The Executive Secretary/ Chief Executive, Nigerian Shippers’Council, Hon. Emmanuel Jime, in this interview with Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor, and Godfrey Bivbere, Maritime Correspondent, painted graphic picture of the transformation happening in the shipping industry.
On assumption of duties last year you must have listed some quick wins, some low hanging fruits you expected to deliver in short term. How far have you gone in achieving some of the targets?
I assumed office here about a year ago, when Mr. President, President Mohammadu Buhari, appointed me to this very exalted and very important office of heading the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
The journey so far has been quite interesting at the same time challenging. Interesting because I have now come to recognize that the mandate of the Shippers’ Council puts it in a very important position to manage the economic activities in our ports. And I have always argued that this is perhaps the nerve centre of the nation’s economy and indeed any economy that has marine as part of the ecosystem, and I’m talking here about the maritime industry. So for an agency that has the responsibility for restoring sanity and ensuring that the industry is run efficiently and in a cost effective manner, that for me is the first interesting thing that I was able to identify when I came in here.
And so I needed to become a quick learner and to understudy the industry very very quickly you know, so I could appreciate what are the opportunities and also of course equally the challenges as well. I have been here one year now; I have learnt a lot.
The industry is complex. It’s also one that really has lots of opportunities. As I said earlier, this is the nerve of the economy of the nation. I think it’s fair to say that it is next to oil. The next most important sector of the national economy is the maritime domain, and I feel that if we were to run it as efficiently and as effectively as it should be, then this industry will even overtake the oil industry which appears to be the mainstream of the nation’s economy till now.
And so I’m able to say that in the one year or so that I’ve been here, we’ve recorded some very modest achievements and it’s due to the fact that I’ve had very proficient and very good support base of management team that is very professional, and indeed the entire staffs of the Shippers Council, that has made me feel at home. And so that has been the situation in one year since I resumed leading to some achievements.
The first for me is the effective implementation of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual, NPPM. Before now the industry was actually pretty much in an environment where there wasn’t what you call proper regulation. Anybody and anyone could do as he wanted, and you know the maritime industry is composed of a lot of cartels, and when you have cartels in an environment, it means that it is very difficult to ensure regulation in that kind of environment. So that was in my opinion, the environment in which the Shippers Council was given this mandate of being Ports Economic Regulator, PER.
Let me also say that people really don’t like being regulated as much as we want to see things done the right way only to the extent that it does not affect our ability to short change the system. Only then will anybody really be advocating for regulation in any enterprise.
And so we had an environment where first and foremost, where there is an absence of regulation. We had operating processes that were being run by different stakeholders how they wanted. Now, obviously, that is not an atmosphere that can guarantee efficiency anywhere. And so government, in its wisdom, of course working together with advice from the Shippers Council, decided to put together all of the operating processes into one document called the Port Process Manual, in which now all these standard operating processes of different stakeholders were now brought together into one. And so we can now say that there is clarity of operational port processes because you can now restore sanity in the environment.
Everybody must not do as he wants; we now have a document by which everybody is now guided. That is the Port Process Manual that the Shippers Council fortunately was given the leadership of. And so in leading the Port Process Manual, we also had to establish a task team that has the responsibility of monitoring and enforcing the implementation. And therefore we have made quite substantial achievements in the course of the operations of this task team.
So for instance today, in the ports; we have what is called the Joint Boarding of Vessels, JBV, which in the past agencies of government could do as they wanted boarding whenever they like. So this caused a lot of delays in the cargo clearance process which is does not allow for efficient cargo dwell time in our ports.
Today under the Port Process Manual, all the agencies of government do one single boarding at the same time. That cuts away all the delays that we were experiencing in our ports in the past.
Shippers Council’s responsibility is to make sure everybody behaves and is guided by the provisions of the Ports Process Manual. So now cargo dwell time has been cut down substantially, allowing for ships to berth at our ports and then in record time be able to discharge and of course move out of our ports quickly as well. Anyone doing business in Apapa for example, knows exactly what it was like some months, what it took for anybody to be able to access our port. It wasn’t for lack of trying, government actually had put in a lot of measures but we came in with the commitment, with the doggedness to ensure that for once in our lifetime, we could prove that this is doable.
And so I’m happy to announce today that we are able to sustain this and we are actually now beginning to expand into other corridors in order to make sure that access into our ports are free. You can then imagine the impact on the economy. I give you an example of what I’m saying here, exports. If you are going to take some perishable goods from the hinterlands into the seaport and you are faced with all the challenges we have on the roads, the checkpoints that the task team has cleared, the terrible nature of our roads, you can then imagine the impact that it will have on the economy if we could easily access the ports for you to get your goods and produce faster into the international market.
