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By Steve Agbota
In response to recent developments in the maritime industry, the Chief Executive Officer of Wealthy Honey Investment, Dr Kayode Farinto, has called for an urgent meeting between industry stakeholders and President Bola Tinubu to chart a practical roadmap for reviving and repositioning the sector.
In an interview with Daily Sun, he said the maritime industry is currently stagnating, with operations falling short of expected standards.
He, therefore, called for a state of emergency in the sector to restore efficiency and put it back on the right track.
He also highlighted the implications of the increasing cost of freight and other charges, especially by the shipping companies in the industry, saying that if there is any overhead cost, it is the consumers and Nigerian masses who unusually bear the burden.
He suggested that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s Port and Regulatory Bill should be returned to the National Assembly for substantial revisions, considering recent developments in the maritime sector.
He also addressed other pressing issues affecting the industry, including container deposit policies, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy’s budget allocation, and related maritime concerns.
Sir, what is your take on the happenings in the maritime industry?
We need an urgent intervention from the Presidency. We must seek an audience with Mr President for us to be able to put a lot of things on the table because most of the things are not working the way they should in the maritime sector.
For the industry to grow, we will never grow. We are just stagnating. We need urgent intervention to meet with Mr President, which we are doing.
And if we are able to be given an appointment, irrespective of your association, we are going to pick leaders in the industry to represent us. That is the only way we can move forward. Having said that, the issue of the recent increase by Shippers’ Council’s collaboration is a very big problem.
And it is making me have a new dimension or a new thinking towards the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which I am also going to propose to Mr President. Henceforth, whoever must be the Executive Secretary of the Shippers Council must be somebody who has knowledge in the industry and must have a stake in the industry. Not just somebody who does not know more than collecting bribes and giving a go-ahead to shipping companies to increase storage and all what not
It is very shameful. Very, very shameful.
You mentioned that the person who will head the Nigerian Shippers Council should be somebody who has knowledge about the industry. Does it necessarily mean a career officer or somebody within the industry?
Not necessarily a career officer. Somebody, even among the shippers who knows the implications of a policy. Not somebody who is a career officer who does not know, and once he is thrown with $1,000 or $2,000, he succumbs to any pressure or any demand from a shipping company. So, it must be somebody who has an interest in the industry. Either an even freight forwarder who knows the implications of any increase, or even a shipper. I am a shipper, and I know the implications of increasing freight.
Not just somebody, because a career officer you put in there and all he does is to do rubbish. All we are witnessing now is rubbish. The law stipulates that you must consult stakeholders before any increment is made.
Whom have you carried along? Whom have you consulted? There was never even a time you called for a stakeholders’ meeting. Just because you are a Shippers Council, you think that you are the almighty? No. Because the masses will react, and that will be the downfall. So, it is very, very shameful.
But the Shippers Council have argued that they don’t even have the legal backing to actually tell the shipping company not to increase their charges.
Why are they giving the go-ahead if they don’t have the legal backing? Allow the shipping companies to increase and see how the industry will react or the freight forwarding association will react.
So, why are you giving the go-ahead if you don’t have the legal backing? It’s a very cunning thing. You don’t have the legal backing to give the go-ahead, but you have the legal backing when they want to repatriate their money to sign it. Go and investigate this. No shipping agent is able to repatriate their money without approval from the Nigerian Shippers Council.
Who are they telling rubbish? Are we babies? And I’ve been fighting for this thing since the era of Hassan Bello, the former Executive Secretary of the Council. And you’re now coming to tell us cock and bull stories. That’s rubbish.
They are asking stakeholders to actually help them to call for the signing of the Port and Regulatory Bill.
In fact, in my opinion, the Port and Regulatory Bill needs to go back to the National Assembly. We need a lot of corrections in view of recent happenings by the Shippers Council. It’s very obvious that the Shippers Council cannot be given too many powers. If not, we’ll find ourselves in a frying pan, and they’ll just fry us. That’s why I say we need a one-on-one with Mr President. A lot of things are wrong with the industry that the President does not even know.
Not to play the devil’s advocate, the shipping companies said that the Nigerian Port Authority last year increased its charges. But for them, they’ve not increased their charges, which they are doing now. If you look at it, when was the last time the shipping companies increased charges?
Are you advocating for shipping companies’ increase?
If you are not advocating, you know that when it comes to freight or shipping, there are a lot of things that are involved. A lot of things are involved in shipping.
Before you bring a vessel to Nigeria, if you don’t have the market, you know it won’t be possible. There are too many conditions attached. And don’t forget that Nigeria has the market in view of our population. Everybody wants to lash on the fact that we do not have a regulatory policy. They just want to come in, bring in their jargons and slam the illegitimate charges on Nigerian shippers.
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If I’m talking, I’m talking from two angles, as a shipper and as a freight forwarder. So I’m vast in shipping. They should not come and tell us that story.
Because the Nigerian Port Authority increased its charges. What exactly did the Nigerian Ports Authority increase? Is it the cargo throughput or the berthing fees? They should come up with that. They shouldn’t just come up with an abridged version of the Nigerian Port Authority increase; which one did they increase? It’s a technical thing.
We shouldn’t just be following them like that; we are not dummies. I’m vast in this industry. There’s nothing you want to tell me that I don’t know. What was it that the Nigerian Ports Authority increased? And that’s why everybody has their own responsibility. The Nigerian Ports Authority has also failed in its responsibility because, looking at the concession agreement, you know that the Nigerian Ports Authority failed in a particular aspect. Provision of electricity 24/7. Were they able to provide it? So these are the things we need to let Mr President know.
