PERSONNEL ON APAPA PORT CORRIDORS ARE FEEDING FAT ON THE GRIDLOCK, SHOULD BE REDEPLOYED
— EZE UCHENDU
Recently, the Prestige Blended Magazine Online engaged the Apapa Chapter Chairman of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders-NAGAFF, Fwdr. Prince Eze Uchendu in an exclusive interview in his Apapa, Lagos office, he had a swell time to speak on the poor services of APMT, the perennial Apapa gridlock and the fraud called E-Call-up (ETO) and the need for urgent redeployment of all the personnel manning traffic control points along Apapa port corridors.
Enjoy!
ON APMT OPERATIONS
I wouldn’t want to talk for other freight forwarders but for myself as Fwdr. Prince Eze Uchendu, on a second thought, l think it is important for me to speak on behalf of everyone because l am the Chairman of NAGAFF, Apapa Chapter. And I am going to say it as it is.
I think government should look into the activities of APMT, and revisit its contractual agreement. In a very short period of time, APMT has made arbitrary increases in their handling charges, storage and examination fee unhindered.
As an organization that has pledged to handle the Nation’s premier port, one of the largest ports in Africa, if l am to assess APMT, l will say they it has failed in many ways. As an organization, APMT lacks the capacity to manage Apapa seaport. I have said this at different fora and l am saying it again.
APMT lacks the manpower, it is understaffed and also lacks the machineries to meet up with the pupported 48hrs operation. APMT is setting business within Apapa Command backward. We witnessed what happened last December, it was taking them seven days to position a container for examination. After holding series of meetings with them, we took them to Nigerian Shipper’s Council-NSC, the Customs Area Controller was there, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Maritime was also part of that meeting and APMT never kept to what was agreed, rather, they have continued to come soft on some areas and hard on others. I can remember they asked us to give them two weeks to improve on their services but l am amazed that in the first week of January, they made another increment. And they are doing this unhindered. It is amazing that government handed over the Nation’s premier Seaport to a private firm to handle and the firm now sees the concession as a means to keep exploiting Nigerans, increasing their charges at will because they are not regulated. The bottom line is that APMT has not lived up to expectation since it took over Apapa Port.
For me, l suggest their contract should not be renewed; the government should allow other firms to come in, there should be an open bid for Apapa Port concession. APMT has failed here in Nigeria, they might be good in other countries of the world but their operation here is sabotaging the Nation’s economy, they are looting the country and also adding to the inflation in the market by their inability to deliver their services efficiently.
ON APAPA GRIDLOCK:
We have held series of meetings on Apapa gridlock, with the representative of Honourable Minister of Transportation. The e-Call up (ETO) was highly criticized. At a time it was working but along the line the system was hijacked by certain individuals. Based on the information reaching us, we demand that all the personnel from LASTMA, Road Safety, Police, Army, Navy and the rest of them be redeployed to other areas and a new set of officers be posted to Apapa. Most of the road blocks within the Apapa corridor are money points. They have converted every post to ATM point. The ETO is not working, they E-call up is a fraud and l suggest that if they are to work, the government should set up a committee which must include freight forwarders, we are the owners of the goods moving in and out of Apapa; we facilitate the movement of these cargoes but in making decisions on traffic control we are not being carried along. I think we know better, we know where the challenges lie, we know the in and out of Apapa more than anyone posted to work here.
Why the gridlocks are there is because the stakeholders are not part and parcel of the traffic control. Of a fact, if l have my man there, he should be able to tell us what is happening. If ANLCA has its members there, they should be able to tell their executives what is happening, the E- Call up system is all about giving and taking bribe. once you see truckers plying one way with impunity, money has exchanged hands. If stakeholders were part of the traffic control units, l don’t think that things would have been like this, we have our members on ground, we have our task force , we have trade facilitators who are always there day and night to monitor both the inflow and outflow of cargoes within the Apapa corridor. We normally go on routing check to know whether our members have one issue or the other. But because we are not drafted as part of the traffic control unit, we can’t do much to salvage the situation.
ON SOLUTION:
The best solution to the situation is that empty containers should stop coming to Apapa. The government must map out a large portion of land like that of Ikorodu Terminal and direct all the shipping companies to move their empty boxes to the place and ferry them by barges to the port. Once this system is followed; we will automatically start seeing a very free Apapa. All the trucks lining up the port corridors are carrying empty boxes which they want to return to the port. APMT has made use of all the spaces in the terminal , so there is no holding bay where empties can be dropped. They should be mandated to have holding bays outside Apapa. After receiving their empties which is not the responsibility of the government, and their vessel is around to take the empties back to the port of origin, they ferry them by barges to the harbour, by doing so, there won’t be movement of empties by road into Apapa, that is when the ETO can work effectively. Any truck coming in will be an unloaded truck heading to the terminal to be loaded.
ON THE CGC:
The brief tenure of the CGC so far is very commendable. There has been great improvement in Customs operations and management. And it is because the CGC is a core Customs officer who rose from the ranks, unlike the immediate past CGC, Hammed Ali, who is not a Customs officer and has no idea of how the organization is run. I think it was a wrong appointment because you don’t give the job of a physician to a lawyer. I am not writing him off completely, he tried in his own way but no one expected him to perform beyond his scope .There was no way he would have surpassed a core Customs officer when it comes to management of the organization and revenue generation. And the new CGC who knows the structure, ideals and work formation of the Nigeria Customs, immediately hit the ground running as he came onboard. We have seen how he is working tirelessly trying to reposition the organization for greater glory. Secondly, you can see that a huge target has been given to the Nigeria Customs for 2024, about 5.01 trillion, and with the kind of officers we have manning various Commands presently, l believe it’s achievable. His efforts so far is commendable, he is a field man, very industrious, and l like him for that .
ON CUSTOMS REVENUE TARGET:
The target, the continuous decline in Naira value and incessant increase in Customs duty will in no doubt subject the masses to more hardships. It is a heavy burden on the NCS and they have no option than to work towards achieving it.
I will say the target is humongous and that Nigerians should expect continuous increment in Customs tariff which will keep prompting hike in prices of commodities. To worsen the situation is the decline in cargo throughput. The volume of cargoes coming into the country is on the decline due to ever rising exchange rate. My very opinion is that the government should not be giving Customs targets that are above its generating capacity. Since the target is coming from the presidency, even if we kick and protest against it, they won’t cut down on the figure. I hope the CGC would be able to achieve the target. On the other hands, Nigerians should expect more tough times, that is the bitter truth.
PROGRAMMES TO BE CHAMPIONED BY YOUR CHAPTER IN 2024 ?
Our innovative ideas and blueprint for 2024 includes repositioning NAGAFF Apapa Chapter above every other association, we are also building a stronger synergy with both agencies and relevant stakeholders within Apapa. We have resolved that it is not going to be business as usual. Thank God we have a new crop of senior officers . Just recently, the DC, APMT, stated that he was not going to treat criminals and non compliant individuals with kid gloves; he said that he won’t condone any form of criminality and that was to the delight of NAGAFF members who are 100% compliant; we are ready to work with him to make him achieve his goals at APMT . NAGAFF members do not indulge in false declaration or falsification of documents. We don’t circumvent trade rules or indulge in drug peddling. We have image to protect. We are going to set a standard whereby one must declare whatever he has as consignment. Since we have a standardized duty rate for 20ft and 40ft, there is every need to make true declaration of what you have as consignment. I want to say that l am happy with the level of compliance by freight forwaders so far. Pay what is given to you as value and carry your consignment without stress. That 48hr cargo delivery is what we want to achieve and l hope it comes into effect completely before the end of the year.
