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Orakwusi: Vessels from Europe, Asia steal natural resources from Nigeria

A former Chairman of Nigeria Fishing Trawler Owners Association (NIFTOA) and Chief Executive Officer of Morbod Group, Margaret Orakwusi, a lawyer, in this interview with BAYO AKOMOLAFE, explains the challenges on Nigerian waters and point the way forward

 

How has the activities of pirates affected Nigeria Fishing Trawler Owners Association (NIFTOA) members?

 

I will give you two incidences as examples: I have lost two vessels in this environment and it wasn’t easy. When I was President of NIFTOA, I don’t want to relate the two incidents, but some people believe I was fighting the pirates, always talking, in the forefront.

 

One of my vessels was blown up and I lost five fantastic seamen; one of the best captains in this country. I just want you to know the kind of environment we work in.

 

If I’m investing huge money into a business, even if I can’t make a profit, government should put me in a position where I can recover my capital. Kidnapping on the sea is terrible, at times they lock crew members in the cold room and they freeze to death.

 

At times some are thrown overboard. When we talk about maritime security, people don’t pay attention to it. Like I told one of the military people, I said ‘you people need to up your game, the pirates have a regional connection and they now have an association.

 

So, when their brothers take a vessel, before you start looking for it here in Nigeria, their partners from Ghana have taken over, but that is not to undermine the efforts that are being made to tackle insecurity, especially with the deep blue project, because that’s what we have been crying for.’

 

We need intelligence gathering, these pirates do not drop from heaven, they live on the ground. We, the trawlers, are vulnerable and we’re not allowed to carry armed security; so, we cannot challenge them.

 

You cannot carry arms on a civilian vessel. My excitement about the deep blue project is that at least let there be a challenge for the pirates and if they get it right we may begin to see a drop in criminal activities out there on the seas.

 

Another thing is poaching. I have cried about this poaching. We have these big vessels from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world coming into this country to steal our natural resources unchallenged.

 

My vessel cannot enter Togo by mistake, they will seize it, because I’m not flying their flag, but these people because they are big, come in, do their business and leave.

We have called on the international community that they can’t sit back because we don’t have the muscle to arrest that situation. And why is this, whatever products we catch, we sell in the international market and it can be traced.

 

So, the big question is where are the thieves from Europe and Asia finding their market to sell their stolen items. It’s like an international conspiracy and they fish most irregularly and in irresponsible manner and undocumented.

 

Has government made any effort to curtail all these?

 

We have the deep blue project. This act has been on for long. Security out there on the sea is a very expensive venture. I gave a talk in one of the African countries on poaching and sea piracy and by the time I finished I was shocked by one of the questions asked during the questions and answers, that ‘madam, you people are lucky that they come, steal and go.’

 

They said ‘here, they use dynamite on their waters.’ So, it is not a Nigerian problem, it’s global.

 

The United Nations must wake up and find a way around this, at least, blacklist these people. If you can follow my products from any market I’m selling to with document, what stops them from asking from where are they bringing in their stolen items?

 

It is very easy for them to do if they want to do it and that’s why I always ask them whether this a second type of slavery? The first one you came for our able-bodied men, now you’re coming to steal our best resources. I think it is wrong.

 

What type of incentives are you expecting the Federal Government to put in place to properly  harness the potential in the fishing sector?

 

Firstly, fish is the cheapest source of protein. There is currently a huge gap between demand and supply and most people believe it’s about 50 per cent, but it’s much more than that. So, it shows the potential for investors to come in and it shows there is a huge market that we fishers are unable to satisfy.

 

It also shows that this is an area that needs infrastructural development. When we entered the fishing industry, for instance, things were cheap; an investor could decide to invest millions of dollars with confidence.

 

There was once a time in this country we were changing a dollar for 60 kobo, but today it is above N500 to a dollar. Then, there was no infrastructure put in place and till now it is still the same.

 

Those of us who entered at that early stage identified all these issues and we travelled out of the country because our market was not in Nigeria. We bought trawlers abroad because the foreign exchange then was cheap.

 

We sold our shellfish, that is prawns, lobsters in the international market in dollars, but when your cost of production is always on the increase and you compete with people from other nations where their cost of production is low, automatically you’ve lost completely to them.

 

The cost of production I’m talking about, for example, the foreign exchange rate in Nigeria. Also, you go to the bank to borrow money at either 10 to 20 per cent to buy a piece of equipment, but somebody in another country is being encouraged or begged to come and borrow money at two per cent and at the end of the day both individuals meet in the international markets to sell, what do you think is going to happen?

 

We have also tried to study why these people are being offered lower interest rates? Why are they being given tax holiday?

 

Why are they being encouraged? But the answers to that are simple and we just don’t get it in Nigeria. From my perspective, it is to create employment, to conserve foreign exchange and to drive efficiency.

When you employ people, they strive to give their best, but when they are idle, like the saying, an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.

 

The rate of crime is on the rise, but how I wish that our leaders would look into that aspect and encourage any business that is adding value to our lives in this country. When we noticed what was going on, we approached government and cried that any seriousminded country that wants to develop its infrastructure should go into fishing.

 

So, we proposed fishing terminal; a terminal for fishing produce. What that means is  that for anyone that wants to go into fishing, what that person needs to do is to buy a vessel and every other service is being provided at the terminal. It will be a case of pay as you go.

 

Unlike what some of us are experiencing, we buy our trawlers, we pay for jetties, we provide our mechanical and carpentry workshop, fuel dump, cold room, fire service etc. all these are too much for an investor.

