• Sun. Oct 13th, 2024

Onne Port most modern in Nigeria – Ayo Durowaiye

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How Ayo Durowaiye Scaled the Hurdles at the Nigerian Ports Authority

by Edmund Chilaka

Mr. Ayo Durowaiye retired recently from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) after clocking 35 years in service. His career got off to a flying start in 1989 when he met fellow university mate, Alhaji Kabiru Mohammed Barau, who, as Port Manager, softened the consequences of an early faceoff with a tough departmental head. The problem, however, triggered a long-distance transfer to Warri, Delta State. Nevertheless, that first cover from higher quarters hallmarked subsequent favours, including regular promotions which worked with his natural grit, competencies, and skill set to produce the success celebrated during his retirement in June this year. Hence, the saying that history makes great men applied substantially to Durowaiye. At the peak of his career, he was appointed to head the committees that studied and implemented the truck call-up system for  Apapa Port and Tin Can Island Port.  They supervised the application of the ETO App by Truck Transit Parks Ltd (TTP) which rid the port city of the persistent traffic gridlock that set in during the 1990s – a problem that took the shine off the gateways despite their enviable positions in cargo handling as the highest in throughput traffic in Nigeria and much of West Africa. Last month, Messrs Call Up Technology who are working for Onne Port and Lekki Deep-sea Port, recalled him from retirement to head their traffic management systems for port-to-hinterland cargo transfers – an appointment he told DDH Magazine during an exclusive interview, reflected his erstwhile committees’ perceived strong performance at clearing the prolonged Apapa road gridlocks. This is an interview worth digesting by NPA workers still in service, for its strategic career utilitarian value. Excerpts:

Ayo Durowaiye

DDH: First of all, please introduce yourself?

Mr. Durowaiye: So first I want to thank you most sincerely for this wonderful opportunity. Not many people have this kind of opportunity to talk about their experiences while in service. I joined the services of the Nigerian Post Authority in April 1989. Upon graduation from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, I served at the Plateau State Polytechnic from where I came back to Lagos and got employed in the services of the Nigerian Ports Authority in 1989. I was employed into the services of Nigerian Post Authority as an Industrial Relations Officer, which is what we know in current parlance as Labour Relations Officer. I was the Industrial Relations Officer until I was a Level 10 Officer, which is a senior industrial relations officer. In the Industrial Relations Department, what you deal with is labour relations and monitoring the activities of dock workers.  It was a very shocking way of experiencing the civil service because you were straight away thrown into an environment where you have people fighting and even killing themselves. The dock labour industry at that time was very combustible. You had dockworkers in all the ports, we had about 30,000 of them. And then you had the leadership that was, for all intents and purposes, even more powerful than the Managing Director of the NPA. Once they take a decision to down tools, the economy feels it almost immediately. So, as an Industrial Relations Officer, you are given schedules that involve general monitoring of the unions on the one hand, and specifically monitoring the activities of some of their key leaders, over time. And that experience, as we go on in this interview, I will point out where it helped me later in my career. The people that you see today as President General of the union, some of these key officials were people we met on the shop floor at that time, very young people too, and we forged this relationship that was later to become very pivotal in certain roles that God gave us the opportunity of performing in the Authority as time went on. So, I left the Industrial Relations Department as a Level 10 Officer, a Senior Industrial Relations Officer, having been appointed by the then Port Manager of Delta Ports to be his Personal Assistant.

DDH: Who was that?

Mr. Durowaiye: The late Kabiru Mohammed Barau. He was somebody that took me as a son from the beginning.  We had the fortune of going to the same university abroad, and once he discovered that I studied at the University of Wales he picked interest in me. I was given an opportunity to go and cover the duty of a senior colleague in the port where he was serving, which was RoRo Port at that time and we made that connection. He was a Traffic Manager, acting as a Port Manager. I was a Senior Industrial Relations Officer acting in the office of the Head of Department, Industrial Relations. And I took certain decisions that made me to have something like a collision course with what we used to know as Personnel or Human Resources, because Human Resources was under the umbrella Department responsible for supervising industrial relations, training, etc. But I wrote a solo position to the Acting Port Manager directly, telling him that I did not agree at the fundamental level with the way the umbrella Department was handling certain issues. It was suicide at that time and they made me to know that I had crossed the line and the battle line was drawn.

DDH: Between you and who?

Mr. Durowaiye: Between myself and those at the Head of Personnel then. Yeah, the [Head of] Personnel then was very up there, but below the Port Manager.  She came to my office, banged my table, and told me straight away that the battle line had been drawn. I was a very young officer.

DDH: And the main reason was that you communicated directly to the Port Manager?

Mr. Durowaiye: [Yes].  At that time we were dealing with issues of the supply of essential commodities, rice, milk, and all of those. So as the umbrella department supervising industrial relations, we were supposed to report to them and whatever they told you, you were supposed to carry it out even if it was not the right thing. But I wrote an independent opinion to the Port Manager to tell him that I think we can do this better. And in any case, this was the responsibility of the Industrial Relations Department that was being hijacked. So, he knew I was young and he knew that I was going to get into trouble. So, he provided that safety net for me. That was how the relationship started. Before I came to act in that position as a young officer when I was employed, I was sent to Delta Port. I threatened to resign my appointment.  

DDH: Why did you threaten to resign?

Mr. Durowaiye: OK, I was young. I didn’t know where Delta port was and I didn’t know why I should be going there from Lagos. And my mom supported me at that time and said, what is it? At that time, we were earning like N359 per month.  So, I was in my sister’s house, feeding. I didn’t have any problem in the world. I would drive out [around town], I don’t know why I should be going to such places. But there was at this General Manager, Alhaji Suleiman, that employed me at that time. It was strange at that time to see a young officer Level 8 shedding tears. They never saw that kind of thing before. Level 8 was a big position by every standard there. So he said you are going to go for this transfer, and then called the Port Manager there and told him that his son is coming, he should please find a way of getting accommodation for him. That was how I [eventually went to Delta Port]. That posting to Delta Port at the formative period of my career was now to become an advantage later.

DDH: So you were shedding tears at a stage?

