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IN
THE NEWS...
Monitoring pollution In Lagos waters: How LCM keeps the
port channels navigable.
“You cannot succeed here if you do not have the
thinking of a commander” – Danny Fuchs.
Danny Fuchs came to Nigeria a few
years ago to run Nigerian Ports Authority’s (NPA) joint venture,
Lagos Channel Management – a special purpose vehicle devised to
add vim to Nigeria’s quest for a reformed and modernized port
industry geared to move with the times. Today, Danny, as everybody calls
him, manages to see Nigeria through the eyes of Nigerians. When told
of an argument to privatize pilotage because of pilots’ rampant
inefficiency, he queried how the pilots could do better if the work
environment and social conditions remained unchanged. However, LCM,
on its part, has now dredged the Lagos channels to such depths that
vessels drawing 13 metre draft can now easily come and go, thereby boosting
ship traffic and higher revenues and aiding faster turn-round times.
In the first ten months of this year, 3,099 ships called at the Lagos
ports - a double-digit percentage increase over the figures for 2010.
Next, LCM is targeting 13.5 metres. Danny, a naval architect, showed
DDH evidence of a cadetship training programme sponsored by the NPA-Landfall
joint venture, under which scores of young Nigerians have been trained
at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) Ghana, with 15 already certificated
for work in foreign-going ships. The manpower development programme
is continuous. Danny sounds like a man on a mission – his life
and career seems to have prepared him for that. His take on solutions
to local issues could easily make him Nigeria’s man abroad, were
he eligible. All said, he is a man we could do business with. and you
will find the evidence in the following lines: Excerpts:
DDH: LCM achieved a major feat earlier
this year when the Mv Izmir successfully sailed into port with 3,500
laden containers to berth at APM Terminals. It was credited to the role
of dredging and modern navigational aids provided by your organization.
How is LCM keeping up with this feat at the Lagos ports?
Danny: Oh, we have more than this now. I just came back from Badagry
and I saw a ship at APMT [AP Moller Terminal] which is close to 12 metres
draught. A lot of ships come now with more than 11 metres of draught.
At Apapa Berths 1, 2 and 3, they are bringing them now on a regular
basis, ships of 12 metres, bulk carriers. And now they are asking us
to make the channels deeper. Now we are planning with NPA (Nigerian
Ports Authority) in the next year we want to achieve 13.5m in most of
the Lagos channels and even in areas we have never dredged. The next
move is to go to areas like Grimaldi Port, Capital Oil [tank farm],
etc. They want to make a turning circle in that area. Now, we are planning
it because you need to make some preparations like ground investigations,
to know the type of materials, for example whether clay is present,
etc.
2010 2011
DDH: Or whether you have wrecks there...?
Danny: No, at the moment we don’t see any challenge in the navigational
channel. We have removed most of them. The channel is clear but when
you dredge you make a slope and the wrecks may slip back into the channel.
So, one of the decisions of NPA is to widen the channels along the navigation
corridor. A lot of ships are coming and going outside of the navigation
area and they approach the shallow areas. So, first of all we have advised
them that we need to make it wider and deeper than it is at the moment.
We are thinking together with them all the time how to expand. Some
of the challenge is not only our capacity but also the design of the
quay sides.
DDH: Yes, I was going to ask that question when you mentioned 13.5m
depth…
Danny: A lot of quay sides in Lagos and Tin Can Island Port are
not designed for that depth. But those big companies whose berths are
designed for that depth are making more effort with the government to
make it deeper and they are correct because they can then bring bigger
vessels. But the quayside design for all of APMT is 13.5m, no doubt.
All of Apapa berths 1, 2 and 3 quayside design is more than 13.5m. But
I heard that Grimaldi Port quayside design is 12.5m and it means that
there is no point to dredge the place more than 12.5m deep. The only
thing we don’t know now is about Capital Oil area. We need NPA
to produce the data.
 Calling
ships berthed at the Fivestar Terminal in Tin Can Island Port Apapa.
DDH: Is LCM monitoring feedback from port users about its service
provision in order to fast-track needed changes?
Danny: I will show you the information system developed by LCM
on port activities [on ship arrivals, movements, tug boat activities
for their movements, etc] updated up to 28th of October 2011. This is
an information system that we have in our marine operation centre. People
are there sitting 24-hours-7-days-a-week collecting all the information
from the radio and the telephones, and capturing them in the system.
