Govt set to privatise NACFA, says Sekibo
By David Ogah, Snr. Maritime Correspondent
THE wind of privatisation of government agencies would soon blow on the National Clearing and Forwarding Agency (NACFA), as Federal Government has confirmed next year for the actualisation of the outfit's ownership switch.
Transport Minister, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, said in Abuja recently that the agency, which has just gone through "surgical operation" and was managing to survive, has been slated for privatisation exercise by the Bureau for Public enterprises (BPE) next year.
"The National Clearing and Forwarding Agency should have been privatised by the end of next year (2005). Left for me, it should have been privatised 10 years ago".
But the Managing Director of the Agency, Mr. Andrew Isichie, told newsmen in Lagos over the weekend that it was a welcome development, saying the agency was bound to do better under privatisation.
"It is true that NACFA is going to be privatised. Its privatisation is welcomed. Interested companies can now come and buy it. You are constrained managing a government company and working with government. If the agency is privatised, the BPE can take care of the workers, pay their benefits. It does not allow new owners to throw the workers into unemployment market. So it will not have serious implication. Some people may go on their own NACFA, as a private company will do better," Isichie said.
Before the new political dispensation in the country, NACFA was almost out of existence due to alleged mismanagement, resulting in loss of revenue, accumulated debts and inability to pay workers' salaries and allowances.
The agency, formerly known as government coastal agency, was established in 1954 to provide first class freight forwarding services to ministries and extra ministerial departments. Consequent upon its commercialisation in 1989, its activities extended to the private sector and have been reinvigorated to set standards by providing quality services through the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
But the agency has hitherto not received patronage from government department and ministries over the years. That alone made it diversify with other ventures like the establishment and management of bounded terminals and warehouse besides the provision of haulage services, which have been keeping it afloat.
The current management of NACFA has used every available opportunity to state the problem of the agency with solutions on how it could be uplifted financially.
For instance, recently, Isichie appealed for government's patronage in the award of clearing and forwarding contracts at the nation's sea and air ports. Speaking with members of the Transport Committee of the House of Representatives, who paid him a visit, Isichie lamented the situation whereby government's clearing and forwarding contracts go only to the foreign firms, saying the trend was not good for the commercial and financial well being of his agency.
According to him, NACFA was established by the government to clear government cargoes, adding that the agency carried out the function creditably until the past few years when foreign companies started competing with it for the exclusive cargoes.
He added that the reservation of government cargoes for the agency placed it at a very high financial pedestal for many years. Then, he said the agency was very buoyant, although there was glaring fund mismanagement, which affected it for many years and until 1979 when the current management was put in place.
"The National Clearing and Forwarding Agency, formerly known as Government Clearing Agency (GCA) was created to clear government cargoes. This placed it on a very high financial pedestal. Government should give us more patronage. Government cannot continue to patronise the multinationals. We tried to push this at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) through the Ministry of Transport, but we did not succeed" he told the visiting lawmakers.
Before then, Isichie had told the visiting Minister of State for Transport, Mr. Mohammed Musa Innua, that the agency was once moribund for many years, especially in the pre-1999 years, adding that it has since overcome its distress.
He said the problem now was the non-payment of debts owned it by numerous clients, most of which are government agencies and departments.
The agency's boss, who showed the visiting lawmakers documentary on how the agency has fared so far, said it's profit rose from N2.3 million in 1998 to N85 million last year. Specifically, the documentary revealed that in 1998, the agency recorded N40.6 million sales from which N23 million profit was recorded.
In 1999, the company's turnover was N122.1 million from which it made N5 million profit.
The documentary, also revealed that N246 million business turnover was recorded in the year 2000, from which N11.9 million was recorded as profit. In the year 2001, the agency recorded N54.5 million profit from the company's N362.7 turnover while from the total turnover of N666 million of 2002, the agency made N55 million profit.
The agency boss said the turnover and profit accruing to his agency would have been higher, if it had not lost the franchise and the sole right to clear government cargoes both at the sea and air ports.
"We lost the franchise on the carriage of government goods as a result of the rising competition," Isichie told the minister then.
Investigation also revealed that the federal character policy was not helping the matter as most government departments were as a matter of policy directed to reflect Nigeria geographical spread in their recruitment exercise, hence it has not been able to recruit competent hands to boost its operations and earnings.
From the documentary shown to the legislators, the agency has been rescued from the past decadence to the extent that 30 vehicles and seven other haulage trucks have been purchased since 1999. It has also computerised its operational system and created bonded terminals, which now serves as customs clearing points for imported items.