Mr. Durowaiye: Because I didn’t want to go. We were about six that went through the induction. I was the only one posted out. I was later to discover that, you know, you have to be very, very submissive by those civil service standards at that time. And I was someone that was very open-minded, I toyed with a lot of ideas, and you wouldn’t know when you’re stepping on their toes. So, they singled me out and posted me out of Lagos at that time. So I didn’t want to go. I threatened to resign. I was asked to go, and I went. It was later to become a very good experience in my career. So, Alhaji Barau knew that I didn’t know what I was doing and that I was going to get myself into a very serious problem. So, he provided that safety net for me. First, he overruled the position of Head of Personnel and upheld my position. I was later to realize that he was indirectly pulling me closer to himself.  Before I finished my acting role for about 30 days when my boss was on leave, I was supposed to go back to Marina. So, the substantive Port Manager himself, Alhaji Sadiqque came, and Alhaji Barau had to go back to his office as the Traffic Manager. I interacted with the substantive Port Manager too, and he took an interest in me too. But my friendship with Alhaji Barau blossomed on the strength of the fact that we went to the same school. When I went back to Marina, to my normal routine, shortly after, Alhaji Kabiru Mohammed Barau was posted to Delta Ports as the substantive Port Manager. One of those days, he came to Marina to do his documentation and I ran into him and told him that I had been to Delta Port before as a young officer, so I will be able to function very well as his Personal Assistant, just an interaction along the corridor. When he went back and resumed his duty post, he made a request for me. In those days, such appointments are seen as a pathway to growth in the system. So there was a level of resistance from my mother department in Marina, the Industrial Relations Department, they were not going to allow me to go, and all of that. However, the Port Manager came to Marina, had audience with the Managing director, Alhaji Wale Ahmed and he gave an instruction that I should be released to go, that Delta Port is part of Nigeria Port Authority. That was the beginning of my progression in the system. I went to Delta Ports, served with this gentleman, who treated me like a son completely. We worked together, he would take me to his hotel to eat and we continued like that. I remember my Mum kept telling me that I should be dutiful and take my work seriously. So I did what I thought I needed to do. As the Personal Assistant to the Manager, it was very tough for me and he was ready to teach me a lot of things. So we continued until after about nine months or a year, he was posted out of the port. Now, in NPA when such postings happen, there is an outgoing Port Manager and there’s an incoming. The incoming Port Manager was of Yoruba extraction, as myself and he was new to port management. Alhaji Barau, on the other hand, was somebody who had been Traffic Manager, so he knew all the rudiments of port operation. So you had an individual who was a civil engineer that came; he was new and met me as the Personal Assistant. There are certain things that as Personal Assistant I believe were normal when you are receiving a new Port Manager. One of the key issues that you need to grasp as a Personal Assistant is to ensure that the new person understands your value. If you are able to communicate that, both in terms of inducting particularly those who don’t know anything about port operation and also the way you conduct yourself,  you are most likely to retain your position, because it is the discretion of the new Port Manager to post you away and bring in a new person.  So, Engineer Bryant Oluwole was a civil engineer in the Nigerian Ports Authority and was posted to take over as the Port Manager. He was somebody from what you could call a silver-spoon background, the son of this famous Bishop Oluwole. It wasn’t in NPA that he had his exposure to wealth and fame. I think he brought that from his family background and his exposure abroad. So, when he came, he also wanted to succeed. And we had a traffic manager who was also of Yoruba extraction, Mr. Frederick Adediran, who was very close to my outgoing Oga because they were together in HR before they all came into office. But Engineer Bryant was somebody that also took me like a son,  maybe, partly because he wanted to know how to manage the port very well, and the fact that he saw me as somebody from his ethnic background. I think they had a short discussion. So, he told Alh. Barau that he should leave me for a while so that I can show him around and settle down. As time went on, he didn’t want me to go again. And as a young person, the things that he gave to me enticed me, I must be frank.

DDH: What did he give to you?

Mr. Durowaiye: Things like the perquisites of office. Of course, as PA, you will be given an official car. But when he came, he gave me a new house. And then, he’s somebody that is a bit adventurous, having studied abroad. So, on weekends, he will just say let’s go to the car and we will just take a map and start travelling into the Niger Delta area.  And in between, as we went on, we became closer and closer. I recall the Traffic Manager, Mr. Adediran calling me. He saw me as a young person and noticed that I was forgetting myself. He called me one day and said, are you settling into this environment? Don’t forget the man that brought you here.

DDH: He told you that?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, that it is always better not to bite the finger that fed you; that he understands the fact that as a senior colleague, Dr. Oluwole had the right to demand that I should be left but as somebody that was brought in specifically by the [former PM], I should show interest in going back. After all, my family was in Lagos.

DDH: But by this time, Barau had long gone now?

Mr. Durowaiye: It was a short period, within one, two and three months.

DDH: That all of these were taking place?

Mr. Durowaiye: [Yes] that all of this was happening. As he was posted out, he was posted to RoRo Port as Port Manager. And RoRo was always seen as a better port then. But it wasn’t what I was looking at as a young person. The Warri that I didn’t want to go before I’ve already settled into.

DDH: It was exciting to you?

Mr. Durowaiye: It was exciting to me and the Port Manager that I was working with then also wanted to work with me. So, when Mr. Adediran reminded me, I called my Oga’s wife, Mrs. Fatimah Barau, that Oga has come back to Lagos. We left together but he has gone back and left me, that I don’t know what to do, she should help me do something about it.  So, just to put this in context, when my Oga came back to RoRo Port, he refused to appoint a new PA. I think that should be on record. He did not appoint a new PA but he did not argue with his senior colleague that he should release me. He wanted it to happen naturally. So, when I told the wife, Malam Bello Gwandu was the Executive Director of Marine and Operation. Then they were in Abuja and they were friends with my late Oga, Alh. Barau. The wife went and complained bitterly to him (Gwandu). That it is not fair that they took me out of Lagos and abandoned me there. He said he will do something about it and he did. Shortly after I got a posting. At this point, I had become very close to the Port Manager, Engr. Bryant. So, I had to leave and that was how I left Warri to join my Oga in RoRo. I continued as his Personal Assistant and while in RoRo, you know he is not a man of many words. But he’s a very effective administrator. Yes, he would normally do a lot of things without talking. While we were in RoRo, apparently he had seen my potential, so he went to Marina. I don’t know how they did it, but he transferred me from Industrial Relations to Operations. So, I became a bona fide staff of the Operations Department and got promoted to Assistant Manager while serving him as a PA. We worked in RoRo Port, I  think, from 1996 to 2000. Then he was posted as the General Manager to Western Zone. He took me along. So, I was PA to the General Manager, Western Zone, from around 1999 to 2000. We set up the environment.  At that time, we had 4 ports in Lagos, Tin Can Port, RoRo Port, Apapa Port, and Container Terminal. So we had four Port Managers that were reporting to the General Manager Western Zone, then. It was around that time that Malam Gwandu became the Managing Director of NPA. He (Barau) served a while there, about nine months, then the MD invited him to come over to Marina as the General Manager, Special Duties. It was at that point, sadly, that my Oga took ill and died. You know the famous September 9/11 [attack] that happened in America, that was the same day that my Oga died. But it wasn’t in America. He died abroad.  That was a major shock to me and it fundamentally affected my career project. I plateaued around that time  in terms of career. Around that time, a lot happened. [Bello] Gwandu was managing director. He called, sat me down and assured me that yes, his best friend was dead but he will make sure that everything was okay. In less than two weeks after that, he himself was sacked.

DDH: That’s a real irony of life that a presumed ‘messiah’ couldn’t save himself? 