This is all the ship calls which came to Lagos since the beginning of
the year, and as you can see here (pointing at the computer display),
how many ships came since the beginning of the year? 3099.
DDH: That is from January to October 2011?
Danny: Yes, up-to-date, the 28th of October, 2011. Every ship here,
you can see their details: name of the vessel, the flagship, the call
sign, name of the captain, the agent’s name, the gross tonnage
and net tonnage, the deadweight, the aft draft and the draft before,
the last port of call was Lome, the cargo was PMS, the charterer, the
owner, etc. So, for every ship calling to Lagos now, we capture this
information. This is for every ship that arrives the anchorage area
and asks for permission to enter the port. As the master is calling
the port and asking for permission and Lagos acknowledges and approves
him, then we capture it as a calling ship to Lagos. It means that at
one time from the time of that call, maybe days, weeks, or whenever,
it entered the port. Then I have here also assignments. Assignments
mean that when a ship comes in, she asks tug boats to assist her, pilots
go onboard and eventually all the assignments done by the tug boats
for that ship are reported by the tug boats. Just to cross check their
activities. But some of the ships come in and don’t use tug boats.
For example, offshore vessels that are easy to maneuver, dredgers or
tug boats do not need the assistance of tug boats to berth but they
cannot operate without assignments. As you can see from the monitor,
there are 9,629 assignments that have been performed. This means that
for each one of these assignments, a tug boat was touching a vessel.
DDH: So, for the 3099 ship calls at Lagos ports on record since
this year, 9,629 assignments have been performed for them by tug boats?
Danny: Yes. You can see (pointing at the display on the monitor)
for this ship, it was only one tug boat. For this, it was 2 tug boats.
You can see the pilot’s name. Maneuvered from Tin Can, was pushed
by Raphael Zaranda [tug boat], this is the name of the vessel, Jan Daiyel(??),
worked for one hour, twenty minutes. This is the kind of report that
you can produce for anybody to see the operations happening in the port.
Now I want to show you that though the total assignments are 9,629,
you can see the distribution: midnight to 2 o’clock, 2 o’clock
to 4, 4 to 6, 6 to 8 in the morning, etc. Now you can see that if you
add up the duration worked from midnight to 6 o’clock, for example,
you can see the total time of night operation, [more than 6 hours].
So, for those people who keep arguing that there are no night operations,
I like things like this because every time I base my argument on data.
You can also see from here the drafts of the ships that have been calling.
This Maersk Cameroon came with 12m. This Maersk Conakry came with 12m.
Maersk Calabar, she came with 12m. Glenda Marie came with 12.35m. All
these are July ship calls. This ship Carrie came with 13m. She came
with gasoline. But you can see here a lot of them 11.9m, etc. However,
they can come with bigger ships drawing deeper draft but they always
ask NPA beforehand.
DDH: Did LCM design and mount this programme?
Danny: Yes. I have a guy here, an expert on information technology.
We defined what we wanted and he designed it. It’s not very complicated.
It’s on a [web] server.
 In
front of LCM’s booth at the 2009 Nigerian Dredging Summit in Abuja.
DDH: When did you mount this system?
Danny: 2008. I have information since 2008.
DDH: Is it shared with NPA and other stakeholders?
Danny: No, we don’t share it but it’s available to
NPA whenever they want it. We don’t keep it as a secret. Whenever
I send reports to NPA, I send them based on this information. For example,
if we are sending NPA the budget for next year’s budget for tug
boats, we give the prediction based on how many ships are going to come
into Lagos based on the information of this year’s activities.
And by that information, using data as at August 2011, if I predict
well, Lagos is going to have an increase of ship calls of about 6.8%
for 2011 more than 2010.
DDH: Do you attribute this increased traffic to the better dredging
profile of the port and other improvements?
Danny: I cannot say that this is just because of Danny and LCM. It’s
the upgrade and improvement in everything, the navigation, the towage,
the pilots, NPA port management, the terminal operators, agents. This
information system can also show you the position of activity in each
hour of the 24-hour day. Because a lot of people are claiming here that
there are no night operation which is not true.
DDH: So, there is night operation?
Danny: Of course, there is. The only thing we need to focus on is to
increase the night operation. Because if you increase night operation,
it also means that you are going to increase the number of ships that
are going to visit Lagos.
DDH: Does this affect the possibility of solving the congestion
of cargoes and activities which happen during the daytime so that they
are shifted to night hours?