You will also recall that Customs Commands in Lagos recently announced astronomical rise in the volume and value of export through their Commands. This can be associated with free port access corridor which gives export cargo easy access to the port.
Let me also speak quickly to some of the other things that we have been doing in the period that I have been here. We have instituted the consumer protection regime in the maritime sector. We are doing this in collaboration with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC. We needed to go into an understanding with this agency because part of the problem of Shippers Council is that the legal instrument setting up the Shippers Council is limited, its inability to sanction wrongdoing, and you cannot regulate unless you are able to sanction. So the FCCPC is a body that has overall protections of consumers, and they also have the ability not only to arrest, to prosecute, but to sanction.
But this is a very very sensitive industry. If we are to allow the FCCPC to just walking with boots on the ground and arrest people, that will send a shockwave in the industry that will not be acceptable. So our relationship with FCCPC then allows them to be able to process their investigations, and intervene in the industry in a manner that is consistent with the civil nature in which business must be conducted in our ports. That is the reason for that kind of partnership we are having with the FCCPC. So I hope people understand the reason why that became necessary. However, I’m going to be pushing that in the course of the amendment to the legal instrument that put the Shippers Council in charge of monitoring these activities, we would be afforded a legal framework that will allow us to be able to pursue and implement these processes without having to rely on other agencies in government. That to me is the vacuum and the lacuna that exists in our legal framework as at the moment.
We are also undertaking a continuous advocacy for digitalisation and automation of our port processes and operations; this is not a rocket science. Everybody understands when you automate and when you digitalise, first you remove human interface which usually is responsible for the corruption that we talk about for a number of years now. The inefficiencies that are exits that you can clearly see, which are as a result of human interface, can completely be eliminated when you bring in digital mode of doing transactions and of course you automate.
And so Shippers Council has been in the advocacy of making sure that all the stakeholders, here we are talking about the terminal operators, the shipping companies, and indeed even government agencies that are responsible for activities in the port are on the digital platform. That is one aspect that I’m comfortable with the leading role the Shippers Council is playing, because you know we understand that we needed to have a standardisation of our ports in a way that there could be ease of doing business. This is consistent with the Federal Government’s drive to ensure ease of doing business in our ports. So, that is one area that we have focused on and I’m happy to report that we are really making some substantial progress in that area.
Another achievement is that we now have what I call a complaint handling mechanism in the Shippers Council that is second to none. I mean every day I wake up and I’m excited because I received a lot of feedback from the industry. People are writing to commend the Shippers Council’s handling of complaints from the industry. And so that robust handling I’m talking about, that is the alternative dispute resolution mechanism that the Shippers Council is promoting and because of the institution of the complaints handling mechanism of the agency, we have done a lot of good work as far as handling complaints that are coming from the industry are concerned.
Recently, we got the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation to engage with stakeholders not too long ago, in order to have a further affirmation of the rule of the Nigerian Shippers Council as Port Economic Regulator, PER. That became very necessary because in my time of arriving here, I discovered that there was a lot of challenges to the mandate of the Shippers Council in order to regulate the economic activities in the port, to the extent that as I speak even right now, we are in court being challenged by a number of stakeholders as to whether we indeed have the powers that have been granted. I’ll point out the legal framework that allows the Shippers Council to actually exercise this mandate. There has been a challenge and it appeared as if a lot of individuals, a lot of stakeholders were not fully in the picture of Shippers Council’s mandate. So don’t forget sensitisation is not something that is a one off event, it’s something that you have to continue doing.
Because everyday there is perhaps need to review your processes and so we will occasionally need to continue that sensitisation process so people are fully in the picture. Let there be no one who will claim at any point in time “oh I’m not aware” that there is an agency that has this responsibility.
It is our job to continue to inform the public and the stakeholders indeed that there is truly an agency in place that has this particular mandate of being Port Economic Regulator.
The Inland Dry Ports, IDPs, is another transport infrastructure the Shippers Council is promoting. We have quite a number of them. Some of them have gotten to the point where they can start operation. You know the idea behind a dry port is to actually ensure that shipping is brought closer to the shipping communities in the hinterlands of this nation.
And to be able to do that it means you’re going to have a cooperation and an understanding of the Nigeria Customs, because they need to be available and present in those dry ports for there to be a complete port. And so not too long ago, we had this Memorandum of Understanding, MoU that we executed with the Customs and now they are willing to deploy and make sure that their presence is available, especially when a port has been declared as port of origin.
These are some of the several results we have been able to achieve so far while many are at advanced stages of conclusion. I believe I’ve recorded some amount of success in the one year that I’ve been here as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers Council.
What stage is the effort to establish a carrier by the National Fleet Implementation Committee presently?
On the national fleet implementation which the Shippers Council has been promoting, the resuscitation of the Nigerian fleet, there is no way that we can be the maritime hub of West Africa, unless and until we have ship owners in Nigeria. At the moment, you don’t need anybody to tell you, even the blind can see it that there is no serious Nigeria participation in the shipping industry in terms of ship ownership. And so this whole idea of national fleet implementation which again was an idea of the ministry of transportation but the Shippers Council was found worthy to be the agency that would lead the effort.
So I chair the Fleet Implementation Committee. Soon I will also address the work that the committee has been doing.
The maritime sector has been embroiled in some labour issues in recent times. What has the Shippers Council been able to do in this situation?
Maritime industrial harmony is key. I mean if you operate in an environment, where there is disharmony especially when the workers are not happy then you cannot expect efficiency in service delivery; I mean the two hardly work together; they are not mutually exclusive. When we have harmony in the workplace then definitely there is likely going to be efficiency and good service delivery.
We have had interventions especially with the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, anytime there has been an attempt or we become aware that there is a likelihood of a strike, we engage the union. And I’m happy to say that they have been very cooperative and have listened to us and in most cases we’ve been able to avert situations where they would have been strikes. You can imagine just a day’s disruption in the port and the economic impact on the rest of the nation.
I want to commend the President of MWUN, who has been very supportive of the work that we have been doing here.
There are some issues coming up from all these achievements you have listed, and the first one which calls for concern is the role of the maritime industry in Nigeria economy. You have just said that it should be next to oil and with time probably this is actually possible but we know when you look at the GDP numbers, GDP reports, maritime is practically missing, and it appears that maritime is not even recognized in the Nigerian economic structure.
So when you now express the optimism that maritime should be the engine, it should be on the driving seat of economy, I wonder how that will happen when the authorities don’t even recognise the importance maritime.
Well part of the conversation, and the reason why we have this interface and engagement such as this, is for us to be able to put the records on the table so everybody can really appreciate what the issues really are. I spoke about oil and the fact that of course next to oil and gas, it should be maritime. Now the context in which I refer to oil and gas is the basic manner in which oil raises funds or is the revenue source for the nation in the export of crude. That is the basic source of earning for the country. Now I don’t see how crude oil will just simply jump from the refinery or from the oil wells to any city in London or wherever. The only way you can do that is by movement through the activity of the shipping industry. There is no way you are able to export anything to anywhere, whatever it is that you intend to export out of this country. You can actually use the air. But everybody understands that what one ship alone is able to pick in terms of container, how many airplanes you need in order for you to just pick up just one cargo ships material. So, that to me is the connection. You have to understand that transport is actually a key component as to how the economy works and how you deliver it.
If somebody does not recognize that without the shipping industry there is no way you are able to trade, there’s a connection I’m making here for us to appreciate what actually shipping brings you know as far as the economy is concerned. That is the angle in which I believe we need to contextualise the conversation. So I’m not able to begin at the top of my head to put all the data, but like I said if we can just simply appreciate the connection between movement of goods and services, and the fact that over 90 percent of international trade is actually done by shipping. So the Bureau of Statistics and all that, they may be looking at different factors but somebody needs to remind someone, that without the shipping industry, we are not even able to conduct any meaningful trade in the first place.
You should understand that the port itself, is a Customs area, it is a Customs facility. So, even the revenue that is generated by Customs Service substantially, it couldn’t have just been possible without the maritime industry. What they generate from the border posts all comes to insignificance when you compare to what the generation is by sea ports. If you are looking at the statistics every month, you would see what they generated from Tin can, from Apapa, from Port Harcourt, from Warri ports.
I completely agree and I have also seen it in the numbers. It’s just for the industry leaders to begin to engage the authorities, to begin to make deliberate efforts for the maritime industry to be recognised officially in the GDP numbers. They should create formal data for and credited to the maritime and then that becomes the reference point.
I agree with you and I’m so happy that this is coming out during the course of this interface. Because like I said, part of what we do which is consistent with our mandate is actually also to be in advocacy. And so these are matters that we can put them in their proper perspective. This conversation, this interview may actually very well be the foundation on which we can then begin to build that particular line of discussion going forward.
Now when you talk about the Shippers Council being the economy regulator of the shipping industry and the process manual which you supervise, I don’t know who are the stakeholders who are supposed to come on board for the dry ports to be fully operational. If you take Customs for example, there are issues that have to do with cargo clearance turn-around time. If they insist on 100 per cent physical examination of containers, it slows down port process. How are you engaging that issue?
Implementation of the Port Process Manual actually involves the Customs. Part of it, as I indicated for instance is the issue of joint boarding of vessels. So the Customs are aware and we are actually working together on the platform. I just would like to answer this question by saying that what we need most for efficiency is to automate, to basically introduce the digital methods of conducting businesses. Today as we speak, the Nigerian Customs is in the process of deploying scanners. That would, in a lot of ways, reduce the incidence of human interface, and of course scanners automatically mean you are taking away the need for manual inspection.
The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has been in the forefront and we are working with the NPA in agreement that a port community system should be deployed. And so there’s also a couple of other initiatives that I hope when introduced would ultimately lead to automation. The moment that is in place, the moment we are fully automated in every area of transactions in our port, it will totally take away some of these challenges that we’re facing and so the Port Process Manual is actually meant to ginger everyone to move in the same direction so that there is a clear understanding of the need for us to be interacting on those platforms that would be available for everyone, for every stakeholder.
Our desire is to make sure that in no distant future a Nigerian shipper is able to sit in the comfort of his office and exit his cargo from our port. That to me is the ultimate and it is a dream that I believe we must achieve. I keep saying that we want to be, at least a maritime hub in West Africa. If the ports are not efficient, if the ports are not equipped and the necessary environment are not in place to allow for that efficiency, we can never achieve that dream. I believe everybody is on board, we are working with the Customs in terms of the advocacy that we do. But let me also say this, because I believe what anybody will want to hear from me is, what if there is a breech? Let’s say for instance the Port Process Manual says, Customs this is what you should do at this particular point in time. If there is a breach, the enforcement mechanism that is available to the team is to make sure that the high command of the Customs takes action. That is the responsibility that you know the task team implementing the port processes manual have; but I don’t want us to even dwell too much on areas of breech at this moment but to focus on the bigger picture, which is the deployment of the equipment that will automate our port, that is what we should all be clamoring for. The Shippers Council is in the forefront and I’m happy to say that from all the efforts, today for instance, because of our insistence the submission of manifest by shipping companies must be done electronically, it’s no longer being done manually. So that is already a movement in the right direction. The Customs to which the manifest are actually meant to be sent to are aware that you can no longer be insisting that you should get manifest submitted to you manually today. It’s part of the advocacy work of the Shippers Council, NIMASA, Customs and I believe the NPA as well. Manifest of vessels today is no longer manual.
The dry ports are they now designated as port of origin?
When this concession of dry ports started the concessionaires actually had a different idea. They wanted the Shippers Council to facilitate designation of the concessions as port of origin and destination. And the implication of that would have been to simply designate an empty plot of land because the concession obviously was the plot of land. This is completely an anomaly and there’s simply no way that was workable. So we insisted that there are terms in the concession agreements where a certain level of development was envisaged. So we insisted working under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation. A few of these concessionaires went back to the drawing board and started to do some level of work which encouraged the Minister of Transportation to now give a precondition for the designation of these ports, to at least develop infrastructure up to 60 percent. That was the precondition that was then given. Today I want to say with pride that Dala Inland Dry Port was recently declared as a port of origin. That port has achieved 95 percent completion. It is actually really ready to start operations even right now. The next to it is the dry port in Katsina. That has achieved close to 90 percent. These two dry ports will be commissioned by the end of 2022. So that’s the level of development that we have had in our inland dry ports. I also feel very proud to discuss the dry port in Jos. Where the Plateau State government actually got involved. We are able to get concessionaires who have injected huge sums of money and now development can actually effectively commence in the same way as the Kano state government intervened in assisting the development of Dala dry port. So that again is a good story.
That for Jos, is it a new concessionaire?
Yes it is a new concessionaire.
