port sector issues. Excerpts:
Agents and importers continue to air their grievances about the myriad of charges at Nigerian ports. Although the ports have been concessioned, some of these charges were there when NPA managed the ports such as the Nigerian port charge, Customs examination charge, etc. What’s your perspective on this?
One thing about these charges is that they have been there; they have been incorporated into what the terminal operators are going to charge, hence every other thing the terminal operators are adding would be additional cost for the industry and ultimately reflect on the final prices of goods and services because the importers must make profit. Whether we like it or not, somebody will bear the cost but what we are saying is that no matter what the charges will be, let it be reasonable and it should take into consideration the environment that we are operate in.
The charges we see today are not charges that are relevant and there are no services to justify such charges. What we are demanding is that if you must charge for anything, you must be able to render a service for that. If there is no service rendered, then there is no need for such charges. For instance, look at NPA charges, I don’t think it is necessary because they have already sold their rights to the private terminal operators. What is the essence of collecting such charge?
The issue is one that affects all freight forwarders but we have been unable to have any success in resolving this problem because of the multiplicity of associations. In a scenario where we have five different associations registered by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) with different views, probably if we had a platform where all five could come together to speak as one, a lot of these issues could be addressed. I believe that by the time the Governing Council is fully settled, these things would be addressed.
Looking at the Lagos port access roads, several efforts have been made to solve the crisis and recently a manual truck call up system, nevertheless, the problem persists. How realistic is this manual call-up system and what is the lasting solution to this problem?
The call up system was started by the Navy, but along the way NPA felt that such system arrangement should be under its purview so they hijacked the system. I won’t bore you with the politics involved, let me give an instance to illustrate the problem; if you go for call-up after you must have paid APMT terminal charges and all other fees, you meet NPA to obtain call-up, it takes the truck seven days to move from Ijora to Apapa, by the time you get to APMT gate that call-up is useless. This is because the time of the vessel on call-up would have been exhausted so you might need to go back and start the process all over again.
What we are saying is that if you move from Ijora to Apapa, the trucks take three to four days and we have 15 checkpoints and when it gets to 7pm, it increases from 15 to 22 and at every point, a truck driver must part with something. So, this part of the problem has nothing to do with the call-up system because one way or the other we have created businesses for some people and until this issue is resolved, we cannot solve the problem on ground.
What is the way forward on the Practitioners Operating Fees (POF), we hear that the collection has kicked off?
Yes, it has kicked off but we still have some things to put in place for it to be successful. POF will be collected because the agency needs to survive and we can’t rely on what we are getting from the government so these payments are needed. POF will surely come on board but we need to collect it under a conducive environment.
It’s the election period and there has been a lot of activities at the port as people are trying to get their cargo before election. As a veteran, how would you appraise the business in the port during elections and post election period?
Naturally, it is everywhere in the world. Once we are approaching election, there is always a drop in import, export and generally in port activities. So it’s normal everywhere in the world.
What are your projections for businesses and expectations for freight forwarding practice this year?
I am expecting a good year, although I am also aware that the elections would lead to a quiet first quarter in 2019. However, from the middle of the second quarter dwon into the third quarter, we expect more business activities and economic development.
It’s already six months into your tenure as the President General of the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC). What have been your major achievements as well as the challenges?
NAFFAC has achieved a lot already. At the national level, we have been able to stabilize the association. New members are coming on board; we have been able to put things in motion to have other chapters coming up across the nation despite the major challenge of having little or no resources. In my opinion, I think we have been able to achieve a lot.
At the airports, has there any development as regards the issue of the port charge for cargoes by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)?
The case is in court, I inherited it as NAFFAC President and we are going to see to the end of it. Since we are still in court over this issue, I think it would be more appropriate to avoid commenting on the issue but allow the court to decide.
What is the current price per kilo at the moment?
It is still at 7naira per kilo. We have been able to keep the price at 7naira per kilo while the case prolongs in court. From 50 kobo per kilo, the fee increased to 1naira, 3naira, 7naira and 20naira. It was when they increased to 20naira that we decided to ask questions and eventually go to court. We couldn’t allow the exploitation to continue. Since 2003, we have been in court with FAAN but we have been able to sustain that price over the years which I think is a big achievement for NAFFAC.