Danny: No, no, no. You need to remember that am talking about the
quayside activities. There is also the landside, shoreside, activities,
like how to distribute the goods out of the port, how to transport,
these are areas where a lot of improvement have to be done.
DDH: What terminals are more into night quayside activities?
Danny: I can find out from the system but I have never taken an interest
to find out which particular terminals are into night operations. I
was talking about the total operations of all the terminals put together.
Now, I have a hunch that it will be increased this year over the volume
of last year because last year’s night operation was an increase
over the year before it.
DDH: So, there is an upward trend in night operations at the ports?
Danny: Yes, because, you see, to travel with a ship inside a channel
in the night is not a party. Not because the challenge is too high but
because of a lot of interferences in the water. For example, all the
small boats from the communities and the small services, they are moving
in the nights and a ship could run over them. It happens. There is no
light in the port; so navigation is challenging.
DDH: Is lighting in the port part of your projection, to install
lights for all night operations?
Danny: No. But we can advise. Always they ask our opinion about how
to improve navigational aids.
DDH: Is the reason for not installing port-wide lighting because
it would be under-utilised?
Danny: I don’t understand the reason for it. For example, I think
that Nigeria could have light [regular electricity], but somehow somebody
doesn’t want Nigeria to have light. You know why? Because it will
cause less generator business, less spare parts for generators, less
diesel for generators. So, if somebody is against night operation, it
may be because somebody will lose business.
DDH: Now, on the tug boats you operate, some people are of the
opinion that it should be privatized…?
Danny: The management is privatized. We manage it, our group of companies.
DDH: Does that include pilotage?
Danny: No. We only manage the tug boats with the understanding that
there must be always four tug boats available at least, out of the six.
Now, we have six all the time but what they asked us to do in the contract
is for four to be available all the time. It means that we need to crew,
bunker, maintain and provide all needed supplies. The operation is as
given by the port operation of NPA. We don’t intervene in the
operation, I cannot call the tug master though he is my employee quite
alright.
DDH: You are saying the instruction for service has to come from
the harbor master?
Danny: Of course, because he is the ruler of the port. And this port
operation, he can ask our advice but we can never intervene by ourselves.
In the beginning we had a lot of fight with them, especially if they
move the tug boat to shallow places. This is risky to the tug boat.
The tug boat has a draft.
DDH: What is the draft of the ones you are using?
Danny: Tug boat is 3.5m but the problem is not only the draft because
they are like turbo-driven. All the propellers are turning this way
and that way and it’s like a huge pump. If you go to shallow places,
all the rubbish will be sucked in and make the propeller to be stuck.
So, we had a lot of issues in the beginning. Even when they had emergencies,
we sometimes argued with them not to serve. Because you need to do risk
assessment, sometimes it’s not worth the risk to send a vessel
if you know it’s not going to succeed. But from their point of
view it’s ok. But in the last two years, we have worked harmoniously,
it’s quiet now.
DDH: But pilotage is not under you?
Danny: No, pilotage is under flag state.
DDH: But as I said earlier some people are of the opinion that
it should be privatized because sometimes when you call them they will
take 30 minutes to show up or 45 minutes or one hour. And the vessel
has fully discharged, completed all formalities and is ready to go but
everyone has to wait because the pilot is yet to come?
Danny: I don’t agree. They are not wasting time because they
want to waste time.
DDH: Yes, we know that there may be challenges but time wasting
is inefficiency. The argument is that in the hands of a private operator,
he will take steps to remove that inefficiency because he will have
competitors?
Danny: Ok, let’s move to the next step. Who is going to be the
pilot to the operator? Maersk Line?
DDH: No. They argue that the operator will hire his own pilot and
train them as is done in some other countries overseas.
Danny: And who is going to call the tug boat?
DDH: The shipping line or their agents.
Danny: So every shipping line will have its own tug boats, etc?
DDH: No. The shipping line agent will make arrangement with the
pilotage companies that our ship is going out, come and bring us out.
And the pilotage companies will not fail because next time, the agents
will go for another company if the first transaction did not perform
to expectation. The argument is that in other countries this is the
practice.
Danny: No. In most of the companies in the world, pilotage is by the
state. They are wrong.
DDH: In Israel, how does it work?
Danny: It’s run by the government; also the tug boat, everything
is by the government.
DDH: Do you have any idea how it runs in Europe?
