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… Accuses police of mounting multiple checkpoints to extort motorists
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…Says there ‘re 5000 unclaimed containers
By Christiana Ekpa
Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, yesterday accused the security agencies especially the Nigerian Police of being responsible for the unending gridlock at Apapa, Lagos, even as it disclosed that the Police set up multiple checkpoints through which they extort motorists within and outside the Ports.
The NPA revealed that the Police are fronting some Area Boys who collect money from motorists on their behalf.
The Acting Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello Koko made the revelations at an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Customs on Tuesday in Abuja.
Koko while outlining the challenges of the Authority said: “In recent times we have been given a dashboard that will enable us to know when trucks are coming in. But there are multiple problems which we have addressed, some of them are outside the Nigerian ports authority, outside the purvey of NPA.
“The first issue is the problem of extortion. There are multiple check points within what we call the red zone.
“Currently, there are over 5000 containers across the ports. Some of these containers are actually more than a year old and when you leave this containers there, you’re also occupying space for containers imported. For instance, APMT have over one thousand, we will get you the details.
“Nigeria Customs has not auctioned any containers to the best of our knowledge in recent times, so there’s even no space to take empty containers, some of them have been there for many years. That’s a big challenge, if that can be handled the terminals will be more free and there will be more space.
“And these checkpoints are manned by police officers. At times you find men in naval or military uniform extorting vehicles illegally and Lagos state government has been very cooperative in terms of enforcement of the SOP as it relates to the truck call up system.
We held a meeting recently with Road Safety Federal, LASMA and other officers in the police force, and we decided that they should identify checkpoints and the essence of the checkpoints so as not to interfere with traffic.
“The essence of the check point is to verify that these trucks are allowed to come in. But at times we discover that the trucks will just park along the TIN CAN Apapa corridor looking for business. That means they actually have no business being in that locations.”
Asked to adopt automated terminal delivery where anyone without a ticket, cannot come in or have their trucks found impounded, Bello said that the people to implement it were the ones extorting them.
“The people that are supposed to impound are the ones extorting. At times in a day you can count up to 15 to 30 checkpoints and it’s really affecting the flow of traffic, now it has graduated to area boys being the 5th man or whatever they call it”, he said.
Koko attributed the nonfunctionality of Eastern ports to the insecurity in the region.
“All the ports are working. But the Eastern ports have geographical limitations. They have the longest channels that exist in Nigeria because they are near the ocean. So, because of that location and the insecurity in that area, it makes it difficult for shipping companies to use those ports.
We have also given concessions to shipping companies and we are hoping that it will encourage more activities on those ports. We are encouraging the use of flat vessels in those areas. But the NPA cannot determine for importer where to take his cargo. Studies have shown that between 60 to 70 percent of cargoes imported is used in the southern part of the country. So, you don’t expect an importer who wants to use his raw materials in a factory in Lagos or Ibadan to take his cargoes to the Eastern part of the country.
“The other issue is that of security. While the ports in the west operates 24 hours, they are operating 10 hours in the East. There is a time the pilots will not be able to take the vessel through the Channel. Delta port is its own issue. There is an NNPC pipeline in the channel that is about 7 meters and so, we cannot dredge lower than that. We discussing with the NNPC to find a way to relocate that pipeline. There is also a bridge water that has collapses which has to be reconstructed. The Calabar port has not been dredged for a long time
Some of the ports are very old.
“The Rivers port has reached its life span and it has its limitations. The engineering design for the port is very old. It is Mongo park kind of design and does not allow us to dredge deeper. The only solution is to reconstruct it or build a new one. The solution is what we are working on right now. The Federal Ministry of Transportation and the NPA are working hard to see the completion of the Lekki deep sea port. It will be the first deep sea port with a draft of 16.5, but we are targeting 20.5. The target is for it to start operation by the second quarter of next year. So, all the ship to ship businesses we have been losing to neighboring countries will not be coming into the country. We also have plans to build Badagry deep sea port and another one in Cross River.
“What we have done recently is to sit with the terminal operators and see how we can modernise the existing ports. If we wants to go deeper, we have to reconstruct those ports.
“On delay movement of cargoes,
Sometimes, you find wrong documentation by the importers and sometimes, they bring in illegal or banned items combined with items that are allowed by government. So, that occupy the space and waste time. Sometimes, there is improper understanding of Customs processes and procedures. We also have multiple government agencies involved in clearing of goods which create prolonged processes when people import goods and wants to take them out”, he said.
