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By Dickson Okafor
Ernest Elochukwu, a former aspirant for the House of Representatives for Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo Federal Constituency of Anambra State and former President of Association of Nigeria Customs Licensed Agents (ANLCA), has faulted the exclusion of the Southeast from the new ports development programme of the Federal Government, stating that no funding was provided for the Oguta Port despite the foundation stone having been laid by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Elochukwu, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Nestello Gateways Group, condemned the abandonment of the dredging of the River Niger up to Lokoja, which would have benefited the Onitsha River port
He also speaks on other issues relevant to the maritime industry.
How did you start out in the maritime business?
I hail from Ichi Town in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State. At the University of Port Harcourt, I graduated with a degree in Management, specialising in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. Over the course of my career, I attended numerous professional courses focusing on contemporary socio-economic development to harness my business and leadership acumen. Thereafter, I went into the maritime industry as Chairman and Managing Director of the Nestello Gateways Group, a company that has become established in freight forwarding, shipping, and Customs brokerage across Nigeria with a strong base in major port cities like Port Harcourt and Lagos. I am also an active member and contributor to the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
However, beyond my corporate responsibilities, I’m involved in Nigerian politics. I ran for the Federal House of Representatives, aiming to represent the Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency of Anambra State. Now, looking at the maritime business environment, the cost of goods and services is determined by the exchange rate.
Under the All Progressives Congress (APC), would you say that Nigeria is making efforts to adopt global best practices in Customs clearance operations?
The major policy government will use to help in the advancement of freight forwarding industry in Nigeria is to introduce indigenization policy which is the part one because they have part one and two. No foreigner should be allowed to operate in Nigeria as a freight forwarder. And if we carry our freight by ourselves no foreigner should know how the goods come in, how it will be cleared and delivered to the importer. These foreigners are coming into the industry with a lot of tricks and their basic reason of coming into the country is to siphon money from our economy. By stopping them from operating as freight forwarders, the cost of handling goods and cargo will drop and government will generate more revenue through the Nigeria Customs Service. When they import from their home country, they follow the goods to Nigeria and then clear the cargo themselves. Automatically we are paying for their labour.
Since the presidential election campaign stated it has not been issue-driven. What are your thoughts about the Bola Tinubu administration regarding the economy?
The truth is that inflation has run haywire and the exchange rate has gone from the bad situation it was to something else right now. It is unfortunate to hear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ministers, officials and even the leadership of the National Assembly telling lies that because of the ongoing so-called economic reforms by the government that is the reason there is hunger and hardship in the land. This is because they have nothing to tell or show Nigerians as their achievements in the almost four years the administration has been at helm of affairs. However, the so-called N15 trillion gained from the removal of subsidies and through economic reforms, neither of these have benefited Nigerians in any way. The primary responsibility of any government is to protect lives and property and to guarantee the welfare of the citizens, but the reverse is the case. The indices have shown that there is nothing better that will come out of these reforms that can help in solving the economic hardship the administration plunged Nigerians into, hence the only answer is to vote out this government next year.
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What is your assessment of the operational development of the Nigerian Customs Service from the time you first got into Customs clearance service and currently as Nigeria looks towards gaining global attention of foreign investors?
A lot of changes have taken place in the operations of Nigerian Customs Service after my reign as President of Association of Nigeria Customs License Agents (ANCLA). During my time, the exchange rate was low. The prices of all imported goods are determined by the exchange rate. We didn’t know that things would become difficult to the extent that most Nigerians cannot afford essential imported goods because of the high exchange rate. Unfortunately, the world is watching our so-called lawmakers who said forgery is no longer a crime and the world will be laughing at us. They will be saying and asking, what kind of people are Nigerians who say forgery is not crime? It is a big dent on our image hence the image of Nigeria is like that of a failed state.