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes.  I recall during the burial [of Alh. Barau] when he saw me, he said ‘I lost my friend and I lost my job’. He calmed me down and it was at that point that I really saw how protective my late Oga was, and how he had guided my career. At that point, I think I was a manager. I had never experienced the issue of not being promoted. I didn’t know how promotion was done, but when it happened, my name would be there. And the one or two occasions [of jostling] he will challenge those [opposing] and say, okay, put them together, I am confident that Ayo will do well. I lost him and it was very, very painful because these were people with very, very innovative ideas about how the ports should run. I will give an example. I was right there when the late Mohammed Kabir Barau took Grimaldi [Shipping Line], this Grimaldi you see as a very small organization, and Cross Marine and developed them, supported them, and gave them everything that they needed to have around. And you could see Grimaldi now as a behemoth, a very big organization. These were the people that, between himself and Gwandu, I was working very closely with him and I saw all of these things happen right in front of my eyes.  

DDH: What did he do to help them?

Mr. Durowaiye: What he did fundamentally to help them, to facilitate their operations was what you could call priority berthing. He was very conversant with RoRo operations. You know, Grimaldi is about roll on roll off [activities]. He knew that you couldn’t encourage that trip by delaying the vessels, so he was always giving them priority to berth when they call.

DDH: Priority over who?

Mr. Durowaiye:  As a Port Manager, you would see that there were contending demands about limited berth space. Yes. And when you are dealing with roll on roll off vessels, you should know that when they come, they should be given priority to berth so that their turnaround time would be faster.

DDH: At the expense of some other operators?

Mr. Durowaiye: If you have like a bulk carrier that was going to spend seven days at the berth, you cannot keep a RoRo vessel that would go in two days. So that executive discretion that you knew how to exercise because you knew port operation was a big advantage. It wasn’t that he was using his position to give undue advantage. No. Another fundamental thing, we should put in proper perspective for history was that this Tin Can [Island Port] and RoRo Custom Command that you see today, I can assure you that it all happened between him and Malam Bello Gwandu. They were visionary leaders. They were people who knew what things ought to be. Maybe based on advice by these [shipping] companies, they went to Government and asked, maybe went to the Customs Comptroller General, made a case that allowed that Command to be created. I can assure you, if you check the records, that is what you are going to see. Because I recall when the officer from the Customs high command brought the approval to us at Western zone then. The document was telling the Managing Director that the command had finally been created. That was the genesis of what you saw as the RoRo Command of [Nigeria] Customs [Service]. If you follow it historically, you will find out that the Car Park C that was in RoRo [Port] then, there was a passage that was created, where vehicles were going across the road to park before Grimaldi later acquired what they have there today.

DDH: Which was actually the former NPA Residential Quarters?

Mr. Durowaiye: Before they acquired the residential estate, they were initially passing the cars from Car Park C into an environment like that, and then this residential estate came when they decided to build this current RoRo Port. So, those were some of the things that you saw with these visionary leaders. I had an environment, as a young person to ask my Oga very hard questions based on my limited knowledge of what was going on and the information I was getting on the ground. I could ask him any question and, once in a while he would sit me down… He told me specifically at that time that if NPA does not organize and reform itself that Government will come and reform NPA and it will be a bitter experience. That was what happened after he died. The port reform and the casualties that went with the port reform after were things that he had discussed one-on-one with somebody like me. Because when they were trying to create that Custom Command, there was a union backlash that came. And I asked him one day, why do we have to accept all of this? That was when he told me that if we don’t reform ourselves, the world is changing and if NPA does not reform itself, then Government will bring a reform which will be a bitter pill for the authority. It didn’t make much meaning to me at that time, but when it happened, I sat down and recalled that it had to do with the terms of this discussion. So, when we got to headquarters, that was when he became sick and we lost him. It was very sad. After some time, as is normally the case in such an organization, I found my feet again. I was later to serve as personal assistant to about three Executive Directors and also personal assistant to the Managing Director in charge of Marine and Operations. In 2015, I was appointed a Port Manager, Calabar Port and later in 2016 I served as Port Manager Onne Port Complex before coming back to Lagos. I was in Lagos for a while working with the Assistant General Manager Operation. I later assumed that office in 2019, I was AGM Operation, and served there where a lot of the things that we are going to discuss today happened. About a year before I retired, I was promoted to General Manager in charge of the MD’s office. So, that was my career trajectory.

DDH: Impressive. It gives us a lot of background information.

Mr. Durowaiye: I was one of the longest-serving personal assistants in the Authority. I served as Personal Assistant for 19 years, all together. 

DDH: So that gave you a lot of insight and advantage?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, it was when I was deployed as a Port Manager that I knew that all of these experiences would count because I cannot, frankly, remember any issue that came to my table as  a Port Manager I wasn’t able to find a solution. Because I would have seen it at some level all of these years happening at one point or the other. It may not be exactly what you experienced at that time, but it gives you a window about exactly what you needed to do, who you needed to call, or the steps you needed to take to be able to resolve it. And you must realize that particularly when you get to the position of the Port Manager, the issue of service delivery, stakeholder engagement, understanding the brand called the Nigerian Port Authority, and how you can provide the kind of leadership that protects that brand, will be central to everything that you were going to do. And I think my background as a personal assistant gave me a lot of the experiences I needed to deal with all of these issues.

DDH: All right, so let’s now go to our questions. Recently you retired after helping the Lagos Ports Complex solve the longstanding critical problems of port-to-hinterland cargo transfers, that is, the ETO truck call-up system. Can you tell us about this experience and your achievements there?

Mr. Durowaiye: OK, what became the ETO call-up system had some historical background or like a bigger picture. The issue of traffic gridlock was something that we were dealing with as an Authority before the ETO call-up system came up. As an experienced person in the industry, you will recall the ad hoc arrangement that the Government had in terms of task forces and all of that. So, let me put my experience within that context. I happen to be one of the proteges of the former General Manager, Security; General Manager, Marine; and General Manager, Corporate & Strategic Communications. So, when this government arrangement came our General Manager Security was tapped. As one of his proteges within the system, he called me to stand by. I wouldn’t know, but my reading of the situation was that he knew that his time with the Authority was not as much as he would have wanted to be able to [fully discharge the assignment], and he wanted us that were around him to have a proper understanding of what was going. So, he asked me to join him in that last experiment. As we went for some of these meetings, I was struck by his calmness in the face of what was obvious, that what was being done would not lead to the success or achievement of the set goals, but each time we went back to the back office, when the people had gone, he will say when you are dealing with government people you calm down. He predicted at that time that this assignment was going to come back to the Nigerian Post Authority in order for it to be solved fundamentally. He said the NPA, as an agency of the government, was not in a position to confront a decision taken by the government. That was when people like us started being a bit guarded because if you look at what those ad hoc arrangements sought to achieve and you juxtapose it with the responsibility of port operation, you will know that there was no way they would find a solution to that. When the government decided that NPA needed to do that based on the experience that they had already seen me had with him, I was almost the natural choice to be deployed to be the point of interface. Before I go further, let me acknowledge the erstwhile Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman. She was somebody with the courage and determination to solve this problem. It was an existential threat to us as an organization.

