Stability of naira in the foreign exchange market, improved road infrastructure within the ports environs and outcome of 2019 general elections are expected to drive business at the nation’s seaports this year, importers and manufacturers have predicted.
According to the importers, users of port services were faced with several challenges due to the deplorable state of infrastructure at the port over the past five years.
Mansur Ahmed, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), identified the poor state of roads leading to Apapa port as an issue of great concern to manufacturers. He noted however that manufacturers had high hopes that the situation at the ports would improve to enable operators undertake more business in 2019.
“Manufacturers are one of the major stakeholders in the port because many of our members rely on port effectiveness for the continuity and sustainability of their businesses. In the past year, we had lots of challenges in the port because of the situation of road infrastructure in the port, but we have held interaction with the operators of the port like the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC).
Ahmed said MAN was aware that a lot was being done by the government to alleviate some of the constraints particularly with respect to transport infrastructure and port services. He pointed out that the volume of business at ports could only grow if the government succeeded in removing the obstacles facing port users.
“We also expect the economy to improve because the government projected that the economy would grow more than it did in 2018. If that happens, we should expect to do more business and the level of production in the manufacturing sector to increase,” Ahmed said.
According to him, stable economic growth will encourage the importation of various inputs including raw materials, spare parts, equipment and machineries, adding that the stability of foreign exchange will also determine the volume at which manufacturers will be importing more input into the country.
“We are aware that the economy is still at its fragile state as the price of oil continues to affect foreign exchange volatility. Our hope is that these things will improve to enable us do more business and bring in more imports particularly for the manufacturing sector this year,” Ahmed said.
On his part, Tony Anakebe, managing director of Gold-Link Investment Ltd believes that the level of port businesses this year would depend solely on the outcome of the election, noting that the polls turn out “free and fair,” port activities would pick up from the good results recorded in 2018.
Anakebe pointed out however that the incoming administration should relax some of the harsh import policies, to enable Nigerians do business at the ports. One of actions that government must take is the creation of a one-stop-shop system of operation at the ports.
“We need to bring all the units, agencies and service providers at the port under one umbrella to enable them carry out cargo examination without delay. There is also need to do away with multiple divisions of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other agencies like Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should be removed in order to allow people do their business and grow the economy,” he said.
Anakebe argued that the multiplicity of agencies create avenue for corruption to flourish at the ports, said that if the incoming government could overhaul the system of cargo clearance at the ports, the port economy would grow.
“Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former minister of finance, streamlined the number of agencies at ports and she pushed for 48-hour cargo clearance as well as reduced cargo dwell time at ports to maximum of seven days. This move helped to improve ease of doing business at ports. Therefore, we want government to consolidate on this move and ameliorate the challenges of cargo clearance at ports,” Anakebe explained.
On exports, Emma Nwabunwanne, a Lagos-based importer, predicted that Nigeria would witness a marginal increase in the volume of agricultural produce exported to other countries this year.
“Our export might pick up a little but we want the farmers and the officers of the Nigerian Quarantine Services to put in more effort to ensure the crops are in good shape to ensure they are not rejected in the international market, which in the past has put Nigeria in bad light,” he advised.
Nwabunwanne urged farmers to reduce the amount of chemicals in the farming stage because, according to him, too much inorganic fertiliser compromises the quality of the produce and lowers the standards in the international market.
