The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Inland Container Nigeria Limited, Mr Ismail Yusuf, speaks to Anozie Egole on the challenges confronting the maritime sector, among other issues
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Inland Container Nigeria Limited, Mr Ismail Yusuf, speaks towould you describe 2022 in the Nigerian maritime industry?
Then, apart from that, you look at the transportation sector. The government is working on many roads but when you look at the roads that are being used by transporters who move goods from the seaports from the southwest and south-south up north, these roads are bad. They need attention. They need to be worked on quickly so that motorists can enjoy the movement of cargoes from the seaports to the hinterlands of the country.
If the narrow gauge has not been in use in the movement of cargoes from the seaports to the far north, we will continue to rely on the roads. You know trucking now is very expensive coupled with the cost of diesel that has been going up every day. Before now, we used to do spend about N600,000 to N700,000 to carry a 40ft container from Lagos to Kano but it is currently N2m. So, if the rail is there and working, it won’t be more than N700, 000 and the government will make money.
The loss is huge. Because of the unavailability of rail to move our cargoes from the coastal area that is the ports to the terminals around, we lost over N9bn in 2022.My advice to the government is to reconsider the policies in the maritime sector in terms of the importation of items into the country. Take for instance, they should consider how importers can be able to have access to forex to enable them to bring items into the country so that we can have something done.
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