DDH: Somebody who was also controversial?

Mr. Durowaiye: Well, we have our perspectives because even if you look at my career and you look at the way I was pulled out of Onne [Port], I should be taking that position. You understand, because I wasn’t dealt with fairly, in my reasoning, but I mean that is in the kind of job we do, we take the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is a total package, but you cannot take away the fact that she was a courageous person and she was determined to solve the problem. So, I give that to her. And I think if we look at how we finally found a solution to this, you will find the aspect of that determination and commitment to the cause as central to what was happening at that. As we may recall Sir, we had a situation at that time when the turnaround time for trucks coming into the port was in excess of 12 to 15 days.

DDH: Oh yes.

Mr. Durowaiye: You had drivers of trucks defecating and having their bath along the bridges and all of that. That was the situation that we had to deal with. It was at that point that [NPA] management internally, before we even came to the issue of the call-up system, challenged the operations department that, what is it that can be done to address these issues? I recall at that point that we were getting petitions from Nigerian importers and agents at the rate of at least three or four a week, complaining bitterly that they were losing millions, either in terms of container deposit or additional payment for trucks that were held down on the road corridors. Side by side with that, you also had Lagos State Government making it clear that they were determined to find a solution to this problem one way or the other. Even, there was an edict that was supposed to be promulgated or deployed to restrict the movement of trucks coming out of the port until late at night, and you know what the implication of that will be. So, it was around this kind of environment that the Operation Department was challenged at that time. I happened to be either the head or the deputy. I knew exactly what was happening then. The first thing we did was that we analyzed this problem. It wasn’t something that we were not looking at before. But we were not looking at it closely the way this challenge has now come, because with the kind of leadership that Hadiza had that time, it is either you deliver a solution or there will be consequences. So we sat down and analyze the problem and decided that the Authority needed to have what we call the ‘empty container policy’. The empty container policy preceded the arrival of the e-call up and was central to what we have on the ground. The key principles around the empty container policy was that the majority of the problems we are facing about the truck gridlock around the port corridor were caused by trucks carrying containers.  Now we discovered based on our analysis that the container itself is an equipment of trade for shipments for certain segments of the shipping lines, so we zeroed in on the shipping lines that were operating within the empty container handling space and said if we are able to deal with this problem we would have deleted between 60% and 70% of what was on the ground.  I recall they were invited for a meeting, but we didn’t agree on how to proceed.

DDH: Can you name the major shipping lines that were invited?

Mr. Durowaiye: The major liners in this space were between 5 and 10. You know the Maersk Line, MSC, CMA-CGM. And then you begin to look at other smaller ones, Hapag Lloyd, One World, Cosco, China Shipping. The umbrella name was all of the shipping lines operating within the container handling space. So, NPA has responsibility for renewing their licenses every year. Without the renewal of that license, they are actually not supposed to be operating. And that renewal was domiciled within the Operations Department. We proposed this policy knowing that. And what was the policy all about? We said that the container is an equipment of trade for this shipping line, so they should take a level of responsibility for what we are dealing with. It is simple and then we design the policy and said that if you are a shipping line operating within the container handling space, you should have a holding bay outside the port. Then we drew what we described as a maritime logistics ring. It was Capt Ebubeogu that coined this term. We drew the maritime logistic ring as an environment where your holding bay cannot operate. The principle behind the maritime logistic ring was simply that our ports are no longer ports of the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s. We have since evolved, particularly after the port reform, we have improved cargo inflow. And so we cannot begin to treat ourselves as ports of the 60s and 70s. In those periods, all the shipping lines had their holding bays along the port corridor here. So they have to move all of these holding bays outside the maritime logistic ring which we drew as Mile 2, after the bridge, Ijora, and then we came back here. So anything inside now you cannot put your holding Bay there.  Number 2. You are expected to have a holding bay that can hold 65% of your landed boxes at any point.  So, if you have a shipping line that brings in 1000 containers within the month the shipping line must have a holding bay that can hold 650 containers. We believe the remaining 35% will be crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country, and so 100% of the containers are not expected to be at a location at a port. The shipping line will pick their own location because we believe they will have the responsibility but we would perform oversight to say the location is okay, it has access, trucks can go there, and all of that. Also, we told the shipping line that when a container is being released from the port, the TDO (Terminal Delivery Order) must have a stamp showing where the truck should drop the empty. So, trucks coming from the hinterland will not just start heading towards the port like they used to do. They will have a place to go to.  Immediately we had this in place and it was approved by management,  within a month or two, we started seeing the effect. If we caught any shipping line in violation,  there were consequences, and because the annual registration license depended on us, they knew that it was a power that we could exercise. More than that, and even more fundamentally, is the fact that you have the Ship Entry Notice, which I would describe as the equivalent of a visa, allowing a commercial vessel to come into the country. So it was a power that NPA has and which we exercised.  It’s a delicate power to exercise but at the peak of the challenge it was exercised. And we were able to bring the shipping lines to comply. That was the first major step towards solving the traffic problem. Another step that was taken in terms of policy deployment by the Authority was the liberalization of barge operation. In all of these policies, it so happened that I was at the right place at the right time, both in terms of the history of the problem and then the confidence that the management reposed in me. I was the one that headed all of these committees at one point or the other; once management decided that we were moving in this direction, then they agreed that I should head them.

DDH: So, the policies followed a kind of sequencing…?

Mr. Durowaiye: In terms of policy deployment, the issue of the empty container policy was followed by the deployment of barge operation. Management liberalized barge operation and  encouraged private sector individuals to come in and it helped to move containers from the ports. These were the precursors to the deployment of the electronic call-up system. What management did was that after creating these structures, it felt that they needed a technology company that can use technology to manage the arrival and departure of traffic from the ports. Of course, we know that what we had before was a situation where all categories of trucks were trying to come into the port at the same time and then the chaos that is associated with that is very obvious. While experts would say the time when we had port congestion will be between 2013 and 2018 nobody can quarrel with the fact that. The chaotic nature of traffic management was a major factor.

DDH: It has been there before 2013…

Mr. Durowaiye: You mean the traffic issue?

DDH: The traffic gridlock.

Mr. Durowaiye: You know, if you look at data and relate the data to our experiences, you had a school of thought that was saying that we really did not have port congestion around the time we deployed the [truck] e-call up, and their reasoning is that if you actually look at the data, you will see that between 2013 and 2017, 2018, the port facilities were actually stretched.  As a practitioner yourself, you know that ports are the way they are built; they are inelastic. So, if you have more cargo arriving than the port can handle, definitely you have congestion. But even without the level of pressure that we experienced during this time period, we still had truck drivers and consignees that were deploying trucks, all trying to enter the port at the same time and the chaos that ensued was a primary issue that led to the deployment of the technology. So, of the many companies that were interviewed management in its wisdom took TTP, Truck Transit Parks Limited. They were the preferred company that NPA chose for us to work with. The area where they operate, the staging post for the operation, is Lilly-Pond, from where they control all the truck movements. I have explained the different truck parks. So, that was how the traffic gridlock along the port corridor was tamed.

