Trade Facilitation, Governance, Intermodal Transportation, Ports Efficiency
Barrister Hassan Bello , Executive Secretary Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) is part of a new generation of leaders who are visionary in their thinking and who work not only for national goals and development, but for greater global peace, sustainability and prosperity.
At the Nigeria Shippers Council, he fairly balances the interests of ports stakeholders, being maritime economic regulator, maintaining links with the terminal operators, shipping companies, and freight forwarders, as well as Nigerian Customs, the Port Authority, and many other agencies. The reason for this is the need to develop Nigeria into a preferred destination for cargo in West Africa. And also to ensure an improved intermodal environment, a reduction in seaport congestion and increased cross-border trade between the north of Nigeria and neighbouring landlocked countries.
The Nigeria Shippers Council has broadly two mandates. The first mandate is it being an intervention agency to make sure that there is balance in the transactions between the supplier and the users of shipping services. In this role, it ensures balance between the supply and the demand side of the shipping industry, coordinating all factors. The second mandate is trade facilitation, and the council has done this successfully to propel the integrity of Nigeria international trade. In an interview, Bello talks about the council’s mandates.
“As Nigerian ports economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers Council negotiates with service providers and government alike while also taking care of the interests of shippers, playing the role of a neutral umpire to all parties. In this regard, the NSC is working with the terminal operators, shipping companies, and freight forwarders, as well as Nigerian Customs, the Port Authority, and many other agencies. The reason for this is the need to develop Nigeria into a preferred destination for cargo in West Africa. Nigerian ports and terminals are in competition with other ports in the neighborhood and we have to attract cargo. Therefore, the Shippers council is streamlining procedures, such that shippers will have no choice but to bring goods to Nigerian ports because of their efficiency.”
The functions of the Council enumerated in its Act, also include such thing as advising the government on shipping services. That means it will advise the government on adequacy of services, whether shipping services are adequate or not, advising the government on the class of vessels to be used in transportation, advising the government on the quality of the vessel.
Equally, the Shippers council is at the forefront of pushing on to ensure that improved cargo railway service, ICDs, the Truck Transit Parks (TTPs) and the dry ports are all in place, working seamlessly to enhance trade in Nigeria. With all these going on, the NSC is working to improve the country and regional economies, infrastructure and livelihoods. And these have portrayed Barrister Bello as a strategic person with his task of managing. There are many examples of how highways, dry ports buildings, seaports are improving the quality of lives of different Nigerian communities.
The Nigeria Shippers Council is also involved with the National Single Window (NSW) of the Federal Ministry of Transportation to ensure a 48-hour clearance of goods at the ports. This is a National Single Window, whereby all the interface and integration of all system to work seamlessly together. Now there is a committee which include the Nigeria Custom Services, Nigeria Port Authority, Nigeria Shippers Council and some other relevant organizations under the PEBEC [Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council], the ease-of-doing-business organization under the Vice President, which is looking at the National Single Window to remove opaqueness, create transparency and simplify documentation.
With a good staff support made up professionals who are aware of their mandates and know how to execute these mandates, the Nigeria Shippers Council is doing great jobs under the watch of Barr Bello. The NSC became very potent since 2006 Ports reforms of former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration and has increased its clout since then.
It has been working harder to encourage the roles of maritime stakeholders, acknowledging it as an important complement Nigeria oil sector development. Its continuing attention to ensure that things are done right by stakeholders is also a catalyst for Nigerians to take a hard look at themselves and ask how they can do more in the immediate region and work with all actors towards a more prosperous West African sub-region.
Relevant parties objectively and positively view NSC’s relations with them and other relevant agencies, and earnestly abandon outdated concepts of old thinking while doing more to benefit the nations’ development and improve livelihoods, regional peace and stability.
