Barely two years in office as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (ES/CEO) of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Dr. Pius Ukeyima Akutah is proving his mettle as a dedicated, knowledgeable public servant and seasoned administrator. In this no-holds-barred interview with ONYEDIKA AGBEDO, Akutah spoke on issues in Nigeria’s marine and blue economy sector, pointing out the challenges he met on assumption of office, his achievements so far and how he thinks the country can maximise the potential of the sector.

To what extent have you been able to address some of the challenges you inherited on assumption of office?  
When I was appointed the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (ES/CEO) of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NCS), I knew just little about the council in that someone from my state was ES/CEO at that time. That was the much I knew about this agency. So, I began to even look at the mandate of the agency and all of that.

I resumed work here on November 1, 2023, and met a lot of challenges on ground. At the time I came in, nothing was left in the purse of this agency. The first allocation came in December and when it came, I had met a lot of pending commitments waiting for that allocation. In terms of the work environment itself, what I met was not conducive at all. One could say that there were years of neglect of the work environment.

So, we first of all started addressing the welfare of the people that work here. It was very obvious that the workforce was not happy; you could sense poverty everywhere; people were not well treated and I saw those things in the files. Most of the files I saw were issues about the welfare of the staff.

So, the moment the fund came, the first directive I gave was to clear those pending welfare issues.

Little did I know that there was going to be a closure of the accounts of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by December 31. So, everything standing in the balance of all the MDAs accounts was wiped off. This money came a week before Christmas and by the last working day of the year, the money was wiped off and everything went back to the source. So, we couldn’t pay salaries in January, February and March because there was no allocation. The allocation came in March and it is not the fault of anybody; it is the way this agency is structured. The allocation comes on a quarterly basis and it comes in arrears. So, it is what has been generated for the three months that will be given to you. This means that you have to plan how to use it for the next three months.

After clearing the salary arrears when the allocation came in March, we turned to the work environment, which was not conducive. We had to make it conducive to attract more productivity because the work environment will actually determine the output. So, we started with the renovation of this building. We had to quickly conduct a structural test of this building; the report is out and we are looking at awarding the contract this year.

We have received tremendous support from the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy. He has always supported every initiative we brought on board to see how this place can turn around. Without his support, we will not be where we are today. Most of the funding that we have gotten is as a result of his personal support and contribution to ensuring that we have better performance.

With one of our major challenges being funding, we looked for ways to organise ourselves to have better funding. One of the problems is the mandate of this agency under the establishment law, which is a decree of 1978, now Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act CAP N133 LFN 2004. It was very restrictive at that time. It looked only at issues around welfare of shippers, fixing of freight fees and standards; not basically the issue of port economic regulation. That was not contemplated in that establishment law, which is enforced till now. So, in 2014 when this Council was appointed the Nigerian ports economic regulator, there was no legal foundation; it was a presidential directive. There is also regulation which was issued. All of them were gazetted. So, to the extent that they were gazetted, they have the force of law. But then, the nitty-gritty of what a ports economic regulator will do and the biting power was not provided in those regulations. So, at best you could say that the Shippers’ Council still remains a toothless bulldog – a very heavy ports economic regulator without legal backing to carry out the mandate and enforce it.

So, looking at the law, basically from my background as a prosecutor, it was important for us to look at the law setting up the agency vis-à-vis the new mandate, which is not backed by law. So, we came up with a bill to repeal the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act and enact the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency Act. Again, the Hon. Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, was very proactive and gave us all the support we needed. He brought the sister agencies together on the same table and we discussed the bill from one section to the end of it all and agreed on almost everything. Thereafter, he made us sign and then transmitted the document to the National Assembly as a clean copy of the bill that is agreeable to all the agencies in the sector. That bill has been passed; it’s undergoing some little adjustments here and there before the presidential assent. That is one thing that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government has done in terms of the Nigerian economy – giving us a brand-new law – that will bring about efficiencies in the sector. This is because without an economic regulator that has the legal backing to enforce its regulations in the sector, we cannot have the efficiencies we are looking for.

Look at how efficient even smaller ports in some small African countries are. It is because they have institutions that are backed by law. But here, over the years, that has eluded us; every Speaker after the other during the public hearing at the National Assembly alluded to the fact that the 2006 port concession left out one area – the ports economic regulation. And that since that agency was not founded at that time, there was a gap and that was why realising the gap in 2014, the president issued the directive that the NSC be appointed the ports economic regulator because that’s what we have already been doing but in a different way and on a lower scale. If we don’t have a law backing us up, we may not be able to carry out our mandate. Once the president signs that bill and gives us the go-ahead to transmute from the NSC to the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency, we are going to come out with new ways of doing things. We are going to boost the morale of our staff and make them realise that they are now the economic regulator of the port sector in Nigeria. We will begin to issue regulations that are backed by the force of law, which are not to drive people out of business, but to ensure that the goal post is not being shifted as we go into the game. This will ensure stability of the sector. Also, people who are entering into the sector will be properly checked to know whether they are ready for business or not. If you come in with an investment, we will protect that investment and ensure that it grows and yields profit.