Danny: In Europe it depends. I know that in some places, some ports
are privatized. So, in these places, pilots and tug boats may be privated.
And when I came they also claimed that they wanted tug boats to be private,
100%. Maersk said they wanted to do the pilotage. Imagine, if Maersk
had taken it, all the pilots will go to Maersk. What about other shipping
lines? So, the land lord must be the flag state [service provider].
Now, if you want to improve, to make it better, you want this and want
that, you can ask a private company to manage the pilots, not to be
responsible for the operation. Never. For example, I don’t blame
the pilots. Most of them are living in far places. They don’t
have accommodation close to the port. The condition of service of the
pilots is not very good. And I don’t blame them, I don’t
know who runs it but if you want pilots to be available 24 hours a day,
it’s better you run shifts. Maybe they would be working 24 hours,
48 hours they would be resting, that is if you want them very close
to the work. You cannot ask somebody to live in Apapa, traffic holdups,
you call him with these telephone lines, and give him time and everybody
is waiting. One of the things happening is that pilots are not organized
and I don’t want to blame anybody. This is the country’s
position and the conditions in which to live. So, this is the national
efficiency for me. You want to make it more efficient, change the country’s
conditions.
DDH: That is, we shouldn’t expect top form performance from
them while the country’s conditions are not in top form?
Danny: Yes. There is no transportation for them, no accommodation close
to their base, a lot of things. You need to consider even why they asked
us to manage their tug boats. During the time that NPA managed it, it
crashed because of the system. Nobody was willing to take money from
their pocket to assist the system because they knew they would not get
reimbursed. Here, we can finance things and, at most, in three months,
NPA will reimburse us officially. We bunker the boats all the time.
We buy the spare parts. We maintain. You know the tug boats are the
only vessels here that are in class all the time. We have now finished
all the six tug boats [surveys]. We have done the intermediate survey,
up to two (??) reports.
DDH: Apart from dredging, what are other aspects of your activities
that go to keep the channels open for maritime navigation?
Danny: There are the formal ones and the informal ones. The formal one
is that according to our joint venture, we are responsible to maintain
the navigational aids in the scope of aid-to-navigation in the group.
But let’s say tomorrow, NPA would like to build something on aid-to-navigation
or they ask us to build it. We can do all that. But these are our responsibilities:
all the buoys in the channel, in the port, fairway, all the navigational
equipment. Sometimes they ask us to put a wreck buoy, or whatever task
arising out of an emergency that they ask us to do. Another thing in
our scope is to do soundings and environmental surveys and to make charts.
We are making charts every quarter and every time there is a problem
in any area.
 
 
Pollution centres: from left – Ijora, Kirikiri Phase 2 and Carter
Bridge..
DDH: Where do you print them?
Danny: Here, I will show you. We are also
doing wreck removal and pollution monitoring. Every week we do a sampling
of pollution, who makes the pollution, etc. Take, for example, we found
one of the drainage pipes hung along the bridge, broken, and pointed
towards the channel. So, we sent NPA a letter because who knows, may
be a lot of rubbish can be coming through it. We don’t work with
Lagos state but we send to NPA and I believe they know what to do. That
is pollution monitoring, whatever we find happening in the channel that
is a hazard to navigation, we report. And what we are doing as wreck
surveillance is because a lot of abandoned ships are in this area. Because
we are travelling along the channel all the time, we can see what are
the changes, who changed the position, we monitor a lot of things like
these and actually we are making a lot of reports for us and for NPA.
Unofficially however, we see ourselves as partners because bureaucracy
is high in government and we are more flexible, and because they cannot
come by money without any approvals, and this takes a long time, we
do the work first and claim the money later. For example, one of the
buoys, as you know, sometimes ships hit the buoys. Sometimes, if we
know the ship, we can claim against the ship. Others, we don’t
know. For example, in the night, there are a lot of illegal businesses.
Sometimes we find a lot of the buoys outside. A month ago one of the
lost buoys was found at Eleko Beach.
DDH: It floated to that place?
Danny: Yes, it floated there, sitting on the sand. Somebody else, if
they were partners to NPA, would say, ”NPA give me money and I
would go bring it”. But not us, we need to maintain them. We coughed
out money and brought it here. But now to make claims from NPA (because
of it) looks childish; for small money you don’t wreck a business
of millions. A lot of other times, we are called upon by the top officials
to assist in various ways.