DDH: You know, there was the issue of the porous nature of the TTP arrangement, people sidelining it, and others trying to shunt. What do you say about that?

Mr. Durowaiye: So, as somebody that experienced that first hand, we have to give credit to TTP for deploying this technology. The way the technology actually works was such that all trucks registered within the framework can be controlled. Like I said, the combination of NPA, TTP and Lagos State Government was what made the platform to work. NPA created the platform, TTP brought the technology and the Lagos State Government dealt with the enforcement.  So, the issue of people jumping the queue and still circumventing the TTP procedure was when truckers did not know that the Authority could punish them or rein them in. There was a lot of resistance at the beginning, with some saying that there was nothing that could happen, that when people give people money, they will still be able to enter the port. And as the chairman of the project Project Implementation Committee, I can assure you that a lot of that happened but like every other project, we were dealing with most of these problems as they were coming. For example, if we were able to identify a truck that entered the port illegally, because the truck is registered, maybe Truck A, and the company had nine other trucks in the fleet. I can assure you the technology you had that time could disable all the other 9 trucks including this one. Such that, they will not be able to transact business in the port.  So, as the education began to filter out among truckers that you could be taken out of business completely, and we practiced it.  As the chairman of the committee, I did this severally to direct TTP to disable such trucks and all other trucks in their fleet.  There was a celebrated case in which a Commissioner or something in the Lagos State Government was driving along a road and saw a truck without a twist lock, took a photograph of it, and then sent it to NPA. We simply took the container number and sent it to TTP and were able to track the truck because when we tracked the truck it had another 15 or 20 trucks under the operator, so we disabled all of them. So, the people showed up immediately because it’s an economic issue. We will ground your operation completely. So that was why you saw that initially, even though the drivers were not complying, when they knew what was possible, particularly when you had that enforcement backbone that the Lagos State Government provided, the technology worked, and we could control a lot of them.  So, once you follow the principles laid down, you are coming from the truck park, you go to a prepaid location, and you head into the port. That was what was happening then. We have to give a lot of credit to the Nigerian Port Authority, the tech company, TTP and, of course, the Lagos State Government that gave the enforcement backing. This was the objective situation that happened relating to the ETO call up and those were my experiences during my stay.

DDH: And based on this track record you have been appointed to manage the hinterland cargo transfers of the Onne Port and Lekki Deepsea Port. What is the job description of this new appointment?

Mr. Durowaiye: First, I would like to say straight away that call-up technology is a competitor to TTP but call-up technology’s area of deployment based on government approval is Onne port and the Lekki-Epe Port corridor. If you look at these two operational areas, I have emotional attachment to Onne Port because I was a Port Manager there at a point and the Lekki-Epe corridor gives you a window about what Lagos is likely to be in the future. I personally believe that future development and expansion in Lagos will take place on that axis. So, I saw the appointment both as a challenge and an interesting opportunity again to solve another type of problem, because if you look at the Lekki-Epe corridor, you are dealing with mainly oil and gas [traffic] apart from the trucks that will come out of Lekki Deepsea Port. If you look at the Dangote Petrochemical and Pinnacle [tank farm], these two, based on the information I have, can generate about 1500 or 1800 trucks when they are in full operation. When you add that to about 400 or 500 that Lekki Port will provide, you’re looking at about 2000 or more trucks per day. So, the future of Lagos in terms of development, when you have the opportunity of looking at what Lagos State is doing in terms of the Lekki Free Zone and Lagos Free Zone, if you look at the project map, there are still about two or three tank farms that are emerging in the future.  So, when you look at that, you will see how challenging that environment can be. My job, based on what I was told to do, is to provide strategic direction driving growth through innovation. The guys there are smart, young men. They are very clear about the direction they are going, so I’m just joining a team that is quite familiar with the task and to provide leadership and direction for them.

DDH: Are they under the same service provider for the truck call-up technology?

Mr. Durowaiye:  Well, the service provider in Onne is different in terms of name or has association with the call-up technology that is controlling the Lekki-Epe axis. They are different companies but associated with each other. And then they brought me in to coordinate.  

DDH: And this is based upon their experience in with the TTP arrangement?

Mr. Durowaiye: It’s based on my experience with NPA, at least they told me that much. So, let’s be clear, TTP is an employee of NPA. I worked with NPA and supervised the operation. They saw my work and headhunted me to come and work with them.

DDH: What is the situation of the traffic now in those two ports?

Mr. Durowaiye:  Again, let me be historical when it comes to Onne. I was Port Manager in Onne around 2016 or thereabouts. Onne is a unique port. Onne is an oil and gas port servicing the West African subregion. But you also have terminals there that are handling containers. Most of the shipping companies that you see operating in Lagos are also operating in Onne. In terms of facilities, Onne has more modern facilities than any port location in Nigeria. And then in addition to that, Onne is already competing revenue-wise with Apapa Port as a stand-alone and also Tin Can Island Port, as a stand-alone. Meanwhile, Onne is just about 40% developed. So, you can see what the future holds. Government is investing now in that East-West Road. The moment that road is constructed fully, the full potential of Onne will be unleashed, because more than 20% to 25% of cargoes you see landing in Lagos here are headed to the South-East and  South-South.  The problem of the South-South South-East is known to all of us. In addition to that, the network of roads is a challenge. So, their containers come into warehouses [in Lagos], they are stripped and taken into smaller vehicles. Those are the ones that go there. Once you make the East-West Road very operational, you construct it the way you have this Tin Can Island Port – Oshodi Road, you will unveil the full potential of Onne Port and the possibilities that are in that zone. Particularly, when the issue of the Niger Delta agitations and all those other issues surrounding security and support infrastructures for those ports are solved, you will see what will happen there. While I was there, immediately I was posted back to Lagos, with that experience I kept monitoring the traffic there and the traffic was growing. So as AGM Operation, I did a position to management that in order to stave off the experience we have in Lagos, it is good to go to Onne Port and put all the shipping lines operating there on notice. Management accepted the recommendation and appointed me to head the team that went to Onne. So, we went there about three or four years ago, discussed with them, told them what we were seeing in terms of data, and they accepted that there was need for us to begin planning for the electronic call-up system. That was the genesis of the electronic call-up that is happening there. So again, my employers are aware of my experience in that respect and maybe that was part of the consideration for asking me to join the team. So, there is a need factor in the Onne axis now if you want to stave off the experience we had in Lagos, hence NPA management is actually forward-looking and it is commendable.