Regarding the operational development of the Nigerian Customs Service, it is higher now, but because of economic instability Nigerians cannot feel the impact. We are spending billions to woo foreign investors yet, they refuse to come. It is impossible to attract direct foreign investment to a country without good leadership, steady power supply, good roads and security? Every businessman takes his money to a place that is secure and safe. They know that Nigeria is insecure and does not have an enabling environment for business to thrive. Until we elect a credible government, no credible foreign investor will come to invest here. Again, during my time the new tax reforms were not in place. Clearing agents under the were licensed by the Customs Service to help in collection of taxes and duties that customers would pay to collect their goods and cargo from the ports. But today things have changed because the Federal Government just came up with a new tax policy, making it the duty of the Customs to implement that policy, not ANCLA. But at the same time since we are standing as lawyers to our clients many a time we will say no, it will not go this way, let us do it the other way because we are considering the masses hence the bulk will come to the final consumers who are the end users. We ask questions about certain policies of the government in the freight forwarding business and push for such policies not to be implemented. Most of the time they are reversed in the interest of the masses. If such policies are allowed to stand, it would mean killing the goose that lays the golden egg. And before you know it the importer will not be available for you to collect tax from. You can’t see them on the road and ask them to pay duties, it is when they are into port activities within the port and importer communities that this revenue will get to the Nigeria Customs and certain net profit will go to the importer. So, under Dr Bashir Adewale Adeniyi as the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, port operations have improved.
From the perspective of the maritime industry operators like you, what is your assessment of the economic policies of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and particularly regarding global best practices in Customs clearance?
Today, the number of businessmen importing goods has reduced drastically because of the high exchange rate. And for Nigeria to meet global practices in Customs clearance operations, the welfare of the citizens must be optimal. Salaries of civil servants and workers in the private sector must not only be minimum wage, but living wage as the end users of imported goods. But if this is not done so many people will resign and take to other means of making quick money. Even in freight forwarding, some agents are cutting corners and have abused the global best practices in Customs clearance operations. This is one of my worries with so-called reforms and policies of the present administration which has brought hardship and poverty to many Nigerians. From inception I opposed the removal of fuel subsidies by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023 at Eagle Square, Abuja without any proper arrangement to cushion its effects. For instance, if my father is a farmer and he produces yam, is he not supposed to buy the yam at the same rate it is sold? Why must he buy what he produced at a higher price? Nigeria is an oil producing nation blessed beyond measure with both human and numerous resources including crude oil by the Almighty God and instead of being a blessing to us it turned out to be a curse. This is because the crude oil is being exported to be refined overseas only for us to import finished petroleum products at higher cost and sold to Nigerians at a subsidized rate. The question begging for an answer is, where does the amount realised from subsidy go? It goes to the cabals of course. Even under the so-called subsidy which this government claimed to have removed, where are the benefits? They tell us that the prices of fuel in other countries that produce fuel such as Finland and Saudi Arabia are higher than in Nigeria, but they didn’t tell us their income per capita. Nigerian leaders fail to know that the cost of living in those countries is low. In Nigeria we are made to understand that corruption is what caused fuel prices to go high. Isn’t it funny that we don’t know how much crude is being sold and how much is the finished petroleum products that are being bought, yet they are deceiving us while the cabals are the ones enjoying the subsidy. So, I’m not surprised by the heated debate when the former Vice President and the Presidential Candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar announced that he will restore the subsidy if elected at the recent NBA conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Yes, the return of subsidy has raised the hope of Nigerians that the pump price of fuel can ultimately fall to N200-N300 a litre again if subsidy is restored. That is why many Nigerians are backing Atiku to return the subsidy. But how he will achieve that is another thing because it must be contained in the budget. Therefore, subsidy removal must be provided in the budget before it will be implemented by the Executive. Unfortunately, since subsidy was removed, there are certain amenities and infrastructures that should have been in place, but there is none. We have not felt anything provided by this government from the N15 trillion they declared as gain from subsidy. Rather, the gain from subsidy is being used to enrich the governors and that is the reason the masses are hungry under persistent poverty. Therefore, because of subsidy racketeering virtually all the opposition governors have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Based on your experience since the APC initiated the Ease of Doing Business programme under PEBEC, how has the Customs Service made it easier for your members to render services to their clients who choose to clear their imports through Lagos ports instead of Cotonou or Togo?