DDH: Have you thought of putting CCTV around the channels to monitor
for security and other reasons?
Danny: Well, first of all, we have thought about it. But for me, when
it has to do with the shore-side activities, I don’t want to go
into anything that somebody is not happy with. At the end of the day,
you cannot come to a terminal where somebody is paying lease on and
install cameras because you just want to. What we are ready to do is
to install it in our area and see how it works. First of all, to us,
security monitoring is something you have to think about not only as
a camera. Let’s say you have seen something in the camera, how
can you act? Is it for investigation, for prevention or for apprehension?
You need to look at it as something that is being done by the NPA as
a project to increase security in the port. But it’s no problem
because the US will demand for it. Right now, there are no ships going
directly from Lagos to the USA.
DDH: Is this because of ISPS Code and such issues?
Danny: Yes, because of ISPS Code and similar issues. But if Nigeria
wishes to increase business to the USA or other countries there will
be stress about the ISPS Code, there is no way, Nigeria will need to
invest more on this.
DDH: In your years of activity as a joint venture in Nigeria what
major achievements have you made in line with your assignment in Lagos?
Danny: The achievements are our contribution to the ports’ success,
the growth of the ports, and more revenue for NPA, which is growing
every year. However, on one side of the growth of the port here, I can
say that am happy that the traffic is growing. On the other side, I
would be happier if the increase was more with the growth of Nigeria-flagged
vessels. But most of the Nigeria-flagged vessels are not going abroad.
They are only working here in cabotage or whatever. It’s a pity.
You know most of these foreign ships coming here are importing instead
of exporting. It’s a country that lives in importation but a share
of it needs to come back to the people of Nigeria, to the maritime industry
not only for dock workers but in the form of Nigerian ships berthing
abroad. Secondly, we have also achieved by training Nigerians to be
officers.
DDH: Can you expatiate on that?
Danny: Our target in this regard is to train people. One of the problems
of training people is that beside academic and theoretical education
you need to give them a space to get sea time. Of course, we have ships
here. We decided to open a cadetship programme. After my stay for some
time in Nigeria, I came to the conclusion that the only place we could
really train people is to send people to Ghana, to Regional Maritime
University (RMU). So, we wrote to RMU and signed with them an MOU. We
have a consultant, Capt Solomon Omotosho. We began by advertising in
the newspaper, Landfall and NPA together, a joint company programme
on the training and called for applications, from which we got about
150. We asked the school to organize a written test for enrollment and
they will check it, not us. Out of the 55 that wrote the tests, 45 made
it. And we started with 40. Because we were going to sponsor everything,
we decided to get bonds from the parents that when their wards finish
they are not going to run away. That is why I keep the COC and other
certificates with me. Anyhow, out of this 45 now, we have 13 certificates
and two certificates are on the way. These are some of them: Basic Training
Certificate awarded to Ubachukwu Nwanneka; this is a Certificate of
Class Two Deck Officer awarded to Victor Enebeli; a Certificate of Competence
awarded to Alex Antanawowoh; Class Two Marine Engineer Officer Certificate
awarded to Adebowale Adeosun; this is another 2nd Engineer Certificate,
etc.
DDH: So, this was conceived, financed and achieved by Landfall
and NPA?
Danny: Yes. And all of them when they finish will be recruited to work
in Landfall.\
DDH: Is Landfall a joint venture partner to LCM?
Danny: No, Landfall is the management company for the towage company.
We are coming from the same mother group.
DDH: Is Depasa Marine the mother group?
Danny: Depasa is coming from the mother group. Landfall is one, Depasa
is one, Westport is one, etc. So, the cadetship programme is being jointly
organized by Landfall and NPA. And when they are on training, we give
them monthly allowances, food allowances, school fees, transport allowances
back and forth, 100% of all expenses.
L-R: Minister of Transport Senator Idris Umar,
MD NPA Engr Omar Suleiman and others, during a boat ride to inspect
rehabilitaion works at the Lagos Moles recently.
DDH: And when they finish they join Landfall crew?
Danny: Yes. Part of them, the deck officers are trained to be mates
on the tug boats. Whenever they are ready they will go for exams and
get certificates for mates. So, 15 out of 45 is a huge success. I told
Capt Omoteso when we started that even if we get one, it is a success
because the attitude here is very bad. You know at first when I was
managing the programme, I looked at it that theoretical study and discipline
and management have the same weight from my point of view. You can be
perfect in study but if you have failed in management and discipline,
you are out. Do you know how many people we sacked from the programme
because of lack of discipline, when we got phone calls from Ghana? They
are bringing in girls, they go outside to go and drink and to parties.