Did you know that, Mr President, the NPA is supposed to do this, and they have failed? Do you know that the Shippers Council is supposed to do this, and they have failed? Nigerian Customs is supposed to do this, and they have failed.
And this is the pain and the suffering. Who suffers from it? We, the shippers. And don’t forget that if I have a consignment and there is this overhead cost, I will transfer it back to you, the consumer.
The Nigerian Shippers Council failed in this. In fact, they should come out and apologise to everybody in the industry.
Don’t come and start defending rubbish; we should go and help them tell Mr President to sign their bill. That’s rubbish. I think that the bill should be taken back to the National Assembly for review. They should take it back again because there are a lot of happenings now, and development has shown that this, our Shippers Council, will not be able to protect the Nigerian shippers.
Let’s go back to the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. In their appropriation bill for their budget for 2026, they have about N149.2 billion proposed budget for 2026 against what they got in 2025, which is about N12.2 billion. Looking at the disparity in this figure, what do you expect from the ministry?
I don’t even want to talk about disparity because the 2025 budget was not implemented to the letter. There was no fund. I took my time to enter Abuja and enter the presidency very well. The Blue Economy did not even receive maybe 50% of that budget for 2025.
So, how would they have implemented what they are supposed to do? So you are coming back now to tell me 2026. And Mr President said by March, we are going to have more budget.
So, you see, the issue of the budget, three allocations, is becoming very interesting and very funny. You just see that the allocators did not receive that money.
They did not. I was blaming Blue Economy last year, towards the tail end of September, for failing. But when I entered, I saw there was a budget approved by the President. I think N1 trillion on one of the roads, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council, there is no money to disburse. So what are you talking about? Where is the money?
What is your take on the issue of container deposit refunds? Because freight forwarders were also blamed to be part of the problem.
I have been a practising freight forwarder for almost 30 years. So there is nothing anybody wants to tell me about shipping that I do not know. The shipper who is blaming the clearing agent will not know where the shoe pinches.
And you know that this issue of freight forwarding is about competition. I just called one of my staff members. We have a job of N1.5 million. That job now, we are executing, I just wrote it for him. We are executing that job for N1,530,000.
And I asked him, have we gained? He said, we have lost. So the issue of saying that agents are taking that responsibility, they will take it because it is competitive. If you say you are not taking it, others will take it, and they are delivering. The issue is, if I want to do delivery from a shipping company A, X, Y, Z. While you are collecting that money, you never ask me to go and bring my father’s house ahead. Because you wanted that money to release the cargo.
You have released the cargo now. I now want to collect my deposit, which is a mutual understanding, having returned your empty container, which is a gentleman’s agreement. I have fulfilled my own part of the obligation. You are now asking for my father’s house head.
We learnt that the container deposit has been cancelled
It is still there. It is still rolling. And that is why we brought up the issue of saying they should use container insurance. That it will solve our problem. It will solve the problem of the shipping companies.
Because I was in a restaurant where some Europeans were celebrating that, even though there is no business, they are making money through the container deposit. And how are they making the money? We deliver empty containers, and they will not pay you back your container deposit until after 90 days. And you know what it means? Go to a banker and ask him, I want to deposit N10 million with you for 90 days. If he deposits N10 million with the banker for 90 days, they should be able to give you at least N1 million. So it means that the shipping companies and the shipping agents have been trading with our money. And our job is competitive. If you are not doing it, others will do it, and they will deliver.
Do you know that we go as far as taking loans from the bank for us to satisfy our customers? And most of our contracts… These are the two contracts that you met here. This is the contract between my consignees for a vessel that has not even berths. The man is not even interested in any container deposit that just delivers my container, and that’s what I charge him for. So if I now pay the deposit on the container, and I deliver it to the consignee, I put pressure on him. Sir, let them offload that container within 24 hours and return the empty container. And it was done. And I returned the empty container. What stops you in a gentleman’s agreement from paying me my deposit under a gentleman’s agreement? If you are not biased. If you are not a thief. But because there is no law protecting indigenous freight forwarders.
There is no law. Anybody just coming with a suitcase in Nigeria is milking and extorting Nigerians before you know it; they are making money. It’s very, very unfortunate. Put yourself in our shoes.
Sir, what is your projection for the year 2026 in terms of cargo throughput?
I don’t know why people always give vague analyses. It is expected that in the last quarter of every year in our country, the cargo throughput will increase. Normal importers will import. And occasional importers will import. Somebody who has not even imported in the last 10 years wants to send goods to his family for this month. So you should expect an increase. And there will now be another decline starting next month. Because all the backlogs that we are having will be taken care of by January. This is a normal thing.
I do not expect anything. Except we have an audience with the Mr President. And I can say, the industry leaders are able to say, we have these challenges.
And Mr President takes care of it, or he promises to take care of it. That’s when I will tell you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But for now, I want to say we are working like blind people because nothing is working in the industry.
And some of the things that are happening to the civil service, they will not tell you about because it is against the civil service. How did I know that some of the funds that are meant for the blue economy were not being released? Meanwhile, I was already blaming the Minister of the Blue Economy that he failed. And the Minister will not be able to tell us that I have not received funds.
So, we need an audience with the presidency to be able to explain the challenges we have. Before I go and tell you, it is obvious that by the end of this year, the maritime industry will be better. But for now, I am at a level that I call confused.com.