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) is a specialized agency set up by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for Nigerian businesses. Its purpose is to make sure that doing business in Nigeria is easy through reforms and policies. It was established in 2016 to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start business. It is also committed to driving sustained reforms that improve the ease of doing business and position Nigeria as a globally competitive. What we the stakeholders and maritime players want is reduction of duties and improved service. We want CGC Bashir Adeniyi to maintain friendly relationships between the Customs Service and stakeholders. This is among the messages we are sending through him to the Ministry of Finance and to the Central Bank of Nigeria to see how they can reduce the duties we pay to clear containers because the masses are at the receiving end.
The Federal Government has signed an agreement for the construction of a new seaport in Ogun State, to ease the pressure on the Lagos ports. Meanwhile, funding has not been provided for the Oguta port since the foundation stone was laid. Moreover, Calabar and Port Harcourt have been put on the back burner in terms of development. Against this background, can people who argue that the South-East is marginalized be faulted?
The Onitsha River Port was built by former President Shehu Shagari, but it has been abandoned by previous governments for political reasons. By now the River Niger is supposed to be dredged up to Lokoja to allow barges bring containerized cargo to hinterland. No doubt that the project was abandoned to deny South-East full operation of the Onitsha River Port. South-East has the largest number of businessmen and women that import products as well as the highest number of freight forwarders in the country. So, I expect that by now that Onitsha River Port should have been included in the approval of the comprehensive modernization of the other major seaports like Onne, Rivers, Delta and Calabar ports as part of efforts to reduce cargo pressure on Lagos, cut shipping delays and lower the cost of moving goods. Also, the government is also pursuing six new deep-seaport projects across Nigeria. South-East deserves a seaport because of the high number of cargos that go to the region daily. So, Onitsha River Port abandonment is politically motivated. Meanwhile, in Nigeria most of our leaders seem to be selfish by converting our commonwealth into their pocket through policies such as the recent one. It is a very bad decision to have sold some of our facilities in the seaports, but the decision has been taken and if there is a way to reverse it, fine. One of the ways to reverse or put an end to the gridlock in Lagos ports is to expand the seaports. Even in Cotonou, the Benin Republic keeps on expanding their port to maintain sanity. However, the recent decision shows that Igbo has been further marginalised as gas pipelines are being laid underground from Imo State to supply Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna and Kano, while Ogun State got approval for a seaport but the Federal Government quickly opened a new zonal office for the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in Awka, Anambra State. Unfortunately, there is no gas pipeline that connects the Eastern states. I mean there is no pipeline linking Imo to Enugu, Enugu to Ebonyi, to Abia and to Anambra. But our gas is from the South-East region. That is the reason they want to carve Ohaji to Rivers State. All these evil plots against Igbo are deliberate. How is it that what belongs to the South-East region is taken to develop other regions, while what they are quick to bring to Igbo land is EFCC office, more police checkpoints and more army barracks? No seaport, no gas pipeline and railway in the South-East. If the Federal Government can lay pipelines from Imo to Kano which is over 700km why can’t they lay 200km pipelines to connect southeastern states and dredge Onitsha and Oguta ports?
The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi has come under heavy attack for paying greater attention to the Lagos/Calabar Coastal Highway while ignoring repair works on old roads, especially the Benin bypass that is an extremely significant point of the Shagamu Benin expressway and very very strategic to South-East and South South. What can you say about the condition of the bypass as the road is impassable right now?
The state of roads in the country has been in sorry condition and recently all we hear is ongoing jobs in certain highways. So, the concentration of attention on those selected roads by the Minister of Works Sen. David Umahi, especially the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Badagry/Sokoto Highway, while attention is not being given to the major roads in the states, is political. The minister is carrying out instructions given to him by his paymasters because President Bola Tinubu must commission these highways before leaving office which is aimed at industrializing Lagos and the entire South-West. Unfortunately, Umahi has left his job to campaign against the Peter Obi Presidency in 2027, but forgot that those who are loudest in their threat are the weakest in the execution of jobs. He has no excuse why important major roads in the country that are in bad condition are unattended, especially those in the South-East. His presidential ambition will be determined through his achievement as Minister of Works for four years. Right now as we speak, passengers are stranded along Benin bypass because the road is in a poor state and the APC-led government is campaigning seriously seeking re-election. Therefore, it is left for Nigerians to decide if this incompetent leadership will continue or not.
