Why Nigerians Should Learn Global Best Shipping Practices – Jean-Chiazor

By Kenneth Jukpor

Barr. Jean-Chiazor Anishere is the Principal Counsel, Jean Chiazor & Co. (Ofianyi Chambers). In this exclusive interview with MMS Plus, she speaks extensively on the development of admiralty law in Nigeria in the last decade. She also highlights the opportunities for African women in the maritime sector and speaks on her new book, the Volume 3 of ‘Essays in Admiralty’. Excerpts:

I’m aware you are planning to launch a new book on admiralty law. What’s it about?

We are looking forward to presenting a book to the public the third volume of our ‘Essays in Admiralty’. We have had volumes one and two before now, and we are having the volume three this time around which is ready to be launched on March 8th, 2018 at the Federal Palace hotel at Victoria Island, Lagos.

This third volume of Essays in Admiralty is dedicated to the former Chief Judge, Federal High Court, Nigeria, Honorable Justice Ibrahim Auta for his contributions to the growth of maritime jurisprudence with particular reference to the Federal High Courts.

Hon. Justice Auta continued from where his predecessors took the Federal High Court rules with special reference to admiralty jurisdiction acts and rules to another level in the sense that he pushed for the review of some rules to bring them to international best standards and most importantly to make the practice of admiralty law less cumbersome to maritime law practitioners. When it comes to education, Justice Ibrahim Auta is a judge I would like to describe as a jurist magnificent. A jurist magnificent in the sense that he is magnificent in ensuring the continuous education of the judges of the Federal High Court and as you know the Federal High Court is the court of first instance where admiralty matters kick-off before they move up to the Appellate courts where they are not satisfied with the judgments of the High Courts.

When we have the court of first instance which is the Federal High Court, deliver fine judgments in admiralty law or issues relating to admiralty or shipping, surely we would have fewer appeals. So, it has become necessary that the foundation is well rooted and the foundation in this regard is the Federal High Court. Hon. Justice Auta ensures the continuous education and enlightenment of the Federal High Court judges with regards to maritime law practice and we appreciate this because the results are evident in the judgments of my lords in the Federal High Courts.

How has the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) maritime seminar for judges contributed to ensuring sufficient knowledge acquisition for judges in admiralty?

The maritime admiralty law seminar for judges is been bi-annually organized by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and the Nigerian Judicial Council. It doesn’t restrict the seminar to High Court judges but extends to Appeal Court and Supreme Court judges. In fact, when Hon. Justice Ibrahim Auta was the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the seminar for judges, he went down to get the State High Court judges to be invited to the seminar and the reason why he did it is not that the State High Courts have the jurisdiction to hear maritime matters but because some judges are promoted from the State High Courts to the Court of Appeal. So, if they are knowledgeable in maritime laws by the time they get to the appellate courts and matters relating to maritime come up in their courts, they will be knowledgeable to know what to write as regards the judgment. Considering the State High Court judges is a commendable decision that is attributable to Hon. Justice Auta. So, the contribution to sector as a result of the introduction of maritime seminar for judges is extensive.

Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has also started a similar seminar for judges.

They actually just had one that was completed few days ago. I don’t have the history of that NIMASA’s sponsored seminar for judges but I know that it followed suit after the one organized by Nigerian Judicial Council and Nigerian Shippers’ Council. So, I can’t say much about the one NIMASA organized. I am yet to be privileged to be invited as a facilitator.

With Essays in Admiralty Volume 3 set for the launch; how would you appraise the history of maritime cases in Nigeria in the last five years?

The essays in admiralty law have nothing to do with the admiralty judgments in the courts. As the title connotes, I said ‘Essays in Admiralty law’ not admiralty law reports. Essays in admiralty are the collection of my papers on issues in admiralty over the years with contributions from friends in the industry on issues relating to the industry.

What we are trying to do in essays in admiralty is: the volume one talked about the introduction to shipping, we tried to introduce shipping to some Nigerians who want to carve a niche for themselves in the industry and so volume one talked about introduction; the A, B and C as it were in shipping. Volume two talked about sustaining the industry. Having identified the challenges in the industry and introducing shipping in volume one, volume two talks about how we can sustain the industry through best practices.