In the closing days of April, Barrister Bello made a working visit to the NIMASA headquarters where he met Dr Bashir Jamoh, director-general of NIMASA. The visit was an important move to harmonise rates, operations and to curb delay, corruption at Nigerian ports. And that heralded a great new chapter in furtherance of efficiency, and accountability at the ports. That day, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) agreed to implement joint measures to minimise delay and corrupt practices at the country’s ports.
The two agencies of Federal Government expressed hope that full automation of processes at the nation’s ports would go a long way to curbing human interface, delays and corruption at the ports. NIMASA and the Nigerian Shippers Council thus agreed to harmonize the implementation of Port and Flag State Administration to minimize human direct contact onboard vessels, calling at the nation’s ports in line with provisions in the Nigerian Port Process Manual (NPPM).
Bashir Jamoh of NIMASA disclosed that the Agency’s operation was close to 85percent automated, adding that NIMASA had undertaken an in-house harmonization exercise to reduce human interface and now fully ready for inter-agency harmonization. He also commended the management of the Shippers Council for its commitment to ensuring the success of the introduction of cargo tracking notes in port operations.
He thanked the NSC boss for obtaining approval for the cargo tracking note. He said that would reduce loss of man-hour and assist in exposing non-declaration or under declaration at the nation’s ports, thus improving revenue generation for the federal government.
Talking about the Secure Anchorage Area, Jamoh noted that since the Deep Blue project took over security working closely with the Nigerian Navy, the nation has witnessed a reduction in the number of security breaches at the anchorage.
“We are beginning to record a reduction in attacks in our waters, and we hope to sustain this and later demand a change in status of cost of insurance of vessels visiting Nigerian waters.” He told the Nigerian Shippers Council’s boss.
Responding Barrister Bello said that cost of port operations in Nigeria could be reduced by over 35percent when standard operation procedures contained in the Nigerian Port Process Manual were fully implemented.
“Our Ports are in competition with other Ports in the Region, so we need to strengthen collaboration on the establishment of indicative freight Rates,” the NSC Executive Secretary said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo launched the manual on December 9 last year in Abuja, during the 2020 International Anti-Corruption Day. It is a collection of processes taken from the Standard Operating Procedures of stakeholders in the port sector, and it aims to improve operations, service timelines, efficiency, and accountability at the ports.
Another good initiative of the NSC is the idea of dry ports and Inland Containeer Depots (ICDs). The fact that the NSC has grown in strength and is at the forefront of promoting National and global sustainability inspired the government to come up with its “step-up” strategy to build dry ports in different areas of the country. This step is now yielding fruits, and it will help generate foreign exchange for the government as Chad and Niger Republic will take advantage of them.
On Friday May 21, Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, was in Ibadan Oyo State to inspect the level of completion of the Ibadan dry Port. Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde was very happy with the port project. At a meeting he held with Transport Minister over the dry Port, an elated Governor Makinde, disclosed that the state has plans to invest for 15% equity in the proposed dry port. He also disclosed that the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor would have a business district created around it.
“We visited the Ibadan railway station and the dry port. I restated that our state government is prepared to invest to get 15% equity in the dry port” the Governor said.
I also confirmed that we had reconstructed the major road around the rail corridor – the 65km Moniya-Ijaiye-Iseyin road. And that our plan is to create a business district around the rail corridor which will include total reconstruction of link roads in the area,” Makinde stated.
Hon. (Mrs) Tolulope Akande-Sadipe K.the Member representing Oluyole Federal Constituency & Chairman House of Representative Committee on Diaspora, is also happy about Amaechi visit to the Port. She disclosed her role in the project and appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State not to lose the Ibadan Inland Dry Port to Ogun State.
Akande-Sadipe who was a Special Adviser on Projects and Public-Private Partnership to late Senator Ajimobi said that her sweat and the support of her late boss secured the Ibadan Inland Dry Port. She further revealed that the project was conceptualized by her during the last administration.
