A book written by Bashir Yusuf Jamoh titled Harnessing Nigeria Maritime Assets will soon hit the book stand. The book has described authoritatively what can be termed a criminal negligence of a sector that could easily have made Nigeria, a maritime country wealthy. The book has ably traced the various developments in the Nigerian maritime sector from the period of slave trade through colonial era to modern day. In the book the author an insider and regulator in the Nigerian maritime sector observed that about 85 per cent of marine vessels operating within Nigerian domestic waters i.e. Cabotage, are owned by foreign shipping operators. He wrote “maritime traffic analysis from 2004 to 2013 showed a total of 58,600 vessels calling at Nigerian ports and only 2,465 vessels were handled by indigenous operator through hire, chartered mode and other forms which represent only 4.21 per cent of the total performance, while foreigners had 95.79 per cent of the total volume. However, looking critically at the data, one can deduce a slight increase in traffic due to the sensitisation programme of the policy and certain changes in demand trend.

Equally “between 2004 and 2013, the cargo throughput into Nigerian ports stood at 1,596,021,821.25 metric tons but only 66,413,462.54 metric tons were handled by indigenous operators which represented about 4.16 per cent of the total tonnage. Foreign operators still dominate the trade with 1,529,608,358.71 metric tons, which represent about 95.84 per cent of the trade between the years under review. According to the soon to book already in print “only about five per cent of product tankers, presently engaged by the PPMC (NNPC) in coastal lifting of petroleum products are owned by Nigerians. Such vessels earn about $3,000 to $8,000 a day, which amounts to about US$2.88 million for the 12 vessels monthly. The PPMC spends annually US$34.56million on coastal lifting out of which about $32.67 million is repatriated out of the country annually. 

According to the soon to be released book, “The oil producing companies may have spent about $20 billion to work their various offshore fields this year. The estimated budget of the maritime (shipping) component of this expenditure is about 10 per cent which is about $2 billion a year. Over 75 per cent ($1.5 billion) of this revenue is repatriated offshore annually because Nigerians do not own, operate and man the offshore vessels and services supporting offshore oil operations. This represents what Nigerians stand to earn if a Cabotage Act is effectively enforced in Nigeria. “

The boo states that “A comparative analysis of ship traffic volume from the year 2004 – 2013) showcases the foreign domination of Nigeria maritime trade, which calls for strong maritime policy and appreciable strategies to compete favourably with foreign operators’ monopoly. This domination is traceable to several reasons which are militating against Nigerians in their quest to participate and compete with the foreign competitors within the maritime industry. The Nigerian Ship Owners and other Indigenous Shipping bodies have cried out that over 90 per cent of the 78 registered ship owners are on the brink of extinction as they are virtually submerged in debt. The woes of the local shipping companies were further compounded by banks and other financial institutions constantly menacing to recover monies owed them, after the expiration of the loan tenor.

The indigenous firms’ plight was further worsened by their inability, so far, to access the CVFF lying idle in some banks since 2008.

“Maritime practitioners believe that for the Cabotage law to work, NIMASA should revisit the recommendations of past committees and all other reports that have been put forward on it. One of such reports, as pointed out by stakeholders is that “NIMASA should set up a standing committee to go through past recommendations and present happenings, those that needs legislation should be sent to Abuja, while those that require administrative actions should be attended to”.

He said “Dr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former DG of NIMASA admits that the “Cabotage law is problematic,” and that the law has not worked because of the problem of enforcement. He faulted provisions in the law that says vessels to be used in Cabotage trade must be built in Nigeria and crewed by Nigerians. Indeed, he queries, “How many ship building yards do we have? How many qualified Seafarers and Maritime Academies do we have?” He promised that his management was making frantic effort at building capacity of Nigerians in seafaring through the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP). So far, nearly 3,000 young Nigerians have been sponsored on training at different maritime institutions abroad. This is with a view to creating a large pool of qualified seamen. Another maritime consultant, Green Ekeledo, noted at a recent forum that one of the factors that have militated against the law is the inclusion of the waiver clause, which appears to have become the norm, rather than the exception. Presently, he lamented, waivers are granted to foreign firms without due considerations for Nigerians with capacity, as guaranteed by the Cabotage law.

“Chairman, Ports Consultative Council (PCC), Kunle Folarin, pointed out that the four pillars of the Cabotage are a mere façade, which is not really obtainable in the industry. He identified shipbuilding and ship repair yards as areas that Nigerians have not been able to venture into and which are fundamentals of Cabotage. According to him, there has not been the required synergy between NIMASA and the various government agencies and Ministries like the Finance and Agriculture Ministries, and others that will assist in the realisation of Cabotage.

Reports from Maritime operators in Nigeria asserts that Nigeria loses about N4 trillion annually to capital flight and 700,000 direct and indirect jobs in the shipping sector. This is because of the continued involvement of foreign companies in the carriage of wet cargoes within the Nigerian Territorial Waters. He further said that while the foreign ships operating illegally were smiling to the banks Nigerian Ship Owners were being hounded by the operatives of EFCC for failing to repay their loans.

The book Harnessing Nigerian Maritime Assets is a fascinating thriller, an insider’s view of how foreign shipping firms are reaping fortunes from Nigeria freights at the expense of indigenous ship owners and the Nigerian economy. It is a must read for Nigerian policy makers, students of history, local and foreign maritime operators and the general public.

Businessnewsreport.com