The state of Apapa and Tin Can ports, Nigeria’s two largest seaports, is hurting lives and businesses in the premier port city. Government agencies rake in billions from the dilapidated ports to the detriment of manufacturers, exporters, SMEs and residents.
Dan Umoh was rushed to a hospital in Lagos on October 7, 2019. For 16 days, he was in a coma. His family members invited five pastors from different churches who came with their prayer teams, yet there was no sign of coming around.
He had left his home at Surulere for Apapa at 6.55am hoping to return in the evening. On getting to Ojuelegba, a crowded suburb in Surulere, he was told by bus drivers plying Apapa route that the road was blocked. He then decided to use a motorbike to be able to access Apapa port complex. He was a cashew exporter and wanted to visit Apapa to find out why his container of goods had been on the bridge for eight days. His customers in the Netherlands were worried and his cashews would turn bad if the container continued to stay longer.
As he got to Ceddi Towers sitting on Wharf Road, a container swerved and fell on him and the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist, Adamu, died on the spot. Umoh went into coma. Eighteen days after the accident, Umoh came around but not without suffering brain damage. He could neither recognise his wife nor his children.
Agony, tears and blood
Umoh and Adamu are not the only victims of Apapa and Tin Can ports, two of Nigeria’s largest seaports. There are 1001 ways to die in Apapa and Tin Can if anyone is willing to commit suicide. On 12th May, 2019, a truck driver hit Folashade Arogundade, a official who worked in the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LATSMA). She was helping to evacuate containers and articulated vehicles from Apapa when a truck driver hit and killed her. She was rushed to the General Hospital, Apapa, but the medical staff on duty confirmed that she had been brought in dead. In June 2019, a heavy-duty container fell on three vehicles at Tin Can Port, inflicting harm on passengers.
In August 2019, a container crushed an operator of O’Ride, a motorbike hailing service, to death along Oshodi-Apapa axis. There are many unreported cases of broken legs in Apapa, including hit and run drivers who inflict deaths and injuries on passers-by and residents. In 2018, a private vehicle ran over the legs of this writer while waiting to board a commercial bus in Apapa.
The problem
Apapa and Tin Can are two major seaports in the country. Importers bring in their products through the seaports, and exporters rely on the ports to ship out their goods to other countries. In a consistent show of shame, Nigeria exports crude oil through the ports to be refined in other countries. It then brings in the refined petroleum products through the same ports after spending scarce foreign exchange in other climes. This is because refineries are barely working despite empty promises of resuscitation.
“I will resign if Nigeria keeps importing fuel in 2019,” Ibe Kachikwu, former minister of state for petroleum, had pledged in 2017. Yet in January and February 2019, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, imported 1.3 billion litres of fuel. The minister did not resign until President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved his cabinet on May 28, 2019. The inability to fix the refineries has continued to pile pressure on Apapa and Tin Can ports as Nigeria continues on the archaic path of lifting fuel from the ports to filling stations.
According to a 2018 maritime report carried out by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), about 5,000 trucks sought access to Apapa and Tin Can ports in Lagos every day.
The report said the two ports were originally meant to accommodate only 1,500 trucks.
Where are the other ports?
It is easier for visitors to believe that Apapa and Tin Can ports are the only seaports in the country. Far from that, the country is blessed with other seaports such as Okrika Jetty in Rivers State, Indorama Jetty in Rivers State, Onne Port in Rivers State, Calabar Port in Cross River State, and Warri Port in Delta State. However, the ports are not dredged and the access roads to them are dilapidated, according to the LCCI. Businesses complain that access roads to those ports are often blocked by armed robbers owing to the poor state of the roads.
Ineffective presidential task force
Twice, Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s vice president, came to Apapa in 2019 to ascertain the true state of the premier port city. Consequently, he set up a presidential task force in the second quarter of 2019 to make Apapa habitable for residents and businesses. This comprised the army, the navy, the police, LATSMA and other state government officials. It was successful initially as trucks and containers were given call-ups that would enable them to access the ports. But today, the presidential task force seems to have collapsed as it can no longer control the truck drivers.
“The traffic situation we have now is the worst ever. In the past, we used to wriggle through with one lane intermittently open. Now, as from 6pm, from Ijora to the port turns into parking lot with little or no movement. Cars have been trapped for four to six hours, some till day break,” Ayo Vaughn, chairman, Apapa GRA Residents Association, told BusinessDay.
“The team, out of frustration, expressed lack of cooperation from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) because of closure of Lilipond ( a container terminal). Interestingly the team was established by the presidency. The vice president is the chairman while Kayode Opeifa is the vice and operational head with heads of government maritime organs as members,” Vaughn noted.
Life has become difficult for residents of Apapa as the NPA continues to close the Lillipond which is supposed to be a transit trailer park. Because containers do not have anywhere to park, they stay on bridges and streets and cause traffic crisis for over 20 million residents of Lagos, which already contends with five million vehicles.
Ports without functional scanners
The Nigeria Customs does not have functional scanners, thereby causing container delays at Apapa and Tin Can ports, worsening the state of access roads to the two seaports.
Recently, the European Union handed over a multi-million dollar scanner to the Customs but the government agency prefers to do its checks manually or use the old scanner that functions intermittently.
“One scanner was provided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to us, but we have not started using it. We are making use of the old scanner that we have. Though, just recently, the old scanner had a downtime, but we are currently working on it,” Bello Jibo, head, Revenue for Seme Customs, said in November at an engagement session in Lagos.
Hassan Bello, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), said there were expectations that the nation’s seaports would witness rise in business activities following the closure of land borders to international trade, import and export.
