The Head Corporate Communications of the Sifax Group, Olumiyiwa Akande, in this interview sheds light on the contractual agreement between the company which owns the Port and Cargo Handling Services Limited and the Federal Government which concessioned the port terminal located in Tincan Island, Lagos to the Group in 2006
There are unconfirmed reports that your terminal, Port and Cargo Terminal has been ceded to another operator by the Federal Government. How true is that?
Let me say thank you for reaching out to us, because some people will go ahead to do the story without coming to verify. Some don’t go to get feedback from the other side. Like you just mentioned some companies that were given concession alongside with us in 2005, 2006, the terminal was given to us on May 11, 2006. That was when we formerly took over. And off course, after the initial 10 years, in 2016, the contract expired. We got extension which expired in 2021. Now, we are in the process of renewal. And what does that mean? All the assessments have been done by relevant bodies. And we are waiting when the renewal will be done. There are agreed terms of the contract. For the renewal, different documents have been submitted to government agencies, and different committees and they have come to see what is happening. We have also submitted to the National Assembly, the Senate and even the various Committees, House of Representatives Committees on Marine and Blue Economy too and so on. We have put all our books before them. And this is between when we took over the contract and now. We have submitted all of them, all of them without exception.
Now the ball is in the court of the government. And we are waiting on them to do the needful.
And ever since the contract stopped in 2021, we have been renewing it from NPA, let’s say within six months basis. Not that we are there for being sake, no we have been renewing the contract on a short term basis.
Is it yearly?
No, it is every six months. As we are waiting on government to renew it, on short term basis, we are getting that contract. Actually, that doesn’t help us to plan.
Within the period your contract expired, would you say that you have been operating illegally?
No, no. We are not operating illegally. We are operating within the confines of the law.
Does the Federal Government still get what it is supposed to be getting since 2021 in terms of what comes into its coffers?
You know we just had a contract that just terminated. And there were two of them. I mean the lease fees and the throughput fees. The payment is on the basis of the business we have. So, we are still running the six months basis contract in the same way. Now, it is being divided into six months. Every payment is on monthly basis both the throughput fees and the lease fees. Everything is paid in dollars.
Beyond these two fees, no other fees are collected from you by the government?
No, there is no other. You know, one is like rent and the other is like payment for the number of cargoes you carried or what we generate within the specified time.
Do you think the pattern of your operation is the same with other concessionaires whose contracts have expired?
Well, I will not speak for others. I don’t know what their terms are.
There is the allegation that Ports and Cargo Terminal Limited has not added commendable value to the economy in terms of port infrastructure development. Can you respond to the allegation?
That is why I tell you that everything in our contract, we have fulfilled it. And you know, to fulfill is one thing and to exceed is another. For instance, let me give you an example, as we speak, we have 10 Rubber Tyre Gantry cranes. And I am not sure that the contract or in the contract agreement, there is provision for such number of gantries. But we have provided 10.
How did you do that?
You are the one that said that we have not added any value. And I am saying that even in the contract, I am not sure that you have anything like that but we have provided it. I don’t think we have the mandate to do anything more than four but we have done 10. Yes, we have gotten 10. Maybe one of these days I will just allow you to get inside the terminal with us to have an idea of what the work is like. Now, looking at the congestion that was the hallmark of the port industry before now, it is no longer as we used to have it in those days. Not even at all. Look at the vessel turnaround time. There are some vessels today under two three days, you have done with them. Compared to those days when you will see a whole vessel trapped in our port for a whole month. How can you now say that these concessionaires have not added values? I think you know about the issue of Wharf rats?
Yes, we know them.
Do we used to see them again? Of course, no. People say concessionaires have not added value. These are people who are not aware of what the port industry was pre-2006. These concessionaires have made incredible impact on the port industry. The number of jobs that have been created in the ports alone. At our terminal alone, we have more than 1,000 staff. Do you know what that means in Nigeria? In Nigeria, when you employ one, you are feeding 10.
What do you mean by that?
You know, there is what is called Personal Income Tax, it is deducted from their salaries every month and it goes to the Federal Government. You can imagine what a staff force of 1,000 pays to the Federal Government every month. Look at how much money we pay in terms of lease and throughput every month. Look at it from every angle. Do you want to look at it from the point of Corporate Social Responsibility? Last time we picked two schools from where we spoke to the children, we did a mini career seminar for them. And for all of their girls, we provided sanitary pads for them. Two of the schools. It is from this Port and Cargo Handling Terminal. So, apart from the economic impact, we have provided social impact. We are also providing infrastructural impact and all that.