The lawmaker said “The idea sprung up on a visit to Lagos to see my mother, the traffic from trucks queuing to get into the Apapa ports led to the brainwave that this could be another economic opportunity for Oyo State, which had an advantage based on its geographical position and the new train line from Lagos. Knowing that this would further stir up the economic revival in our beloved Oyo State. I approached the Governor with the idea and he gave his consent to commence the leg work.”
“I contacted Mr. Hassan Bello led Shippers Council through Mr. Anifowoshe who was based in the Ibadan office in 2018 and extensive talks about decongesting Lagos by setting up an Inland Dry Port in Oyo began.”
“The rationale for Olorisha Oko was based on its location as the point where the first phase of the new train line from Lagos to the North passing through Ibadan would terminate. That way, containers could be shipped by train from, Lagos ports to Ibadan and further on with the completion of other stages of the project, as is the case in developed Nations. I and my Bureau of Investment Promotions and Project Office team most especially Mr. Kunle Olusina with the support of our principal, the Governor late Senator Abiola Ajimobi worked tirelessly to make it a reality”. She spoke.
“I put so much effort into making the inland dry port a reality, my sweat and support from Ajimobi secured the Federal government approval of the project during the administration of Koseleri Late Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
The lawmaker noted that the Inland Dry Port would bring about 24,000 direct new jobs and also attract new investors and big corporations to take advantage of the free trade zone. We all know what that will mean to the youths of Oyo State – Job creation, both blue and white-collar
The Oyo State Government and the Federal Government proposed Inland Dry Port was estimated as an investment of approximately a whopping sum of $99,665,626 (N35.9bn), which is expected to ease the pressure on the Apapa Seaport and the perennial gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway as well as make the ardous task of import clearance mire accessible to the hitherlands of the SW and the Northern part of the Nation.
Bello at that time said that the project would have equipment parking, truck parking, among other facilities, and would occupy 90 hectares of land, which was provided by the state government.
She gleefully prayed that progress will be made as she looks forward to attending the opening ceremony as a proud daughter of Oyo State.
Full commercial train services commenced on the Lagos-Ibadan rail line after train operations commenced on December 7, 2020, linking major cities in the South West including Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta.
With the success story of the Ibadan Dry Port, other states have also begun plans for a dry port with Kano State disclosing that its inland port will cost $27 million and would be completed fully in December. The launch of operations at Kaduna appears to have helped accelerate progress on the other ports. In November 2015, five months after the inauguration of the Kaduna facility, Simon Lalong, the governor of Plateau State, said that he was looking into resuscitating plans for an inland container facility. The original plan, conceived as a component of the federal government’s strategy in 2006, had been cancelled by the previous state administration. The state is now once again looking for private investors to develop the project.
It is on record that in March 2006 the Federal Executive Council approved plans for six dry ports to be developed under public-private partnerships using a build-own-operate-transfer model. Eight locations were chosen for the facilities, which will have the same functions as seaports, including the ability to process cargo and clear it through Customs.
The ports, to be located at Ibadan in Oyo State, Isiala Ngwa in Abia State, Jos Heipang in Plateau State, Bichi Village in Bauchi State, Gombe in Gombe State, Bulunkutu in Borno State, Zawachiki in Kano State and Zanfarawa-Funtua in Katsina State, will have a combined capacity of 179,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units. Concessionaires were also approved for the developments, which will be operated by private consortia for 25 years. These include Catamaran Logistics, Dala Inland Dry Port, Dunca Maritime, Eastgate Terminal, Inland Containers Nigeria, Equatorial Maritime and Migfo Nigeria.
All these are made possible through the effort of the Nigeria Shippers Council. Its success in providing roadmap for sustainable economic development and helping to reduce cost of ports operations along the Ease of Doing business programme of the Federal Government has been phenomenal with its Executive secretary Hassan Bello at the steering.
Under the leadership of Hassan Bello at the Nigeria Shippers Council, Nigeria is seeing a comprehensive advancement in ports operations and development of intermodal transportation that keeps pace with the rhythm of the modern era, anticipates a promising future, and achieves rates of development and growth that can dazzle the world.
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