Group Petitions Tinubu Over Ports Dilapidated Operational Trucks, Barges

…Demands Probe of CVFFBY KESSIENA SHEPHERDS

The National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Eyis Amiwero, has petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the alleged failure of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) failure to deploy the nation’s Maritime Fund towards the building of indigenous shipping capacity, including the replacement of what he called rickety trucks and barges used by licensed customs agents and maritime transporters to support the movement of cargo out of the ports.

Amiwero described  the said neglect of over two decades as appalling and unacceptable. The letter, dated July 2, 2026, which was copied to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), NIMASA, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, note that the NIMASA Act obligates the Agency to promote indigenous ownership of ships and shipping infrastructure and to develop local capacity in vessel ownership, manning and construction.

The port development advocate argued that these objectives remain the Agency’s core mandate as enshrined under the law, lamenting that these  have gone largely unprovided for since NIMASA’s establishment.

He traced the funding source to the 3 percent benchmark contribution deducted from freight earnings on all international inbound and outbound cargo, which he said is ultimately borne by importers and licensed customs agents through freight payments.

The petition reads: “The contribution as contained in Section 15-(a) of (NIMASA) which is the (3)% percent of freight earning on all international inbound and out bound cargo from ship or shipping companies operation in Nigeria is made by Licensed Customs Agent/Importers by freight payment of goods shipped in and out of Nigeria, such payment are included in the freight paid by Importers/Licensed Customs Agents on freighted cargos in and out of Nigeria.”

According to him, this contribution feeds directly into the Maritime Fund established under the NIMASA Act, a fund he contends was designed to build capacity for indigenous shipping expansion, and infrastructure such as bonded warehouses, trucks and barges for port cargo evacuation.

Citing the Act’s provisions on fund utilisation, Amiwero said monies in the fund may only be applied to further NIMASA’s objectives, including promoting the development of indigenous shipping and shipping infrastructure, with Nigerian citizens and companies as the designated beneficiaries.

Amiwero explained that despite this clear legislative intent, close to twenty years have passed without the fund being deployed into the kind of capacity-building it was created for, leaving transporters and agents to operate ageing, failing equipment that he said now endangers lives and property along Nigeria’s highways and coastlines.

The petition also referenced a long paper trail predating the current appeal, including a 2025 exchange between NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Justice, including pending and unanswered correspondences with the Presidency dating back to 2009 and 2011. This is even as he disclosed that the Presidency had at some point directed that NIMASA report on its efforts at local manpower development in the maritime sector under the auspices of the Maritime Fund; noting however that no such utilization has materialized within the years under review.

Drawing a comparison with the United States, Amiwero pointed to American maritime policy instruments that predated Nigeria’s own Cabotage framework, including operating and construction differential subsidies, a capital construction fund and a vessel operating revolving fund, all administered through the U.S. Maritime Administration to support fleet expansion and shipping infrastructure. He argued that Nigeria’s NIMASA Act had drawn on similar principles but had failed to operationalize them in practice.

Amiwero appealed to President Tinubu to direct the urgent establishment of a revolving loan facility, drawn from the Maritime Fund, to enable indigenous transporters and licensed customs agents procure new trucks and barges, to enable the urgent retirement of the aged fleet currently in use for port cargo haulage.

He said the intervention will help expand the nation’s coastline and the need for an efficient multi-modal transport system spanning road, rail and coastal routes for the safe conveyance of goods from the ports.

“There is the urgent need to replace the rickety Badges and Trucks with our expanded coastline, to save the port industry of constant breakdown of trucks and badges by granting revolving loan facility that will be used in replacing the rickety badges and Trucks which endangers life and property along the highways and coastlines.

“Our Port needs an efficient multi-modal Transport Means and Infrastructure for proper conveyance of goods on the Road, Rail and Coastline to safe destination” he enthused.