Has Federal Government taken over Port and Cargo Handling Terminal?
There is nothing like that. Go to the terminal now you will still see that we are the one who are still in charge. Our staff are the ones still working in the terminal. We are the one in charge of Port and Cargo Handling Terminal even as at today. We are hoping that any moment from now, the new contract will be signed.
On some occasions, the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers had intercepted hard drugs in your terminal and it was alleged that the terminal is notorious for the influx of hard drugs into the country. Some other times, arms and ammunition have been intercepted from the Port and Cargo Terminal. Why is your Terminal a transit point for smuggling activities?
No, no. I think education is important here. Looking at how the port system operates in this port industry, Ports and Cargo is a terminal patronized by shipping lines. Shipping lines who are our customers, they bring their goods and they bring their goods through ports and Cargo, when the goods are loaded wherever, Port and Cargo is not part of it. Most of these goods coming from China, India or elsewhere, do we have Port and Cargo staff there? No, they bring their goods for their customers from around the world. They arrange their goods, and when they come in, whose duty is it to check the goods brought into the country? It is the Nigeria Customs Service. Are we a member of the NCS or among the government agencies listed to be involved in the cargo examination at the ports? No, ours is to receive them. These containers come through shipping lines, our job is to receive them. Whatever they say is there, because we don’t get involved in examinations, whatever they claim is in their documents that is what we believe it is. So, it is the job of Customs and other assigned relevant agencies to check the contents of the containers. If they declare that they have shoes, flowers, that they have belts, as far as we are concerned what they declared is what is there in their containers. It is now the job of the customs to go there and check what they declared. It is not the job of the terminal operators to check. It is not our job. And if customs go there and find something different from what they declared in the manifest, they are the ones to intercept. It is not our job to do that. How will our terminal become notorious for such dangerous goods when we are not part of where they were loaded, we are not part of when it was examined and checked whether it was having contraband, okay where is the fault of the terminal?
A lot of the education is needed just as I have said, the terminal operators don’t get involved in the loading and offloading of goods at the point of loading or at the point of the discharge of the goods.
What you are saying is that you don’t contribute anything in helping the Federal Government in eradicating influx of contrabands into the country?
According to the law, it is the duty of the Nigeria Customs to do that. It will be illegal for us to go and open a container. It is not our job.
But you can provide an environment that aids smuggling?
How, how? I want you to be specific here.
What I mean by that, when a particular terminal is known for smuggling activities or is said to be porous, it becomes an easy way for smugglers to move in their illicit goods, that is what I mean?
How do you caution and who do you caution?
Do you know that importers choose terminals where they bring their goods through? They know the ones that would give them easy access to smuggling, and the ones that they would find difficult to get their smuggled goods out from?
There is nothing like peculiarity or any terminal being peculiar in terms of arrest of contrabands. As you have it in one terminal, you also have it everywhere.
When there is such allegation, we are looking at cases like, there are particular routes importers and agents know that they are easy for them to penetrate and they prefer using such routes to smuggle. How do you see that?
Okay, even at that, are we supposed to go and be doing the job of the Customs? Are we supposed to teach these governments agencies their job when the law has specified that? Even when it is the duty of the customs to check that contrabands don’t come into the country and that the government gets its needed revenues? I think these questions go to customs. Our job is to ensure we facilitate trade by providing enabling environment for shipping lines to bring goods into the country. And we are doing that very well. So, this idea of smuggling, no, our own is to do our business. Don’t also forget that we are an indigenous company and if we don’t believe in Nigeria we will not be here. And we are not here to do anything to compromise the interest of the country.
You have said that Sifax Group is fully in charge of the terminal. However, we learnt that you have relinquished the administration of the terminal because of illicit deals and that the Federal Government compelled you to remove your hands from the management of the terminal?
That is why when I started, I started by thanking you for coming to hear from us and help us balance the story. There is a lot of rumours going around. Some because they don’t like the people in government, others, they just want to cause confusion. Some, for a lot of reasons. That is why when I see journalists who go extra miles to get the other side of the story, I appreciate them. The allegation that another management has taken over, go there and see things by yourself. Our staff are still working. The same management is still there, the board is still there. So, we are waiting that they will soon sign our contract for another 10, 15, or 20 years.
What if it does not happen?
But do you know that the assets are not our own it is Nigeria that owns them.
That is what I am saying?
