Expert tasks FG on approval of ports reform bills

President of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association Nigeria (WISTA-NIG.), Jean Chiazor-Anishere, has decried the delay in approving Ports Reform Bills at the National Assembly and the Presidency.

She said about five important bills capable of driving the much-needed reforms and investment in the maritime and transport sector are still awaiting passage by the National Assembly over the last 10 years.

The bills are National Transport Commission Bill, Port and Harbours Bill (PHB), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Bill, the revised Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Bill and the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarders Bill.

She stated this at a national discourse organised in Lagos, themed, ‘The Place of Maritime/ Transport in the Economy of Nations – The Nigerian Experience.”

Chiazor-Anishere, who served as a Maritime Legal Consultant to the House of Representatives, Committee on Marine Transport on International Conventions, also decried other regulatory and legal issues affecting the maritime sector, which include multiplicity of Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and security formation at the ports.

According to her, the number of public sector agencies/ departments at the ports is currently 12 and needs to be reduced to eight in line with Presidential Order and best international port practices.

She said there is also a need to streamline the number of security agencies, which is currently between six and 10, involved in port operations with different levels of involvement in the cargo clearance processes.

Chiazor-Anishere also noted that there is no performance target or standards for MDAs at the port currently with regards to timelines and output for processes handled by each of them.

She said the targets, which include, maximum timelines for each process, volume and number of import/export transactions processed within a given period will go a long way to resolve delay issues at the ports.

The maritime legal practitioner also decried little or no activity at other ports outside Lagos that currently account for over 80 per cent of total port volume and value in the country, outside of crude oil export.

She said there is a need to urgently restore full operation at the Eastern ports and the Lekki Free Trade Port in Lagos, to reduce the current pressure on the Lagos port complex and roads.

Chiazor-Anishere also stressed transport and logistics issues, while decrying the absence of functional rail tracks to and from the ports, which she said, has led to monumental logistics crises for port users over the years.

She said about 5,000 trucks currently seek access to the Lagos ports daily due to the absence of an intermodal transport system in maritime, noting that the port and its access roads were designed to take only about 1,500 trucks daily.

The maritime expert also stressed the ongoing repair and construction of port roads, noting that the pace of work has been slow and compounded traffic gridlock to and within the ports.
She also stressed the need for trailer and truck parks for electronic call-up system, noting that the trailer park under construction around Tin Can port, has been abandoned for some time now.

According to her, the construction of more trailer parks and the full implementation of a truck call-up system will help to address the lingering traffic congestion.

Chiazor-Anishere also decried the state of other facilities, noting that the Weigh Bridge (manual or electronic), warehouse, Internet backbone, container scanning machines and other enabling facilities at the ports are either not in place or grossly inadequate.

She said these are areas that public-private partnerships can further explore.

The expert also pointed at the rampant cases of stealing and pilfering of loaded and sealed containers along the roads to the ports (mostly during the night) and within the ports, noting that ports users are worried.

She also raised concern over the safety and cost implications of wrecked ships and abandoned vessels littering Nigeria’s waters.