No Agreement
Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) drags three Concessionaires to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) over non-compliance with the provisions of the contract agreement with the Authority just as officials of the companies are apprehensive of losing their jobs
By Stephen Ubanna
This is not the best of times for officials of JosepDam Services Limited, Greenleigh Limited and Bua Ports and Terminal Limited who are apprehensive of losing their jobs as the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) drags the Organisations to the Bureau of Public Enterprises , BPE. NPA is asking the BPE ,to terminate the contract of the three Concessionaires over non-compliance to the provisions of the contract agreement with the Authority.
JosepDam Services Limited won the bid for control and management of Tincan Island Port Terminal A, Bua Ports and Terminal Limited- Port Harcourt Terminal B, Berths 5-8 while Greenleigh Limited won the bid for Koko Terminal in Delta state.
The BPE had Concessioned the NPA controlled Ports into 26 Terminals which were bided by private operators. The Source learnt that between 2006 and 2008, the Terminals had been taken over by private operators with Intels Nig. Ltd controlling four of the Terminals, Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited and ENL Consortium two Terminals each.
APM Terminals Limited, Bulnose, Ijora Container Depot Limited, Green Devt. Nig. Ltd, Tincan Island Terminal Limited, Ports and Cargo Handling Services,Five Star Logistics, Ports and Terminal Operators Limited, Brawal, Atlas Cement Company Limited, Associated Maritime Services, Julius Berger, Ecomarine among others had one Terminal each.
The NPA contract agreement with the Concessionaires ranges from five to 25 years.
By the arrangement, the Magazine was told, NPA disengaged from cargo handling operations. This is because the Concessionaires were expected to provide their own cargo handling equipment and improve the facilities at their respective Terminals to facilitate the movement of cargo.
NPA had expected the three Concessionaires recommended to BPE for termination to keep to their promise of improving the facilities at their respective Terminals as obtained in other Terminals but it appears they were not ready.
The Magazine learnt that Mrs. Josephine Oludamilola Kuteyi, Chairman, JosepDam had begun moves to upgrade the facilities at the Terminal to escape the sledge hammer of BPE, but for her death in an helicopter crash on July 29,2011.
When The Source visited the Terminal, staff, importers, agents and Customs personnel were going about their normal duties as if there was nothing wrong. But a staff who spoke to the Magazine on condition of anonymity said ‘they are waiting on the day the BPE would ask them to go’. The JosepDam staff opined that there is no way the current Management would be able to raise the money that would be enough to start upgrading the facilities at the Terminal because , Mrs. Kuteyi , the Chairman who knows about the business is dead.
A source at NPA, who spoke to the Magazine last week on condition of anonymity said there is no way the three Concessionaires recommended by the Authority to BPE for termination would escape the hammer, if the Authority and the government agency could reach agreement.
The expectation in many circles had been that Bailey Bridges Nigeria Ltd which is in-charge of Calabar Dock Yard would be included in the list of the Concessionaires recommended to BPE for termination by NPA because of lack of visible development in the Terminal .
AbdulSalam Mohammed, former Managing Director of NPA had given an insight last year while on a working visit to the Terminal that it would be sanctioned for not keeping to the terms of the agreement with the Authority. The company has a five-year lease with NPA but no visible development has taken place in the premises, Mohammed lamented.
To put the Terminal operators on their toes, the former NPA boss had ordered the local Port Management to ensure periodic assessment of the performance of the Terminal Operators in their domain as provided by the contractual agreement. This is to ensure that all the development plans both fixed and moveable assets are appraised and approved at the appropriate period, he said.
Perhaps, the poor state of infrastructural facilities in some of the Terminals may have prompted Yusuf Suleiman , a former Minister of Transport to set up a an Evaluation Committee with a mandate to ascertain the performance of the Concessionaires within the terms of the contracts and the performance of NPA, within the terms of each contract. The Committee was also expected to evaluate the regulatory role of NPA.
The report of the Committee may have prompted the recent heart warming remark of Omar Suleiman, Managing Director of NPA that the Concessionaires have done well within the short period of taking over the control and management of the Terminals.
According to him, the Terminal Operators had spent N123.3 billion within the last five years in upgrading facilities at the Terminals. He stated that the Concessionaires have increased cargo output in the ports.
Adebayo Sarumi, former Managing Director of NPA opined that he has been justified with the concessioning of the Ports to private operators with the huge investments that have come into the Ports in the last five years.
The former NPA boss affirmed that the Concessionaires have added value to the Ports in terms of upgrading Port facilities as obtained in the industrialised nations.
Ahmad Lawan, Chairman, Senate Adhoc Committee, on the probe of privatization of government agencies was said to have received several petitions against the Concessionaires before the Committee began sitting last August in Abuja. Lawan was surprised at the revelation of both BPE and NPA about the performance of the Terminal operators that he has no option but to encourage them to sustain the development drive.
The performance of the Terminal operators may have thrown the door for Green fields open which insiders posit have led to the development of 230 quay length at Tincan Island Ports and Terminal Multi-service Limited 570 quay length and Terminal expansion by West Container Terminal at Federal Ocean Terminal , Onne, Rivers state, Lekki Harbour Processing Facility in Lagos,Olokola Deep water Port, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, Bonny Deep water and Brass Liquefied Natural Gas , Ladol Offshore Supply Base in Lagos.
The determination of the Concessionaires to improve the facilities in their respective Terminals and the development of Greenfields may have forced NPA to boost its stock of tug boats and pilot cutters. The Suleiman led Management is also going ahead with the procurement of additional crafts just as it has established salvage wreck recovery Team and updated the Authority’s survey department and Navigational aids.
Many believe that the Authority has been able to achieve this much without reports of corrupt cases because of the government policy regarding the award of contracts by Ministries and agencies. According to the Public Procurement Act, PPA, all contract awards must follow due process. Indeed, Mohammed, the Managing Director of the Authority was not ready to break the rule in the award of contracts for supply of the initial crafts in spite of pressure from several quarters during his Administration.
Idris Umar, a former Senator and Minister of Transport has instructed Chief Executives of agencies under the Ministry to follow due process in the award of contracts to avoid running into problem with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on leaving office.