DDH: When you say that 25% of the throughput here is actually headed to the South-south and South-east, the active ports there now are Port Harcourt and Onne as Warri appears less active than before….

Mr. Durowaiye: Well, yes. The main reason why those ports are not active are issues relating to circumstances on ground: insecurity is a major factor and support infrastructure for the port. For example, if you take a container out of Tin Can Island Port and you drive it into Apapa or you take a container out of Apapa, it takes you about 7 minutes to drive it into your warehouse there, in Apapa. Those kinds of supportive infrastructures are not common in those areas [South-south and South-east] and they are very necessary if you want to optimize the possibilities.

DDH: So, what you mean in essence is that if you take a container out of Warri Port, for example, it is difficult to find available warehouse spaces?

Mr. Durowaiye: Which warehouse are you taking it into? Before you can get a warehouse, you will drive far away. And then, we have not even started talking about the activities of security agencies on the road, asking, stopping, all of those things. If the container is stripped here and taken into these small buses, they don’t stop them on the way, a lot of them are in packages. They put them in these small white buses at Jibowu, a significant part of the traders. That’s why you see the traffic of those buses to Warri and the East is very high, and the long buses. They play a very significant role in ensuring the movement of all of these palletized cargoes and all these stripped materials.

DDH: So, these are contents of the containers stripped in Lagos warehouses for logistics reasons?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, it’s easier than taking the container down. If you take it there, apart from all those security issues, I recall many years ago when a RoRo company tried to discharge at Delta Port, the kind of security agencies that lined up… so it discouraged trade, all of these activities. So, you see people landing their vehicles from Grimaldi here, they put the keys, service the vehicle, and drive them as normal vehicles into all those areas. It’s not that they don’t know that they should take those things [down to those ports], but a customer, when you approach a shipping line, you tell them where you want your cargo to be dropped. That is what influences the number of vessels that actually come to all of these ports.

DDH: So, once the request for Warri is not much, the request for Port Harcourt is not much, the preference for Lagos is high mainly for clearing reasons, etc?

Mr. Durowaiye: Because of all these issues that we have discussed. It’s easier and it [the cargo] will come in intact. You are going to face fewer problems.

DDH: But you are saying that Onne is picking up? 

Mr. Durowaiye: Onne is picking up.  Onne is the port of the future but Government needs, apart from the road, to engage with the local community to explain to them the importance of allowing trade facilitation. It benefits even the local economy more, but that ignorance that we can make more money when we attack a vessel in the ocean… the effect is more on the community and their economy.

DDH: Because it retards the community and their progress?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes. An average ship owner will look at what is happening in those environments before allowing his vessel to go there. That was why I took the challenge. As a company we are working with both the Nigerian Port Authority and the Lagos State Government.

DDH: And in River State you are working with the NPA and the River State Government?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes. That is how the structure will be but don’t forget Onne is not in Port Harcourt.

DDH: But it is in River State.

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes.  So, while we are working directly with LASTMA here, I believe we will be working with the local government there.

DDH: Or State Government because LASTMA is not a local government creation.

Mr Duroaiye: But Lagos has an advantage that the ports are in Lagos City. So, if you deploy the equivalent of LASTMA from Port Harcourt to Onne, you will double the cost of all this activities. But if you deal with the local government as a representative of the state government, and they have responsibility for maintaining security in their domain too, what is required is just to supervise and ensure cooperation between the trucks that are moving into the port and the community. Once that is done successfully, the multiplier effect within the community will be much.

DDH: We need to really interrogate that scenario. Does it mean that the Local Government has a security arm equipped enough like LASTMA in Lagos? What you may have there may be vigilante services…

Mr. Durowaiye: But LASTMA is not a security organization; it is a traffic management authority.  So, once you have something like that at the local government level….

DDH: You don’t have such agencies at the Local Governments. What you have there are vigilante groups. If you need a traffic management authority, you need the state government agencies.

Mr. Durowaiye: This is the point. When we are creative about challenges, we solve problems at the cheapest cost. I’m no longer in the Nigerian Port Authority but I expect the port management to engage with the local government and find a solution that is suitable and not too costly for what the Authority has decided to do, representing the Federal Government on ground.

DDH: Is the issue mainly the hitch-free movement of trucks along the East-West Road?

Mr. Durowaiye: It is not even around the East-West Road, it’s just that short movement from when you leave the East-West Road, from that location to the port. Once a container truck hits the East-West Road, you are on the expressway. Once the road is good, there’s nobody that can stop you. Look at all the people that were stopping trucks before along Tin Can Island-Mile 2 expressway. After the road was cleared, can anybody stand in front of the truck again?

DDH: From your experiences, what are the common triggers of traffic gridlock in port cities around Nigeria, and what resources and plans should be set up in the future to solve them?

Mr. Durowaiye: OK, let me go back to the issue of port reform 2005/2006. The Obasanjo administration decided that Government will outsource the cargo handling aspect of port operation to private sector organizations and that was successful. While I was in service, that particular reform which we call port reform, was supposed to be done simultaneously with what you call infrastructural reform and regulatory reform. For the first ten years after the port reform, we faced a lot of problems and because you are also a practitioner in the sector, as I explained you will understand, the infrastructural reform after these private sector organizations took over, they went globally and marketed their ports. The result was that you had a lot of cargo inflow. When the cargo inflow started coming, it was not supported by infrastructural reform that was necessary outside the port gate and for which the Nigerian Port Authority had no power. The roads, as you come out of the Lagos Ports Complex are supposed to be doubled, to support the inflow, because you had already done the port reform and you had a lot of traffic cargoes coming into the country, it should be supported with such infrastructural reform, at least at the level that we are seeing now at Tin Can. It should have been done at that time. It took another 15 to 18 years before Government even started looking at it. You will recall how these roads were until the Vice President acted and flew into Lagos twice. That was the genesis of us having these roads. The focus on the roads was not supported by infrastructural and regulatory reform. The kind of approach that NPA had, which was a mindset of trade facilitation, was not the same kind of reform that was happening in an environment like [Nigerian] Customs at that time. So, we could do our best but when it gets to another independent agency all the time, that was saved will be lost because they were not reformed the way we were reformed at that time.

DDH:  So that would affect things like the speed of cargo release?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, the terminal operator could do their best, deploy equipment, position a container for examination but if there is nobody coming there to examine at the right time and we are not doing 24 hours, those kind of things can affect efficiency of the port system. And we suffered it until this current CG came, the kind of problem we faced in the port was on and on until just recently. It is very easy to look back now and see how much improvement you have in the Customs and then forget the experience of the last eight years. It was terrible. It is this kind of people who understand trade facilitation, who can relate with their colleagues in other maritime agencies that can push the system forward. In NPA too, we have been fortunate in the last 10 years or thereabouts, even though we had people from outside, lately, we are having an environment where people from inside are being appointed, so you don’t need to go through any induction to begin to work. So, you see that things will move faster and better. These are the challenges that hindered things. Hence, what should we be doing? Planning. All these plans about port reform and infrastructural reform should not stop at the level of planning. We should execute those plans so that it can have the maximum effect that we desire for all these plans to have. And this can lead to the efficiency in the sector. So much is possible when we make the ease of doing business possible in this environment and those can only happen when you have like minds. You see that there is a lot of agitation that you should have people that grew within the system to run those organizations. If you pick the example of the Nigerian Ports Authority, the current Managing Director has been in the system. So, the moment he came into office, he started operating as somebody who knows everyone and where to get what he wants. Yes, he doesn’t have to go for any induction program to begin to work. Those are the kind of things that can help.

DDH: Part of the objectives attached to your work was to improve the success of Nigeria’s export promotion drive. How did you see the growth of exports when you were in active service? What should be done to encourage greater success in Nigeria’s agro-export campaign?

Mr. Durowaiye: Again, looking back, I can say I’ve been very fortunate in my career in the Nigerian Ports Authority, because of this particular question on export expansion and drive insofar as the role of Nigerian Ports Authority is concerned. It was also an environment that the management had confidence in me and appointed me as chairman to drive the project. I was the Chairman of the Project Implementation Committee for the export processing terminals. The reasoning behind the creation of the export processing terminals by Nigerian Port Authority was related to the challenges that exporters were facing as a result of the gridlock.  So, it was also in policy deployment deliberately done by Nigerian Port Authority to ease export movement into the port. And the way Nigerian Ports Authority approached it was to identify its role as the organization responsible for handling the arrival of export trucks along the port corridor, their reception within the terminals, and their loading on board vessels. So again, the Operation Department was tasked when the pressure of Nigerian export, particularly rejections, was happening time and time again. We worked with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council but clarified our role. Like I explained, the role of the Nigerian Port Authority is at the logistics end,  to ensure that when they arrive around the port corridor, you facilitate their reception by the respective terminal operators and make sure that they are loaded on board scheduled voyages. NPA was mainly focused on that as a fallout of addressing the problem of the gridlock and as I said, again they made me chairman of the committee. So, the way we went about it was to invite private venture capitalists to manage export processing terminals that were outside the main port but functionally were seen as part of the main port. We licensed the Export Processing Terminals. We received a lot of support from PEBEC, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council. They worked with us to ensure that these export processing terminals selected met the conditions and then set up parameters for export boxes so that once any export box is coming from any part of the country, arriving in Lagos, they know exactly where to head to. When they get to these export processing terminals, the ones that need stuffing can do it there. They enter into a relationship with the export processing terminal and stuff their cargo. We made sure that we were working with both shipping lines and terminal operators so that all the documentation that were required were completed at the export processing terminal before they were allowed to head into the port. That immediately removed all those boxes that were hanging around the road.  And before I left the service at least, the former Port Manager Apapa, Charles Okaga, when he come to meetins in Marina would tell us how that particular policy has increased the numbers in terms of those that are leaving his port. NPA focused on how export boxes are treated in the terminals and how shipping lines handled their contractual obligations to Nigerian exporters because these were the areas where we were having a lot of problems.  And NPA did not stop there. NPA sought and got the cooperation of the Central Bank of Nigeria to deal with the NXP issue which, a lot of times, will hold down export boxes within the port and the Central Bank cooperated and integrated their operation into that of Nigerian Port Authority at the time I was leaving. So, all the major agencies that were in the ecosystem were connected to one another. What I believe the role of everyone would be is to ensure that all of these agencies in the ecosystem are working in unison with the sole objective of ensuring that the numbers are going up, and it is doable, because the PEBEC was actually marking and scoring organizations based on how effectively they were in their various roles. So, it was an incentive for all organizations to play their roles and to ensure that they spend just the time that is required to deal with the export boxes. I believe if you check the numbers it can only get better.  

DDH: What are the prominent export commodities of Nigeria and what typical challenges do the exporters face?

Mr. Durowaiye: Government, in an attempt to steer the economy from oil to non-oil export, actually focused on agro-export. Traditionally, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council is the umbrella body for ensuring that, and I think you are aware they have their DEW project, which is the Domestic Export Warehouses, which is a collection point for all of these exports before they start heading to the port. So, like I said, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council is the body that is responsible for that. What NPA does, and this is very important, is to coordinate the arrival of these boxes when they get into the port environment and ensure that they get into the ports successfully, the paperwork is okay, the terminals play their role, they are not unnecessarily held down, and then the shipping companies pick them based on the contract they have with exporters. So, those were the things. The main exports that we are seeing are basically agro-export, but we are also seeing mineral resources and something related to glass. I think we have some free zones in Ogun State, where the Chinese companies are manufacturing glass that is exported.  Cocoa, sesame seed, ginger, and other agro products. The target is to improve the number significantly and also the acceptability of these exports.

DDH: I have heard about the need for improved packaging so that they can compete…

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, internationally. In that respect, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council is doing a lot in terms of ensuring that there is that realization at the highest level of Government. They were tasked and they are doing that. Our interaction with them showed that when we are deploying the export processing terminals.

DDH: As for the export processing terminals, how do you see their performance and functionality?

Mr. Durowaiye: Just like I’ve explained, functionality in terms of when export comes, they know where to go to. NPA has integrated these export processing terminals with the terminal operators at the port and the shipping lines. I think at this point we need to commend the current CG of Nigerian Customs because upon resumption, I was in service then, he came to Lilly-Pond, saw the example of the export processing terminal by NPA and he not only commended that effort, he supported it. And I’ll tell you how he supported it. To start with, Customs, in recognition of the importance of ensuring facilitation for Nigerian exports, created an Export Command in response to a request by Nigerian Ports Authority. They created an Export Command which is Lilly-Pond. When the current CG came, the challenge that the export processing terminals had was that boxes that were leaving the export processing terminals would still get to the port and be examined by another set of custom years called the F4 Seat. What the CG did was to collapse it. It’s very commendable. And I’m saying that because of the experience I had. Some of these issues were things that could not be moved for over a year or a year and half. But upon resumption, his timing and execution were related to what he said to NPA. He entered into a collaborative working relationship with NPA and elevated the status of the relationship. So, when you have people like that, one, experience, grew from the ranks, understands the environment, and relate it to other agencies that have similar experiences, the cost of doing all of these goes down and the improvement that is sought is immediately visible. Hence, greater days are ahead because of determination of Government to now be putting square pegs in square holes in terms of the maritime sector. You have a similar thing in NPA.  The current Managing Director is from inside, so it’s not difficult to take decisions and move the system forward.

DDH: How many export processing centres do we have? Is it only in Lagos we have an export processing centre or can exports be done through other ports in Nigeria?

Mr. Durowaiye: I think Onne too will soon be a host because at the time I was leaving it was something that the management of Nigerian Ports Authority was considering seriously. You know, policy deployment is first done like in Lagos and when you stabilize you now export them to all of these locations.