DDH: Do you think that LCM is capable of running another channel
management outfit with NPA in other ports around the country like Calabar?
How feasible is this?
Danny: Yes. It’s a challenge, I cannot be arrogant but I think
that from experience here, whatever we learnt here, we can apply it,
and we make better things in Calabar. Here, the people before me started
it. But now, we have the knowledge, we know how to work with NPA, we
know how to work in Nigeria and I think our achievement here is ok.
But we think it’s a big challenge to us but we can run another
channel management company.
DDH: What is the duration of the LCM joint venture?
Danny: Fifteen years.
DDH: We have seen all that NPA is bringing to the table in this
joint venture. What is LCM bringing to the table?
Danny: Firstly, technical partnership. From the time the company was
commenced, we have gradually brought in more and more. Of course, the
first investment was done by NPA. For example, at the moment LCM is
leasing ships from NPA and the technical partner is paying LCM money
for using it. It means that at the end of the day, Sea Lion and Gumel
and Challawa that are leased to LCM are paid for by the technical partner
for using it. According to the agreement, the end-user which is the
technical partner, Depasa Marine, is maintaining it and paying the lease.
The only thing is that it is agreed that major repairs like vessel surveys
is to be paid for by the owner. At the moment nothing needs to be paid
by NPA but I think next year there’s going to an investment for
a special survey on the three tug boats. Now, Depasa bought all multi-cats,
carto dredger, barge, survey ship, other survey ships and now we are
also bringing ships to do dredging. We have now two hopper dredgers
from Europe which came here to do dredging.
DDH: Is this what you hope to deploy in Calabar if LCM bid for the
dredging there succeeds?
Danny: At the moment they are working in Lagos. If Calabar comes to
life, we would need to bring in more dredgers.
DDH: How did you come to this stage in your career life as a skilled
manager in marine industry?
Danny: I come from the Navy. My training was as a chief engineer. I
was a young man. You know in our [Israeli] Navy, chief engineer can
be in the age range of 20 or 21. I was a chief engineer in a submarine.
DDH: Did you ever go to any war?
Danny: Yes, of course. In 1982. I was on board of a missile boat. When
I finished my obligation in the Navy, I wanted to get out but they called
me back for a career.
DDH: Who offered you?
Danny: The commanders of the Navy. They told me I could rise to the
commanding level of my line as the chief of the submarine or you can
develop yourself in the technical aspect of the profession. You need
to choose what you want. Or do you want to get out? I was thinking to
myself that I liked very much the service. In those days, I was the
equivalent of a lieutenant, a small boy. I wanted to get some studies.
I told them I wanted to go and learn engineering, mechanical engineering.
They said no problem, we would sponsor you as long as you will come
back. So, I went for four years at Technical University in Israel, one
of the leading universities. I graduated with a bachelor of science
in mechanical engineering. Afterwards I came back to serve and became
a lieutenant commander. My first job, I was the maintenance officer
of one of the biggest bases for the Navy. I was the one to decide on
what to do in every job in the base. Compared to when I was a chief
engineer, now I had no rest 24 hours. After I served for two years,
it seemed like four. Anyhow, it gave me a lot of skill and management
capacity how to run departments of people working on engines and many
other things. After that they moved me to headquarters to oversee the
development of high-speed crafts, patrol boats. I was very good in one
year and the two times I ran a project it was an experiment and they
were happy with it. They asked if I wanted to get more education and
thereafter sent me to the US to study naval architecture and marine
engineering. I went to Michigan University and graduated with a masters
degree. Came back to the Navy and they put me in another job as a naval
architect dealing with frigates. I was dealing with installations, upgrades,
etc. But one day one of the big admirals came for me and asked me to
be his PA where I served for two years. And when I finished I wanted
to go back to the technical department but he said no, you are not going
back to the technical department, I want you to be the head of budgetary
branch. So they moved me from mechanical engineering and naval architecture
to be the head of budgetary and finance branch and promoted me to become
commander. For three years, I was vetting budgets, expenditure, balance
sheets. I was dealing with planning, execution and manpower.
DDH: But you had no training on it and had not done it before?
