Countries now adopt Nigeria’s port concession as model for privatisation, says Haastrup

Vicky Haastrup, chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), said in Lagos last Wednesday that Nigeria’s ports concession programme, implemented in 2006, has become a model for consideration by governments across the world in privatising their public infrastructure.

Haastrup, who also commended the Federal Government for its foresight in concessioning terminal operations at the nation’s seaports, observed the need for Nigeria to extend the model to other sectors of the economy that requires private sector investment and technical know-how to make things work.

“What concessioning does is to free government resources for the provision of other social services to the people. Government remains the ultimate owner of the concessioned facilities but the private sector would be mandated to develop and operate those facilities under agreed terms over a certain period,” she stated.

“This is a worthy model, which has not only improved operations at our seaports, but has also attracted commendations from within and outside the country.

Before concession, Nigerian ports faced major challenges such as 21 days waiting time for ships before berthing; 45 days cargo dwell time; heavy congestion and seven days vessel turnaround time placing the ports among the most inefficient in the world.

There were also high level of insecurity and pilferage, delays in cargo clearance and inefficiencies in cargo handling. As a result, the Federal Government concessioned cargo handling operations to 25 terminals operators under various lease agreements ranging from 15 to 25 years. The private terminal operators have since invested about $2 billion in modernising and upgrading their various terminals as well as in manpower development.

This has led to reduction in ship waiting time to zero days, improved vessel turnaround time depending on cargo type and elimination of congestion at ports, resulting in huge cost saving estimated at N30 billion annually for shippers.

After Nigeria’s port concession, the STOAN chairman said, countries like Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana and even Greece adopted the same model. “The Liberians and Ghanaians sent delegations to understudy our port concession model before they went home to develop theirs.

“Recently, the Government of Greek concessioned the Thessaloniki Port one of its most important public infrastructure. This is a clear indication of our success as a nation in building models worthy of emulation by others.”

According to her, the Federal Government’s consideration for adopting the same concession model for the railway and aviation sectors was due to the success of port concession.

“I have implicit confidence in the present government’s commitment to improving the state of public infrastructure in the country and we are delighted to note that concessioning has become the model being adopted for both the railway and aviation sector reforms,” she added,

The STOAN chairman also commended the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for launching a Safety, Information, Operation and Communication Centre to enhance 24-hours operation at the port. The commissioning of this centre and the launching of four new tugboats, she pointed, will deepen reforms at the port and complement the efforts of terminal operators to making Nigerian ports competitive.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie