THE NATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012
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MARITIME
Our farms destroyed by Shell Foreign firms owe exporters oil spill, communities allege T Stories by Uyoatta Eshiet
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OME communities in Delta, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states have alleged the destruction of their farms and land in the oil spill at Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO). Over 4,000 barrels of oil were spilled from Shell’s Bonga facility. Describing the spill as the worst in the country since 1998, the communities, in a letter, called on Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Federal Government to assist their people, whose waters, have been polluted. But when The Nation contacted the image maker of Shell, Mr Precious Okolobo on Saturday night, he said Shell is waiting for the report of the sample taken to the United States (US) to determine the impact of the spill on the shore, adding that his organisation is doing everything possible to clean up the environment. “We have taken a sample of the oil in the beach to the United States. Not until the result is out, nobody is expected to talk of compensation. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has even confirmed that there was no way the spill could have got to Akwa Ibom State,” Okolobo said. But in the petition sent to NIMASA, The Nation gathered that the affected communities complained that their source of livelihood, especially fishing, was affected by the impact of the oil spill. The affected communities which included the people of Age and Oroibiri 1 and 2, according to sources at NIMASA, said the letter became necessary because Shell’s response to the spill fell short of national and international standards.They urged NIMASA to ensure that Shell pays for devastating their environment and the ecosystem. The communities, according to the sources, also accused Shell of embarking on propaganda while they described the spill as massive that has affected birds, vegetation and other aquatic creatures in their domain.
• D-G NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi Stories by Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent
Shell, the communities alleged, instead of addressing the problem embarked on propaganda to shift responsibility. This, the community insisted, is a diversionary tactic and urged Shell to make the name of the suspected third party public if it has any. The people of the affected areas, have vowed to hold Shell responsible for anything that happens to them and their environment if it fails to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a third party was involved. The communities, the sources said, are therefore, calling on the Federal Government, the National Assembly and NIMASA to send a delegation, which should include maritime reporters to the area for an on-the-spot assessment of the total devastation of their waters and their areas. When contacted, a senior official of NIMASA confirmed the petition and urged Shell to be alive to its responsibilities by cleaning the waters and paying compen-
sation to the affected communities and making remediation in line with national and international standards. No national or multinational company, such as Shell, the official said, can do what the oil giant has done in the country in terms of environmental depredation and behave as if nothing happens. When the spill was announced, NIMASA, the official said, made a sea and radio broadcast to all mariners and issued a marine notice in one of the daily newspapers to the public on the spill to curtail the spread to other areas, but Shell, he alleged, failed to act promptly. Also, the Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs, NIMASA, Hajia Lami Tumaka, said so many members of the affected communities have come to their offices in Port Harcourt and Lagos, urging the agency to come to their aid. “Yes, the people of the affected communities have contacted our offices and the director-general has allayed their fears and assured them of positive response to their yearning to avoid the breakdown of law and order in the area.” The agency, she said, would enforce global maritime watchdog conventions as it relates to the management of the nation’s marine environment in this case. On the discovery made by the team sent to the area by NIMASA, the image maker said: “As our technical crew approached these communities, the first thing that greeted them was the sight of coastline demarcated by oil leak and petroleum fumes. The community informed us that the spill drifted to the location on December 21, 2011. ‘‘For instance, at Age community, it was discovered that the oil spill affected its community coastline. At Orobiri One and Two, the aquatic environment was devastated by the spill impact. Water samples are collected from these communities. We were informed by these communities that other government officials and state personnel had earlier visited the communities.”
Importers seek port tariff review
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HE Federal Government has been urged to review port tariffs. Importers, who spoke with The Nation, said the review became necessary to eliminate arbitrariness and ensure parity with other ports, particularly those of neighbouring countries. Speaking for other importers in Lagos last week, the Managing Director, Shipping Logistics, Mr Talabi Akinjide, said port tariff must be competitive and commensurate with services rendered by the terminal operators. “To reduce the cost of doing business in the ports, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has abolished service charges, bank charge, commission on turnover and concessionaires service charge. He praised the council for “abolishing port and administrative charges”. Akinjide said the council has been implementing the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) project on Build Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis to bring ship-
ping services to the door steps of shippers. He said the ICDs would also assist in decongesting the seaports and make them more userfriendly. The Chairman, Ben and Sons Limited, Benson Olawoore, said the ICDs would also help revive and modernise the railway as a primary mode for the long distance haulage of cargo. According to him, the ICDs will also assist in the reduction of overall cost of cargo and create employment in its localities. Olawoore criticised Customs bureaucracy at the ports, saying the bureaucracy imposed by Customs on containers and Roll on/ Roll off (RORO) vessels is a challenge to ports operations. He explained that the interference of multiplicity of government agencies at the ports also posed a major challenge to ports operations. According to him, the Single Window Electronic Trade Facilitation initiative, which could resolve the cumbersome problem
of clearing procedures and other associated delays in cargo clearance should be resolved. “This system eliminates human contact and the use of discretion, which has been identified as major causes of delay in the clearance procedure,’’ he said. He said the electronic system will not only facilitate trade, but also ensure improvement in revenue generation and higher turnover. Olawoore said the system would ease movement of cargo out of the ports. He, however, acknowledged that cargo handling deliveries had improved. Olawoore praised the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for embarking on the dredging of the Lagos and Bonny/Port Harcourt channels. The dredging, he said, is being complemented by the removal of wrecks to enhance the rate of channel development to achieve the required depths and make cargo delivery easier.
HE Cargo Defence Fund (CDF) has raised the alarm over the increasing indebtedness of foreign firms to Nigerian exporters; mostly to those into small and medium export. This development, the fund, said might affect the Federal Government’s effort of boosting exports. The fund is a project of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which is the Federal Government’s parastatal charged with protecting the interests of importers and exporters. The fund also seeks to assist Nigerian shippers in the pursuit of their claims recoveries and legal remedies. Briefing reporters in Lagos, Secretary of Cargo Defence Fund, Ms Azuka Ogo, said if something is not done urgently to check the increasing level of indebtedness of the European companies from Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands to indigeneous exporters, many of them might go out of business soon. Azuka said: “The Cargo Defence Fund is handling a total of 27 charcoal cases on behalf of Nigerian exporters. The trends in these cases are the same. Nigerian businessmen or newly retired public servants attend one of the several seminars on export opportunities organised by some private interests. At the seminar, they are fed with mouth-watering stories of how they make several thousands of naira in the procurement of the commodity and exports on the basis of what, in the financial circle, is termed an ‘open account’. Soon, upon receiving the cargo, the foreign buyer reneges on the contract terms of payment, and throws the Nigerian exporters into a quandary,” she lamented.
Tin Can Customs nets N193b
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HE Nigerian Customs Service Tin-Can Island Ports Command said last year, it made N193 billion for the Federal Government. The amount is over the revenue target for the Command in 2011. The Customs Area Comptroller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Eporwei C.B. Edike, who spoke to The Nation through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Chris Osunkwo, said in 2011, the Command did creditably well. He said as at November 30, last year, the revenue profile of the Command stood at N176 billion out of the total projected annual collections of N180 billion for 2011. The Command made a total of N17 billion in December bringing the total collection for the year to N193 billion. This amount, Osunkwo said, gives an excess of N13 billion over and above the Command’s budgeted revenue collection for the year. Osunkwo attributes this huge revenue profile to some factors, which include: quality leadership, total quality management, focus and motivation given by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Comptroller Dikko Abdullahi Inde and his management team as well as right attitude to work of the Customs officers. He said: “The Customs High Command has done very well and we will feel guilty if we don’t reciprocate by doing all within our power to plug all revenue leakages and raise the revenue for the government as the C.G.C has taken the welfare of the officers very important and is doing everything possible to ensure the well-being of the officers”. The officers, Osunkwo added, has no alternative than to put in all within their power positively to make sure Customs serve the nation as they should.
CRFFN urges concessionaires to modernise ports
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HE Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) concessionaires to modernise the ports. Speaking on behalf of the agency, the Chairman of the Governing Council, Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju, decried the falling standards of ports facilities. H e said there was the need to improve most of the equipment at the ports. The freight forwarder said the port concessionaires were still using old cargo equipment (cargo-handling plants) handed over to them by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). He said the concessionaires needed to improve the equipment to make cargo movement faster and easier. He said: “The port concessionaires need to improve their facilities, their equipment, because most of the equipment they are using were the ones they took over from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). They need expansion and they need empty container terminals.’’ Speaking on the activities of the Council, Olanrewaju said the agency was already focusing on the training of freight forwarders to make them more acceptable to the society as many regarded freight forwarders as school dropouts or as people with criminal tendencies. He commended the Federal Government for embarking on port reforms, stressing that the training of freight forwarders who are major players at the ports would impact positively on the nation’s economy. He said it was strongly believed that CRFFN’s achievements in the freight forwarding regulation and control would, among other things, reduce the cost and delays in cargo clearance and minimise human and vehicular congestion at ports and terminals. According to him, a functional port system will promote export trade and enhance the import-export economy of Nigeria. The CRFFN wants the government to sustain its commitment to the development of efficient freight forwarding industry by giving the council the much-needed support to enable it exercise the statutory functions and responsibilities set out for the council, he said. Olarenwaju said it was the council’s belief that good planning and strategy could help turn the fortunes of the sub-sector around and reposition the nation’s ports and borders as efficient regional hubs of integrity. “A virile port system would create job opportunities and raise more entrepreneurs, “Olanrewaju said. Meanwhile, Olanrewaju said the council was prepared to re-admit members suspended for professional misconduct last year. He said the suspended members would join the council after some conditions had been met. The council suspended three of its members last September for‘anticouncil activities’.