Now, volume three has covered a global perspective. It is quite voluminous because we have looked at shipping practices in Asia, America and in Europe. Of course we have brought Nigeria’s perspective to bear and some other African countries. Why we have done that is to compare and contrast how shipping is done in those developed countries and how we are doing it in the developing countries. The intendment is for us to appreciate and to aim at the best practices.

Now admiralty laws of Nigeria are law reports and we have reported part one to twelve so far. Part thirteen to eighteen are already in the oven and would be launched in April/May.

Talking about reports of the judgments; from our collections, I can say confidently that judgment on maritime issues have been churned out more in the past five years than we saw in the previous years, particularly from the Federal High Court. Our investigation and research prove that the Federal High Court judges hear admiralty matters more expeditiously than before. Admiralty cases are heard and disposed off faster in the past five years up till date than in the early years.

The reasons for this isn’t farfetched, with more enlightenment programmes, the judges appreciate more the issues in maritime. The rules also help to fast track, we have the Admiralty Jurisdiction Act, the Federal High Court rules have been reviewed, so we have what we call front loading. The rules are there to fast track and the judges are doing their utmost best in ensuring that judgments related to maritime law are churned out faster than before. We can testify to that in the judgments in our Admiralty Law with particular reference to Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. They churn out judgments fast. I give it to the Appellate Court, Lagos Division. The numbers of judgments we get from them make it quicker for us to compile another set of six acts of admiralty law reports. The Court of Appeal Lagos branch should be commended for the speed at which judgments are given and fine judgments for that matter. It is just giving judgments speedily but the judgments are good judgments.  Like you just mentioned one which is victory, we call it victorious judgment which is between Nigerian Shippers’ Council and Terminal Operators. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court and the judgment gives Shippers’ Council some boldness to take a bigger bite of the apple because they have the legal cover.

Another case which divides opinion in the maritime sector is the case between NIWA and LASWA over the introduction of charges. What’s your opinion on this matter?

The issue there is whether LASWA can be allowed to interlope in the territory of NIWA. NIWA is a bigger body; it is the national agency for inland waterways while LASWA is at the state level. LASWA’s controversy is that as long as the waterways is within Lagos state, LASWA should be allowed to control and collect dues or charges for the waterways within the state. It’s an interesting school of thought and I tend to agree with LASWA that they could collect charges for areas like Ikorodu to Ajah. NIWA should allow LASWA to manage those areas but I expect NIWA to play the role of a big brother to ensure that LASWA does what it should, in terms of smooth operation of the inland waterways and ensuring that the waters are clear for passengers and barges. NIWA should also ensure the waters are clean and security is guaranteed. The waters should be devoid of debris that could prevent free movement of boats. It is when LASWA fails in these obligations within the Lagos territory that NIWA should intervene as the big brother and say ‘look here, do it this way or that way’. NIWA is in-charge of waterways throughout the nation so it should ensure that no state is found wanting, however, I haven’t had the privilege of reading the Act establishing LASWA and NIWA. It is only after reading their Acts that I can say that NIWA shouldn’t interlope but supervise or that LASWA should pay certain dues to big brother NIWA.

Why is the Volume 3 of ‘Essays in Admiralty’ a must-have for anyone who has interest in shipping?

The Volume 3 of ‘Essays on Admiralty’ covers a global perspective. Shipping isn’t a local subject, so all stakeholders, such as freight forwarders, maritime lawyers, marine engineers, and others, should be outstanding as people who appreciate the shipping norms in relation to the global standards. This is what the Volume 3 stands for. This book is bringing America down to you here in Nigeria; it is bringing the European Union (EU) practices to you. It gives you an opportunity to understand the shipping practice in America, Asia, Europe and enables one to know how much Nigeria has to develop in shipping practice or ascertain if we are almost uhuru. Volumes 1 and 2 explained the nitty-gritty of shipping but Volume 3 is for someone who wants to understand and operate with the global best standards in shipping.

How would you appraise the development of women in Africa and Nigeria (precisely), in shipping? As President of African Women in Maritime (WIMA) Nigeria, also comment on WIMA.