 

This is the reasons the cost of going into fishing business is high, which investor can afford all these in this present economy? Government, in their wisdom, dedicated a place in Kikrikiri to serve as fishing terminals.

 

Other countries who are seriously into fishing have terminals, Ghana, our neighbour, has, but we all know how things have a way of going wrong in this country. We don’t know what eventually played out till we started seeing tank farms being erected by powerful people in this country.

 

As far as I’m concerned, these people are saboteurs of the general public. A dedicated terminal that will serve the interest of everybody, grow the fishing industry, accommodate all aspects of everything needed to make the fishing business easy like carpentry, mechanic, fire service, rope repair etc. was turned into something else. These are some of the things I believe have made the fishing business very cumbersome. Another thing is piracy.

 

We were the first to experience an attack in Nigeria, and when it happened, we cried out, but we were not taken seriously. But it’s easy to understand that because it’s a new form of incidence happening on the water. We have suffered losses such as human lives, equipment, vessels etc.

 

This kidnappings that is all over the news started from the seas because our people were usually taken, ransome demanded.

 

We cried, but nothing happened and it has really affected the number of fish trawlers and fishing companies we have in the country because most of them have relocated to safer environment and you should also know that most people who were fishing in the country are expatriates, so, the capital flight is a different thing.

 

I’m a very proud fisherwoman as my children call me today. It gives me more satisfaction to understand whatever our people are eating and that brings me to the quality of the products that we import into this country.

 

What we export are highly regulated, but what we import are cheap products that would not pass analysis. At times you hear the women in Ijora screaming because these are products that are not fit for human consumption, some of them are caught in all sorts of contaminated environments.

 

Nobody is checking and we all know these. We should not continue to feed our people with cheap products that we cannot guarantee for our hygiene and the handling environment.

 

I can today beat my chest that with the analysis of my products and the certificate, I can go anywhere in the world because daily we analyse the water before we start fishing, we batch them, but who does that for the products being sent into the country?

 

Have you alerted government on the safety of fish importation?

 

Government officials are aware of it. The point is what the checks should be. At least, when they bring in products, they should be examined before it’s passed on for consumption.

The products that we export are checked right from the vessel, the vessels are given an export number, so, in a situation there are up to 10 vessels in the fleet and only one or two is qualified. The staff such as the seamen undergo periodic medical checks and we must tender all these results. These are nations that care about what their people eat.

 

The products are certified. There was a time Europe wanted to ban seafood from Nigeria, their reason was that there must be a scientific independently run laboratory and without them  certifying your product, it is not going anywhere.

 

There was a time America banned seafood from Nigeria. Some of us had to take the Federal Government’s delegation to the United States to go and argue it out. Their reason was that our trawlers are fishing without a turtle exploder device and that turtle was an endangered species.

 

We all know the behavioural pattern of turtles; we fish in the deep sea and these turtles are not there. During their breeding period, they come ashore, but because you don’t argue with the market you’re patronising, we had to go there for negotiation and we asked them to teach us to use the turtle exploder device and through their embassy here that was done.

 

That shows the country that cares, not just for its people, but also the fish in the water.

 

Has your association made effort to take advantage of the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF)?

Well, I’m part of it. I served in the ministerial committee and the law is there. It has stated who the contributors are and it has stated what the Fund should be used for. If there is an attempt to use the Fund for something else, it will be unlawful. We are covered by the law, but I believe that the challenge is with the disbursement.

 

Who do we disburse to? You will not blame anybody for being too careful because we have gone through that route before and it is so unfortunate. We the contributors are contributing because we believe in it and there must be accountability. I am one of the few people who are saying it cannot be business as usual for all the parties involved.

 

NIMASA should give us an account of how much the project has generated so far because those that have been contributing are still alive and some of them have their records. Even if it is N10 that we have contributed so far, they should announce it and if it is no longer available then that is another case entirely.

 

They have called for some people to do some processing, but we are patiently watching.

 

How would you advise government to stop the issue of war risk insurance in the shipping sector?

 

I think through the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), which I am part  of, there are discussions currently going on about it, but also remember that this is commerce and they cover everything under war risk insurance.

 

The vessel that is supposed to use a few days at our port now ends up using months before leaving. All these are part of the insurance, which brings us to the issue of automation. I’m also a lawyer and I handle some of the cases relating to insurance.

 

The way agencies of government board the vessels are also not giving us a good image. I have an incident with one of the agencies to renew a certificate of registry. I don’t know much about our members, but my experience is that my staff have gone up to seven times and these are things that can be automated.

 

Also, on the fishing boat survey, the renewal of registration as a shipping company is done annually.

 

All these things seem small, but if you add all the manpower and time loss you will realise it is something. If they are automated with the removal of human interference, it will save time for everyone. Now we are calling for 24 hours port operation, but without our process being automated, it won’t happen. Nigerian Shippers’ Council has been looking for solutions towards this, but then you know it is difficult to do away with old business, especially the ones that are lucrative. We are all aware of what corruption is doing in this country.

 

How many days does it take to register or renew registration of vessel?

 

I think the situation is not better. The last vessel I bought was from America. I had to keep the crew of that vessel in a hotel for about two months. It was like a quarrel and street fight to get it done, but that was then; probably the situation might have changed.

 

These are problems that should not be there in the first place. It is not just from the Ministry of Transportation, it cuts across. At a stage, I had to go to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC); I explained to the director then and he called for the release of my documents. I’m planning to write a book to document all these because people should begin to appreciate what we have been through in business with good intentions.

 

At my age, I should not be venturing into a new business, but because we want to create job opportunities as government is not employing. The private sector should be encouraged.

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