The whole concept about national GDP is about how much government is making and how much government is spending. So, we are ready for people to make money in this sector; we are ready to drive growth in this sector in accordance with the directive that the president has given us in our mandate. But we cannot do that if we are not having the force of law to enforce our own regulations and ensure stability of the sector. So, that law is one major achievement we have recorded within one year of my term in office. I really want to thank the Minister for the role he played; I also want to thank the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the role he played because he sponsored it realising its importance and the failed attempts in the past.

How far have you gone with the implementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN), which you listed as one of your core objectives when you assumed office?
You know the ICTN is one major trade facilitation tool that many countries, especially the Third World countries are using today. Even in Africa, a lot of countries have implemented it. But in Nigeria it has a chequered history of implementation. There have been failed implementation attempts at various times. I don’t know why, but from the little I have gathered, a lot of people believe that there is free money to be shared from ICTN. So, there is a fight every day here and there by people who want to implement that and all the attempts that had been made failed as a result of this struggle over the funds.

But ICTN is not just a trade facilitation tool; it is a documentation tool for ease of doing business. So, if we are going to achieve ease of doing business in Nigeria, these are the kind of tools we need to deploy. Besides being a tool for ease of doing business, it also guarantees the security of cargo to come into Nigeria. At the moment we are talking of proliferation of small arms into Nigeria. Why do we complain? It’s because our borders are too porous. We don’t so much control the security of the cargo that comes into the country. But with ICTN, we will know exactly what kind of cargo is coming from the manifest that is delivered at the port of origin. We will know what is in every container; so, if there is a suspicious container, we know it even from the port of origin. We can target it specifically and when it arrives, we will just go straight and pick it. That is the nature of ICTN; it is also a revenue-generating platform.

Nigeria is losing billions on a yearly basis without the implementation of ICTN. There are countries like Cameroun that over 40 per cent of their national budget is being funded by ICTN. I was in Cameroun myself to see what their ICTN facility looks like and it’s something very spectacular.

Now, the president has given us the go-ahead to implement the ICTN.

So, we are in the process. We have invited some of the companies to provide their Outline Business Case (OBC), which is being reviewed at the moment; and we are very hopeful that before the end of this year we will make significant progress. Once we are able to implement the ICTN, the Nigerian Shippers Council or the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency would have another source of revenue that will go to government and of course a percentage of which we’ll use to fund and boost our activities. So, these are some of the things going on now.

Did you inherit any project(s) from your predecessor? If yes, at what stages are they now?  
Yes, we inherited some projects that are going on. For instance, the Funtua Inland Dry Port was at about 80 per cent completion and within three to six months we were able to complete it and commission it. It is being used at the moment by people of Katsina State and environs.

We have also enhanced the quality of infrastructure in the other Inland Dry Ports (IDPs). We have enhanced the services there in collaboration with other critical stakeholders like the Customs Service, the Ministry of Finance and the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Again, we have visited most of the legacy IDPs which Mr. President has directed that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy should ensure they are completed within record time so that we can spread them across the six geo-political zones. At the moment, all the three IDPs are in the North West, which is not by the design of government. No! It’s just a coincidence that the investors in those projects were more proactive in finishing them and delivering them. We have some governors who are in very strong partnership with us to ensure that these infrastructures are developed in record time. Like the one in Borno State, the governor was here in Lagos because of the Maiduguri IDP. He wants it completed. In fact, he has met his targets with regard to what the State Government is supposed to provide. So, we are hopeful that that one will come on board as soon as possible. And that will be the first in the North East zone of the country.

There is one in Bauchi, which is still in the bush. No infrastructure has commenced there yet. We are talking with the investors to see how they can also start in earnest.

Then we have one in Papalanto, Ogun State, which the State Governor is also pushing very seriously. He is also a friend of the Council in terms of his commitment to that project. He has already commenced work there; the committee for implementation has been set up already and any moment from now they will be inaugurated to begin the monitoring of the project execution.

Recently, I was in Abia State to meet with the Governor over the Isiala-Ngwa Inland Dry Port project.  We are very hopeful that it will also kick-start. The investors are seriously pushing the Governor to come to the point where the project will commence.

We have signed some Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with some of the MDAs to support the activities in terms of supporting trade corridors. For instance, we have signed an MoU with the Nigerian Railway Corporation; we are working together to ensure that the cost for movement of cargo by rail is efficient enough and effective for importers and exporters to use it. We understand that there are challenges with that but we are pushing within the ambit of that MoU to see how effectively we can serve the people using the rail transport because haulage is one of the most expensive ways of moving cargo but at the moment, we are stuck with that. It’s affecting our exporters already; they are coming to the global market disadvantaged. So, we are trying to see how we can push forward on that. And you know that the rail sector is one of the most expensive infrastructures that any government can deploy. But the government is not sleeping over it; my Minister and the Minister of Transportation are working very closely to see how the rail sector can be developed to meet the challenges of cargo movement as quickly as possible and Mr. President is also committed to that. So, we are very hopeful that within the next one or two years, we will hear some movements along that line.