Danny: Yes, but I learnt it. This man who I served as PA wanted to promote
me and this is a very loyal position for him. So, he wanted somebody
who was loyal and he could talk to him, etc. I told him I didn’t
know it all but he said you can do it with one hand tied to your back.
And it turned out that I was very good with it; instead of two years,
they left me there for three years. From there they moved me to be the
head of the naval architecture unit in the Navy. That is where they
deal with future plans and designs of the next generation of corvettes.
After two years they posted me to become the head of the naval architecture
and marine department and from there I was moved to become the commander
of the shipyard. It’s not like here, you know, it’s a very
busy shipyard. All the Navy’s vessels are maintained and repaired
in the shipyard.
DDH: You were the head of this place for how long?
Danny: Three years. Then I competed to become the admiral. We were three
candidates. You know, one will be happy, the others will be sad. But
I never went sad.
DDH: But they chose somebody else?
Danny: Yes.
DDH: And that’s how you left the Navy?
Danny: Yes. And this chairman of our company now, he knew that I was
in the navy, and he began to chase me. But I wanted to rest for some
time, just drinking coffee all day and doing just nothing. I had offers
to work in some places but I didn’t want. I wanted to work in
the private sector. This chairman made me an offer, he touched my heart.
I didn’t know Nigeria, I had never been in Africa before but I
understood that this was a challenge and I liked challenges.
DDH: So, you agreed to join the company and they sent you here?
Danny: Yes.
DDH: So from all these you have had a lot of experiences, technical,
military, managerial, financial, etc. How does it help you now?
Danny: Here in Nigeria, oh a lot. You cannot succeed here if you do
not have the thinking of a commander. You cannot. You cannot think that
you can manage a company here like you manage a company in other places.
Here, especially here, the people depend 100% on the father-figure or
commander-figure for leadership. [You have to know this], otherwise
you cannot succeed. Here, you don’t finish after you have finished
the office time. You have to be in commanding position, a commander
24-hours-a-day.
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The
scorecard on Nigerian seaport reforms
It’s ten years since the Obasanjo’s presidency kick-started
the search for better fortunes for Nigeria’s port industry. Once
upon a time, the ports were a haven for wharf rats. No more. Ships then
spent weeks in port to load and discharge. Stevedores were unruly, practicing
the infamous “akube” system, where shipping lines paid for
16-men gangs but get 8 men instead. None could do anything about it
for many years. The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) was then
a glorified gang-up of port industry warlords. Former transport minister,
Chief Ojo Maduekwe, shocked the nation when he exposed bags of money
brought to him at night to soft-pedal the wheels of the reforms which
started rolling during his tenure.
Read more...
Other Articles &
Interviews:
Mr Pier Luigi Carrodano on his
work with Gen. T Y Danjuma's companies and the Chinese sea trade with
Nigeria...NEW
Engr Akin Olaniyan on need for NIMASA
to return to original mandate and harnessing cabotage trade...NEW
Dr. Wilson Odafe Omene on Niger
Delta politics, amnesty programme, Nigerian maritime and local govt,
etc....NEW
Capt
Adeyemo on River Niger Dredging...
Prof
P.C. Nwilo on his assessment of NIWA during sabbatical ...
Mr
Nseyeng Ebong on his 8-year tenure as rector of Maritime Academy
of Nigeria Oron...
Chief
Dumo Lulu Briggs as
chairman of Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron, his vision...
Engr
Muyiwa Omasebi: The face-off Between NIWA, MMSD and Lagos State Govt.
Otunba
K Folarin: The Collapse
of Nig. shipping lines.
P.L.
Carrodano: How govt
can revive Nig. shipping lines.
Sam
Epia: The struggles
of Nig shipping lines with cargo reservation scheme.
Jeff
Gibb: Intricacies of
the equipment market in Nigeria.
Environmental
Quality Monitoring.
Environment: "How
many choppers has DPR got?" - Chief Ogunsiji.
Dredging the Niger Delta: Interview of Ben Efekarurhobo.
Role
of Surveying in the Dredging Industry
G.B Liman:
Of Myth, Reality and Resource Control
Dredging
Law: A judgment on the ownership of a sand dredging site by the
Court of Appeal.
Dredging
Law:
a.
Lagos State Attorney General Interpretes state law on sand dredging
and stockpile.
b.
NIWA public notice on Lagos State intervention in inland waterways regulation.
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TRAINING COURSES.