So that gives us the comfort to say that if in less than two years we could move Dala from almost nothing to 95 percent, the intervention in Plateau State which is at the same level as I indicated with Kano State government in Dala, it gives us the reason to be quite optimistic that we can move very very fast on that as well. In Ibadan, we are working very closely with CICC, the Chinese company. Again you know, as at the last time we were waiting for the approval of the full business case that had been presented to the ministry. Once that approval is given the development of the Ibadan dry port will also commence. These are actually the dry ports that have given us a lot of excitement and I would feel very happy to say that very soon we will begin to experience what benefit that comes to have dry port located so far away from the seaport. Haven said that, let me also now commend the Nigerian Railways for their systems and support given to us. Today we have been able to through the support of the Nigerian Railways, connect the Dala dry ports to the rail line that is going from Kaduna, in fact from Port Harcourt to Kano. And then of course we also have the same arrangement with the dry port in Katsina as well. I mentioned this because we recognize that for an inland dry port to be effective in this country, unless and until there is a railway connection there is simply no way we are going to be able to achieve what we would have wanted. So those are developments that I believe are quite heartwarming and I’m only just so happy to point this out as well as number of very good things that are happening in our industry.
You mentioned just four dry ports that are up. But there are some more that have gotten their licenses. They have been there forever and nothing seems to be happening there. Are you going to just wait for them, or you are going to review?
We are discussing, there’s a lot of very vigorous discussions that are ongoing. And you know I have found it interesting what’s happening with other dry ports. I believe some people are waiting actually to see if this is possible. I hope that especially in the South East, there is this dry port in Aba. Look if there is any part of this country where inland dry ports are of necessity for economic purpose, to be developed and faster than anybody, it should be the South East, because most of the cargo that berths here in Lagos actually most of it, close to 60 percent from the last recording that I got, is going to the South East. So why would anybody want to keep this particular system that is really not working well enough to keep moving volumes by road, with all the attendant economic dislocations that come. But unfortunately, we have had some real challenge with some dry ports especially in the South East. Number one, all the dry pots that have become very effective had a lot of government support and injection of funding especially in the states where the dry ports are located. So I don’t know how is it possible that the governor of Kano state for instance, will understand the importance of a dry port in Kano, though of course it’s a commercial city. Better still there’s also, I didn’t mention Kaduna earlier by the way, the inland dry port there is already running but it wasn’t part of the original legacy dry ports, maybe that is why I don’t normally discuss it extensively but it’s running. My point is why would Kano, why would Katsina recognize the importance of an inland port? Because the states came in and supported, for instance in Kano state, the road connection which is dualized into the dry port, was built by Kano state government. The perimeter fencing of that whole complex was delivered by Kano state government. You know as at today as I speak, the Kano state government is involved even in the payment of compensation to get the right of way so that you know some real activities that are ongoing will proceed. That is the kind of support that I’m expecting from state governments, because dry ports are pretty much on the concurrent, legislative list. It’s not just an activity of the federal government. So I believe states, I’m using this platform you know, to suggest and to promote and to urge state governments to take a serious interest especially in those areas where the shipping community is very high, so that they can benefit from this kind of infrastructure. So in the Southeast, we have had a problem where over a long period of time we could not even determine who is the owner of a particular plot of land that was marked for the development of a dry port. And then of course, we have had challenges with a state government that started the project earlier but was out if office. The next person that came didn’t continue. I don’t know whether you want to put this out but I’m just saying it as it is. The next person that came then didn’t show sufficient enough interest in proceeding with the project. We didn’t have the support and the cooperation and this land belongs to this state. Until we have the support and the cooperation of states where some of these dry ports are located, it’s difficult. Of course the challenge of funding we have to keep that in mind as well. Like I said this is capital intensive so I think in the concessioning period, some of our people that came in with their briefcases, I think probably just thought that as soon as we get the concession that money will simply flow in from wherever. But the reality on ground now is that you need to be solid in your propositions in order for you to have a dry port that will actually take off and be effective.
Talking about the port infrastructure, and our state-of-the-art port at Lekki, looking around, how would cargoes enter and exit that place? The last time I was there about three months ago, there is no major road there, there is no rail there.
Well I know I have spoken about this a number of times and I have expressed genuinely my concerns about Lekki port. Lately, however, I also have had the benefit of more information. So I think I’m better able to be, should I say, optimistic about the Lekki seaport and indeed what it brings to the economy. Yes barging for now is definitely going to play a critical role I mean in the short term. Lagos State government also because it has a stake in the port, shares part of the responsibility to also ensure the development of the road infrastructure leading out of the complex. I understand that some mobilization has actually been done towards that. So it begins to give me some degree of comfort that eventually we are now beginning to see that there’s a need to install very very quickly, different modes of transportation that will lead to evacuation of cargoes. As at the last time the Minister was there I believe some effort was made to identify how a rail corridor was going to be deployed that would leave Lekki and a link up somewhere very close to the standard gauge that is leading to Ibadan. So that is also now in place so to speak, theoretically. When it will deploy, I’m not able to say because I really don’t have the details. But I think the comfort generally is that now there is a realization that we need to make sure that there are different transportation modes available to Lekki for ultimate evacuation of cargoes from that port.
You know the recognition gives me comfort, because initially everybody was acting as if it doesn’t matter, the problem will take care of itself. But now our hands are on the deck.
Ok, my last question is on the ease of doing business around the ports, the port environment. And in the context of that multiple agencies of government are still operating in the port while the Standard Organization of Nigeria are about to re-enter the ports. Look at the general picture of ease of doing business at the port, what would you say is the state now.
There is improvement, to be honest. I believe we are moving slightly farther away from where we have been in the past. First, as I indicated is the efforts of the Shippers Council to ensure that there is digitalization and automation in the port industry. I believe that has brought in a certain level of the improvement. We are not there where we should be, I will be the first to admit but we are moving forward. And so that gives me some comfort. As at today almost all of the shipping companies and terminal operators are at least almost 80 percent digitalized. This means that a lot of transactions and processes can now be done online. Now that’s helpful. It is not even necessarily because Shippers Council has pushed. Although I like to take credit but let’s face it, when COVID-19 came that was for me the game changer even if it is a negative source for the game change. But it was positive actually because it pointed us in a direction that says you don’t need to have too many human beings in this place. Alright so let’s move quickly and get to this and the Shippers’ Council, as I said, was in the forefront. So on ease of doing business for me it’s when you can process your cargo out of the port in the shortest possible time. That, to me, almost certainly represents an aspect of how easy it is to do business in our ports. So we are driving this and will continue to promote it. Now by the time you now have all these other facilities that have been deployed i.e. Single window, port community system, scanners, etc, in place, every agency of government will now have to be keyed into a platform and all our activities are going to be done simultaneously. So you can have as many agencies of government as you may want to be in the port but to the extent that there is now a platform that says this is where you must plug in and this is where your activities should be so that there is supervision for how those activities are carried out timely. That is the job of the Shippers Council. So I think that we don’t have to, in my opinion, worry so much about many agencies in the port and new entrants. I feel that if we deploy our systems and make sure that we automate and get everybody to be on one platform, then you would have cleared the delays to a very large extent. Nothing is perfect but we all know that digital environment is definitely definitely always going to be better more efficient than when you have a lot of human interventions in the workplace.
Also on the ease of doing business, our Task Team on Apapa access road, in the last two, three months or thereabout, the work they have done in this logistic range has been splendid. You can drive in now and drive out if Apapa. You will appreciate the fact that for so many years this s has not happened. Even as at last year, it took almost two weeks for a container or truck to move from Ijora to enter inside the port, but today you drive in easily.
In addition, and I will also like to recognize the role of the Export Promotions Council, their collaboration with us in ease of doing business in the ports for exporters. We have been working with them in the establishment of domestic export warehouses by which we are now better able to package exports. Don’t forget recently, not too long ago, we had this situation where constantly Nigeria’s export produce were being rejected. I remember the very popular case of yams that was rejected. But today, because of the establishment of this domestic export warehouses, now there is facility that is available for storage and exports in conditions meeting global standard of acceptance. We have this domestic export warehouses in about 12 places. As a matter of fact, some of the Inland Dry Ports are now designated as domestic export warehouses. So that I believe is of great importance. It will help to improve other exports and the economy.
Last but not the least is a question that I was not asked but I really would like to make a statement about it. You know the Naira and how the value has affected the economy. Let’s first recognize that the balance of trade is definitely not in our favour. We have had this situation for too long where containers are coming into this country loaded and almost all of them are leaving empty. It just clearly shows you that the balance of trade is skewed against us. We are only consuming, we are not exporting. So there is no way that your currency is a strong currency unless you are producing, unless of course you are exporting. For as long as we are a consumer nation, which is what we are, I think there is a need to reverse that trend, we need to become a producing economy. And of course by production means we are also in a place to be exporting, not just raw materials but I think we should also now engage in processing. You know these are things I believe will bring balance of trade in a way that will impact and even strength our currency.