How will the Inland Dry Port projects impact the economy when they are completed and commissioned?
First of all, you know that our ports are congested; also, our seaports are old. Before now, Apapa used to be an eyesore until our Minister, together with the agencies and the Lagos State government, came to the rescue. That is why people can come into Apapa now. Many businesses closed down. This Corona School beside us here closed down so many years ago because of the gridlock but I can see some activities going on; maybe they are willing to come back now.

Some people argue that it is because of container drought, but really we are seeing an improvement in container movement. Even on the export corridor we are seeing some upward activities. So, it might not be because of container drought but because of the impact of the deliberate policy of this government to decongest the port. But the port as it is now cannot be decongested because many activities are going on here; people are coming here.

So, it is the policy of government flowing from the research conducted by the NSC that gave rise to Inland Dry Ports, as it is done in so many other countries, to decongest the seaports and to bring shipping services and facilities closer to people in the hinterland. So, those Inland Dry Ports are like any other seaport in terms of export and import. What it means is that they are designated as ports of origin and destination. So, the proper use of these Inland Dry Ports will be that if you have cargo in the U. S. and you are bringing it all the way to Maiduguri, there is an Inland Dry Port in Maiduguri, which is your destination port, not Apapa, Tin Can or Lekki ports. So, with both the national single window and the ICTN onboard, the moment you put your cargo onboard a vessel in the U.S, everything you need to start the clearance process is with you and you start clearing your cargo in Maiduguri Inland Dry Port; you don’t need to come to Lagos. When everything is done and your cargo gets here, your truck drives into the port, the container is lifted on the vessel and put on your truck, it drives straight to Maiduguri where you had done your cargo clearance. Customs and all the other agencies are there. Since you have done your clearance with them, the container comes straight to your facility.

So, the impact of the use of the Inland Dry Ports is that it will first of all decongest the seaports and also bring shipping services closer to the people. Then, the people can actually do their businesses in the comfort of their business areas. They don’t need to travel to Lagos; they don’t need to come to the seaport because the seaport has been extended to the area of their business environment.

What this means is that an effective rail transport may be needed to optimise the gains…
Yes! And indeed, all of the Inland Dry Ports are located along the rail lines. So, cargo leaves the Inland Dry Ports by rail and comes straight to the seaport by rail. So, at no point will you require any other means of transportation, although we are talking strongly about the multi-modal transport system – land, sea and water. How do we connect these three modes of transportation? But then, the rail system is safest, the cheapest and the most efficient way of moving cargo across the country. So, government is working on the rail system to see how quickly it can come onboard, but you know it is very capital intensive.

What will be your advice to the government on how to maximise the potential of the country’s marine and blue economy?
The first thing is the ministry that has been set up. It was the first step taken by the government and it is in the right direction. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy have come up with a national policy on marine and blue economy. The policy is out there now for use. Now, infrastructure needs to be developed. But like I say time and again, the infrastructure is not cost efficient; it’s very expensive to develop this infrastructure. Government has to partner with the private sector to develop this infrastructure.

The blue economy has been with us. The market woman who is selling fish and the local boat man who goes to catch fish even in the inland waterways are part of the blue economy. There is a long value chain of the economy. But now, what government is focusing on is to build these small economies around it. But the major economy is a multi-trillion-dollar economy – the blue sea. How do we harness the vast potential we have for economic benefits? It is very capital intensive to develop the technology.
So, I will encourage the private sector to invest heavily in the blue economy sector because in the long run, government will provide an enabling environment. It is for the private sector to participate in terms of investment in that sector. It is needed urgently; it can be foreign direct investment, public-private partnership arrangement, concession arrangement and all of that. But the private sector needs to participate in terms of developing the blue economy.

You still have more than two years to serve. What will be your major focus going forward?
You know I serve at the pleasure of Mr.President and I can only do what I am mandated to do by this President in order to help him succeed. So, I do what I can do but also what I’m directed to do at specific times. There are certain projects that we may be called upon at any time to execute and we will carry them out.

For me, my preoccupation is to see that that bill is signed into law and this agency transmute to a new agency that is backed up by the power of legislation, to be able to carry out its mandate and enforce its regulations, in a way that it can create efficiency in this sector and let Nigeria become a maritime hub. We have entered into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which has opened the African market of over 1.2 billion people into one market with a combined GDP of over $1 trillion. What is Nigeria going to take advantage of in the AfCFTA regime? Maritime logistics I guess – because most of the other things have been taken over by other countries that first signed the agreement. Nigeria came in last to sign that agreement.

So, for the next two years that I will be here, God willing, I should be able to focus my energy on developing the potential of the new agency to actually promote efficiencies in the sector through very strict regulations that will ensure that the market is stable and the investments people have made in the sector well-protected. That is what I will concern myself with except the president gives me any other function outside what we are doing now that becomes very, very critical to the success of his government.