WIM Africa is an African body for women in maritime. WIMA supports the vision of the African Union and we have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Union Commission with respect to vision 2063 of AU which aims at the blue economy. Blue economy is a new subject for Africa and it connotes ‘marine economy’.

For African women, the blue economy would play a vital role when we look at what we call aquaculture. The African continent is very rich in several popular species of fish; so it is disheartening that we are still importing salmon and other fishes in many African countries including Nigeria. We have these fishes in our waters but we don’t have funds to buy fishing trawlers, we also have the problem of poachers and security issues. These problems are because we don’t have the best policies in the region. Very few African women are engaged in fishing as a result of several problems in Nigeria, Angola, Senegal, Serria Leone, among others; however, there are vast opportunities for women in maritime even in maritime law.

Our mother ‘Mama Zuma’, Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma who is the initiator of WIMA; says African women in maritime should be part of the policy makers because it is only when we take part in the policy making that we are able to address issues affecting us in the industry.

Recall that she was the first female chairman of the AU; she used her position to advice us on the need for the creation of WIM Africa as opposed to Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA). She did this to get women to be part of the AU Commission to get women sit with the Heads of State of various countries and get them to appreciate challenges of women with particular reference to the maritime industry. That is why at WIMA, we thought it wise to make her our grand patron and we call her ‘our mother’. You can see the boldness that she took in contesting for the President of South Africa. After the gruesome screening at the party only Mama Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa were the two candidates before Mama Zuma was defeated in her campaign for the ANC Presidency by Cyril Ramaphosa at the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress in December 2017. The fact that she didn’t win isn’t a loss for women in Africa, rather it is encouraging that she could come forward to want to govern the nation of South Africa. We believe that women could do better.

We saw what a woman could do when the first woman to be elected president of an African nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf emerged President of Liberia. She did brilliantly as a President who took over a war-torn Liberia and was able to transform the nation with policies that brought peace to the polity. She managed the epidemic issue of ebola, reaching out to other countries and international bodies to come to the rescue of Liberia. Her effort in making Liberia as peaceful as it is today was appreciated recently as she won an award few weeks ago.

Nelson Mandela was the inaugural Honorary Laureate in 2007. Sirleaf’s award is an attestation of how good a woman could perform at the helm of affairs in an African nation. We have gone past the era where the leadership of African nations should be given to men alone. Recall that Sirleaf duly stepped diown when it was time to do so. She didn’t hang on to power like most African male Heads of State do, some think it’s their birthright.

WIM Africa is only three years old; but in the short period we have signed with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and we have about thirty different chapters of WIMA and we are still counting.

One of the biggest challenges in shipping in Nigeria is access to cheap funding such as loans at single digit interest rates that the sector deserves; the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) was developed to solve this problem, but it remains inaccessible. Some experts have also advocated for a Maritime Development Bank, whose bill is already before the Senate. What’s the solution to this funding quagmire in Nigeria’s shipping sector?

If the Maritime Development Bank would solve the problem of funding for the industry then I’m in support of it. If this bank would appreciate the single digit interest rate for creditors then I support it. However, we shouldn’t be too keen to set-up another organ, what about CVFF which is a fantastic platform if only we let it work. We know how much is just lying in the CVFF but nobody has been able to benefit from it. Let’s make something work first. If CVFF works and there is need for it to evolve into a Maritime Development Bank, we could do that. If CVFF becomes so successful and we see that it is becoming an institution then we could transform it into a bank. So, each 2% surcharge for every Cabotage trade in Nigeria paid into NIMASA would be domiciled in the bank for the purpose of disbursing to ship-owners who have applied to such fund to purchase vessels for its Cabotage trade. We could also encourage Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) with the Federal Government and private investors coming together to set up another shipping line like we had in Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL). This will also enable Nigerian Cadets have platforms to go onboard to acquire seatime experience like the previous Master Mariners did during the era of NNSL. I think we should push to get the CVFF out and running and when it gets so big to sit in NIMASA and managed by PIL and the three commercial banks recognized, we could move the fund to a Maritime Development Bank.