We are concessionaires. That is what I am saying. It is not our asset, it is that of the Federal Government of Nigeria. That is what I am saying, we are privileged to run this thing in the last 20 years. From what we have done in terms of management, we believe we deserved to be encouraged to go forward. But don’t forget that the asset does not belong to us, do you understand?
We used to have people like Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State, one former minister, Shagaya and other former governors that used to be promoters of the business. We also know your company is a front company to those individuals earlier mentioned. Are they still having stake in the business?
Let me tell you we have not fronted for anybody. Without fear of contradiction, Port and Cargo Handling Terminal is wholly owned by Sifax Group.
Talking about those names you mentioned earlier, you see, when you have a business, you could bring people in for their expertise, for their knowledge, for their advice and for their connections. And of course, there are many reasons. That does not mean that one, they are the owners of the business, two that does not mean that they have a share in the business. So, we should get that right. Port and Cargo Terminal is fully owned by Sifax Group 100 percent. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. But as at today, it is owned by Sifax Group. So, the issue of fronting for anybody has never occurred. We have members of the board that support us and we leverage their expertise, experience and support. Whether they are supporting us, yes. But they own and we are fronting for them, No. If you know who Dr. Taiwo Afolabi is, nobody would have come up with that conclusion.
As your contract has expired, what are your expectations from the government?
Well, the thing is that this is a company that we find ourselves working as a company that stands on integrity. Integrity in the sense, one, we have this contract and there were terms of this contract. Two, now that we have fulfilled every side of the contract, what we are doing is, we are waiting on government. And all the documents that will support our position that we have performed have been submitted to NPA, all the government relevant agencies like the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and the various committees of the National Assembly, all of them. They have all these documents.
It is going to be a competitive bidding this time, then it was more or less allocated to you people?
No, no. Don’t use that language ‘allocated’, go and look at documents. That bidding was done by the Bureau of Public Enterprises in 2003 to 2005. It was thoroughly bidded. There was never a time it was allocated. We had to partner with the Port of Antwerp. Our technical partner for that bidding was the Port of Antwerp that came with us to provide technical support. We did not have much port experience at the time. For instance, we have been in off dock terminal business. We were also into C&F (Clearing and Forwarding) in the ports for years. We didn’t have technical experience. For you to know how serious that was. And we have to partner with the port of Antwerp, one of the port operators in the world.
Can you remember your co-bidders that time?
Well, I need to check.
You can’t still remember your competitors?
This is almost 25 years ago. No, 20 years ago. It is a public document.
We knew the roles President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Adebayo Sarumi played then as the Nigerian President and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA respectively to PDP supporters and all that?
Our boss, Dr. Afolabi is not a member of any political party.
But he was an apologist?
That is not the right way to put it. My boss is a friend to everybody. He doesn’t have any political alignment or affiliation with anybody or group. He is a friend to all the governors, he is a friend to the president and a friend to all the ministers. He is a friend to those people but does not have anything to do with politics. If you have a friend and that your friend believes in your ability, what is wrong with that? If we have a friend that will dash a terminal to us, If that is the case, why do we have to go and get technical partner abroad to work with us? If it was by Sarumi or PDP, they will just write a letter to us and say, oya, go and take over.
How do you pay your contract obligation?
Let me say this, you know that we pay in dollars? I think I mentioned it. Can I shock you that under the terms of agreement, every month we pay one million dollars. Do you know the exchange rate of one million dollars today? That should be about N1.5 billion. That is that, N1.5 billion. I am just telling you. Because people have this idea or notion that we are robbing the country.
You pay in dollars?
Since 2006, we pay in dollars, every month. Every month, a million dollars. May be now. Even when we started, it was May be N100 to a dollar. But now it is N1, 700. That is N1.7 billion every month. That is what we pay every 30 days.
That is huge sum of money.
That is for lease fees alone. We have not come to throughput fees. That means, cumulatively, every 30 days we may be paying more than $2 million to the Federal Government.
Those are for lease and throughput fees before we now come to what we pay to staff.
Do you pay other taxes?
Yes. We do too. Do you know the number of taxes we are paying? I am just telling you the major ones. So many of them.
If you want to be fair to anyone running business in Nigeria, we should salute them first. Do you know how much, we are not talking about drums but tankers of diesel we burn in that Port and Cargo Terminal every month? I can tell you, it can’t be less than 45,000 litres. Multiply it by a thousand naira. Before you now come to repairs. And don’t forget, all the equipment we use, the parts are not sold locally. So, if our cranes have a problem, we have to send for the parts abroad. And all of these things are done in dollars. We are barely surviving.