DDH: So, what it means is that up until now exports can only take place from Lagos ports?

Mr. Durowaiye: No. Again, this is how ports business operates. Ports services I can describe as derived demand. When I see Government legislating that this category of vessels should go to this place or this category should go to that place, that is not how it works. Customers and ship owners look at the area where service can be provided for their vessels at minimum cost because a vessel does not make money while it is lying at the berth, it is when it is sailing. So, you see that exporters, importers, and all of that gravitate because even the shipping line’s decision to come to that environment is shaped by the kind of customers they have and where they want their cargoes landed. So, it is not that export can’t be done in any of the ports but where do you go to easily do your documentation and meet your contractual obligation at the cheapest cost and meet the deadline? Where do you have the kind of facilities in terms of Government agencies, equipment support, and port services that will support that? If you go to a port where they need to clear from Abuja before your export can go and the export is lying there for a week, you know, you will not meet your contractual obligation.

DDH: So, these are the kinds of problems affecting ports in the Southeast and Southsouth zones, Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar?  

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, these are the things affecting them. A combination of [factors].

DDH: So, if you take your export today to let’s say Port Harcourt or Warri Port?

Mr. Durowaiye: It will go.

DDH: It will go but after a long delay.

Mr. Durowaiye: Exactly.

DDH: That is delay caused by demands for certification from Quarantine Department, Customs, and other far-fetched permissions from Abuja before your export?

Mr. Durowaiye:  For some of them, maybe they don’t have offices located there and you have to transport them from another location to get there. But in Lagos, all the agencies you require must be around and the attention of people like you is on all these facilities to see those that are not complying and bring their attention of Government to them.

DDH: That means Nigeria’s infrastructure for non-oil export is somehow crippled, with just one effective gateway for exports, a country of over 200 million people?

Mr. Durowaiye:  Onne is also coming up, the numbers are going up. Seriously.

DDH: But it does not pay an exporter to go and wait for 2 weeks or more when you can come to Lagos and it is facilitated? 

Mr. Durowaiye: Well, yes. But at a point, the number of boxes coming to Lagos made other exporters start going to Onne. So the numbers in Onne started going up. It’s the same thing, the same kind of analysis we did about imports and you will see that these shipping lines they gravitate towards this trade. Lagos and Onne are quite functional, I take your point that all the ports should be points where you can easily do export business.

DDH: Of course, if Nigeria wants improved or higher revenue from non-oil exports, they should have many outlets for export shipping.

Mr. Durowaiye: I know many exporters that would have loved to go through Calabar Port but for all these challenges.

DDH: What would be your advice for the Federal Government for improving port and maritime businesses generally, especially with the creation of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.

Mr. Durowaiye: Already Government is looking at this infrastructural renewal effort in the ports. You are aware that Government is trying to rehabilitate all the ports at the same time. Now, that’s a major project because if you look at a lot of our ports, they are old. Tin Can Island Island Port since 19761977. So, if you look at the quantum of cargo that has been coming through that corridor and the fact that no major rehabilitation work had taken place, you will see the wisdom in what Government is doing.  What is also encouraging in the way they are going about the rehabilitation is, they are also integrating digitalization and they are encouraging this National Single Window and the Nigerian Ports Authority is also driving the Port Community system. The combination of all of that to the port infrastructural renewal effort would make Nigerian ports more modern and international in outlook. And the new Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority is also talking about clean energy driven as an integral part of this port modernization effort and all aspects of port operation.

DDH: When he talks about clean energy, how does he mean?

Mr. Durowaiye: He is talking about the reduction of fossil fuel when ships come into the port. In  modern ports, ships are forced to turn off their engines when they come into the port and then  plug to the port power source. That power source, I think what the current MD is saying is that it should not be a power source that is driven by fossil fuel, so that they can improve the environment without compromising port efficiency.

DDH: But the Nigerian ports power source is fossil fuel?

Mr. Durowaiye: Yes, at the moment. But this attempt is integrated into the port renewal effort. It’s not something that will happen overnight. Visions are driven by leaders.

DDH: How many years does he think Nigerian ports would need to cut over to clean energy?

Mr. Durowaiye: Well, you have an opportunity to engage with him [Laughter].  But this is what I saw the first time when we went to engage with them officially. You could see that every activity that he is directing is one that has to do with these issues of National Single Window, Port Community System, and the need for clean energy to be integrated. So, if you have two managing directors after him driving this in the ports, it will pick up steam. So, these are efforts that are going on in terms of port infrastructural renewal that I believe if pursued to the logical conclusion will not only improve port efficiency, but will make our ports more attractive.

DDH: How do you rate Nigeria’s preparations for the National Single Window?

Mr. Durowaiye: It is work in progress. We are late in starting all of these things. Most ports in the world, even smaller ports around us, are operating in that environment. Paperwork is reduced to the barest minimum. You have a platform where all agencies can interact to the benefit of the stakeholder and consignee or the port customer, so that trade can be facilitated, like I said earlier, and improved.  But it is just this current government that launched it officially; it’s being midwifed by Customs. If the track record of the current CG is anything to go by, you can be rest assured that he will do everything that is necessary to push it to the next level.

DDH: It will be demonstrated as a digital system without any need to print out any papers.

Mr. Durowaiye: No papers at all. Once you drop the paper at one point, all the people on the platform will see it. So, you are not going to take your tax clearance to Customs and then take it to NDLEA and then take it to Nigerian Ports Authority and then take it to all these agencies that are in the port. Of course, the platform provides an opportunity and a digital footprint when you treat it from your end. So, you can easily track where the delay is. And it removes, in the case of Customs, the discretion that was happening all over the place many years ago, that you can rate a cargo in Calabar at a particular rate and then come to Lagos it will be a completely different thing. If it happens after the National Single Window, there must be an explanatory note that everybody in the ecosystem would see. And I think most organizations are plugged in and they are determined to ensure its success because that is one of the things that is drawing us back as a country.

DDH: So what is the status of its implementation now?

Mr. Durowaiye: I don’t have an update on where we are on it but I know that it’s in progress. We’ve never had a situation where the President and Commander-in-Chief got directly involved in the project all these years.  So his involvement means it’s on the front burner and all agencies involved know that there will be a postmortem [report] on their activities, roles and what contributions they have made to this. I’m very confident about that. As the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, I believe that it will provide an opportunity for Government to look far into what is possible in terms of the maritime sector. I believe that NIMASA has the responsibility for pursuing the blue economy and the responsibility and possibilities thereof. I’ve also heard but  not been able to confirm that the Department of Fisheries has been excised from the Ministry of Agriculture and integrated with [Blue Economy Ministry]. If that is the case, it means that it provides an opportunity for us to exploit fishery like we used to do from Kirikiri Lighter Terminals I and II.  But all of these are still evolving. They are things that people like us who are outside are interested in and will also be following.

DDH: Thank you for giving us this benefit of your career experience.