“We are having longer waiting days in the anchorage, and we need to put other ports into use,” he said.
“Customs needs to ensure that equipment like scanners are put into use as well to fast-track cargo clearance,” he advised.
Manufacturers, exporters suffer
Today, a lot of manufacturers cannot move their raw materials to their factories. One manufacturer confirmed that he spent N300,000 on a container in 2016 but spends N900,000 today to move goods to the factory.
“Of particular concern and importance to us (MAN) are the challenges we face in moving our raw materials and goods to and from the ports,” Seleem Adegunwa, chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ogun State chapter, said in 2018 at the CEO Business Luncheon at Agbara, an industrial cluster in Ogun State.
He said the resultant effect was that the production cost of manufacturers had increased tremendously.
Adegunwa said if the trend was not checked by relevant government agencies, it could result in collapse of more factories and businesses, noting that some factories and businesses had already shutdown their operations and relocated to neighbouring countries.
At a recent CEO survey carried out by MAN, 89 percent of them agreed that poor access to national ports and the associated gridlock negatively affect productivity in the manufacturing sector.
“The poor scenario accounts for delay in clearance of manufacturing inputs and machinery as well as high demurrage which increases cost of production in the sector and often times put manufacturing concerns in stock-out situations. It is, therefore, important that government urgently addresses the difficulty in accessing the national ports, particularly Lagos ports,” MAN said.
Exporters complain that the turnaround time for goods is getting longer as many of them have their products go bad while waiting for call-ups.
“An exporter shipping out 1,700 tons of commodities per day under normal circumstances when Apapa road was in good condition now manages to only ship between 100 and 250 tons, Tola Faseru, president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, told BusinessDay in 2018.
SMEs suffer
Small and medium scale businesses are also feeling the pinch. A fashion designer, Maryann Uwan, said her customers had all left Apapa for other convenient locations.
“Many of them must have discovered other fashion designers, as they no longer call. Even when I call them, they will not take my calls,” she said.
John Abisoye, who sells shoes at Liverpool, one of the most affected places in Apapa, said he had decided to park out of Apapa as he was no longer making sales that would sustain him.
“I used to sell at least two pairs of shoes each day, but sometimes these days, I sell nothing,” he said.
“Who will come into Apapa to buy anything, when those around are exiting the area?” he asked.
It is all about competition for revenue
Each month or quarter, the NPA and the Customs declare billions in revenue to the excitement of their masters. Yet these two agencies contribute to the problems of Apapa and Tin Can ports. And they are reluctant to find workable solutions.
In January to March 2019, the NPA declared revenue of N67.19 billion ($220.295 million). In May, the NPA said it was targeting N276.75 billion from its 2019 operations ($907.377 million).
Similarly, Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service made N179.2 billion ($587.540 million) in the first half of 2019, processing 150,930 metric tons of export with Free on Board (FOB) value of N68.88 billion, according to Baba Abdullah Musa, Tin Can Command’s comptroller.
Also, Apapa Customs recorded $46.6 million as FOB Value for exported goods and generated N203.2 billion ($666.229 million) as revenue in the first half of 2019, according to Muhammad Abba-Kura, area comptroller of Apapa Command.
High vacancy rate
Apapa Shopping Mall came as a response to the yearning of residents for a modern, world class shopping experience.
The mall hosts Kobis restaurant, Card shop, Daviva, Essenza, Healthplus, Casa Bella, Etisalat, Airtel, Cash N Carry, Shoprite and Busen, among others.
But most of the places are becoming increasingly empty. Many residents of Apapa have packed out for more secure and peaceful locations in Lagos. Consequently, rents have gone more than 40 percent lower in the last five years, say residents.
It is bike economy
Commercial motorbikes are having a field day, charging an arm and a leg to move people in and out of the premier port city.
From Ojuelegba or Mile 2 to Apapa, motorbikes charge between N500 and N800, and many who work in Apapa spend twice that each day. But they also have their disadvantages.
“I broke my leg because the motorbike rider fell into a ditch while overspeeding,’ Ifeanyi Onwema, a trader in Apapa, said.
Where do we go from here?
Many believe that the problem of Apapa and Tin Can ports can be solved once the federal and Lagos State governments have the will to do so.
“The concessioning of Onitsha seaport should be finalised, while government should improve the security situation along and within the Warri port in order to ward off militants and touts,” Babatunde Ruwase, former president of the LCCI, suggested.
“Stakeholders request that government should approve and publicise a bouquet of incentives to importers and exports that patronise ports outside Lagos,” he said.
Bashir Jamoh, president of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA) , said a rail line should be built and linked to Apapa port city.
“Government can develop policies that would introduce public-private partnership in the development of transport infrastructure like rail system,” he said.
Many say there is the corruption side of the story.
Ada Amah, an entrepreneur in Apapa, said corruption should be eliminated in the call-up system.
“For instance, we have heard that money exchanges hands before a call-up. This discourages truck drivers when they know that those coming behind them will go into Apapa before them,” she said.
In several occasions, the task force has denied collecting or accepting bribes from truck drivers, but many drivers say otherwise.
Speaking at a maiden quarter business roundtable organised by MMS Plus Newspapers recently in Lagos, Kunle Folarin, chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC), said the port corridor must be reserved and restricted as an exclusive economic zone.
“Until we install a multi-modal system of transport and build other infrastructure at the ports, we would continue to have a recurring decimal of congestion at the ports,” he said. “The port environment, up to 4km, should be only warehouses for cargoes, roads for movement of port cargoes by trucks or railway. There should also be a ring road exclusively reserved for the port,” he further said.
