A settlement sum of N13 billion shipping charges refund paid into the Cargo Defense Funds(CDF) in favour of shippers allegedly by Nigeria’s largest container port operator, APM Terminals, has brought members of the Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS) at an unending loggerheads with each other in the last one year.
The Nigerian Economy gathered that the crisis in the SALS which started since June 2023, culminated in a recent impeachment of the president of the association, Leo Ogamba, who claimed that his impeachment was illegal and held no water as it was done by a factional and an illegitimate three-member Board of Trustees (BoT) of the association.
It was learnt that the N13 billion paid by the terminal operator was a part of a larger settlement sum being expected from shipping companies and terminal operators as refund of Shipping Line Agency Commission (SLAC) and progressive charges. The sum paid was under out of court settlement between the APM Terminals on one hand and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and SALS on the other hand.
Ogamba
The CDF is a special scheme established by the NSC to protect Nigerian importers and exporters from financial losses arising from cargo damage, loss, or theft during transportation. The fund provides compensation to shippers who have suffered losses due to the negligence or misconduct of shipping companies, terminal operators, or other logistics providers.
CDF is funded through contributions from shippers, shipping companies, and other stakeholders in the maritime industry. The NSC manages the fund and investigates claims filed by shippers to determine the extent of liability and the amount of compensation payable.
The Nigerian Economy reports that a part of the case is still in court and now at the Supreme Court.
The now ten-year old legal battle between the duo began at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi in 2014 which delivered judgement in favour of NSC and Nigerian shippers for a refund of arrears of SLAC and progressive charges by shipping firms and port terminal concessionaires.
Ogamba had called a press briefing on June 18, where he explained that the anger of members of the faction that impeached him was because he was favoured to sign the out of court agreement with APMT instead of the former president of SALS, Rev Jonathan Nicol and the association’s lawyer, Barr Emmanuel Nwagbara.
Speaking at the press briefing in Lagos last Tuesday, Ogamba said: “On June 30th 2023, during the signing of terms of agreement on out of court settlement between APM Terminals Limited and NSC and registered trustees of SALS, Barr Emmanuel Nwagbara came to sign the agreement with Jonathan Nicol, but the NSC insisted that it is the current president, my humble self that will sign. From that day till today, the BoT and Barr Nwagbara and Nicole & Co have been aggrieved.”
Nicol
He said he remained the President of SALS, as the meeting of 11th June, 2024 where he was impeached was not properly constituted and illegal, especially when an intervening reconciliatory meeting with the management of Nigerian Shippers Council(NSC) had been fixed for June 13, 2024. Moreover, he said, he had not received any correspondence to the effect of his removal as President of SALS.
Ogamba also accused the other faction of changing the original name of the shippers association from Lagos State Shippers Association (LASA) to Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) while he was abroad.
Following the development, the NSC CEO, Pius Akutah had convened a meeting with the shippers, but the other faction was absent, Ogamba said.
He said: “I was not at the meeting (where the impeachment was done). Till today I have not received any letter to the purported removal either through e- mail or Whatsapp. I agree that there is a disagreement between the President and every other member who is not ready to comply with the constitution of the association. Evidence on record discloses that BoT came to the office through the back door to the extent that they changed the name of the association from LASA to SALS.”
Ogamba and top members of his faction during the press briefing
He said there is an ongoing mediation by NSC which requires that no faction should hold any meeting while the issues remained unresolved, but the other faction had defied the agreement by holding meetings constantly.
According to him, part of the problem in SALS is that many of them are not shippers and they are resisting reforms in the system.
However, reacting to Ogamba’s allegations, SALS legal consultant, Barr Nwagbara in a statement to The Nigerian Economy said Ogamba’s issues with some members of the shippers association couldn’t have been that he was favoured to sign the agreement with APMT in place of himself and SALS former president, Nicole.He also explained circumstances that led to the shippers association from LASSA to SALS.
He stated: “I first got close to SALS when the Association sought my legal services to register SALS with the Corporate Affairs Commission before 2010. Their unregistered name then was Lagos State Shippers Association (LASSA).
“When I applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register LASSA, the name was turned down. CAC advised me to get the Consent of the Lagos State Government for the use of any name associated with Lagos State. Lagos State Government only approved the name Shippers Association Lagos State and I obtained the consent of Registrar General of CAC to register the name. One of the members of SALS then insisted that he was going to be able to register LASSA instead of SALS. I was asked to hand over the registration documents. After a while SALS invited me to their meeting and when I got there I was informed that they could only register the name which I secured approval of, SALS and not LASSA. From that time SALS sought my legal advice on everything they wanted to have a legal opinion on and I volunteered such opinion to them, most of the time free of charge.
“It is important to mention that throughout my relationship with SALS, I never saw nor knew Leo Ogamba as a member of SALS. So my relationship with SALS grew from around 2010 till the present. In the course of this relationship, Rev. Jonathan Nicol became President of SALS and Chief Kris Keme became Vice President and they with other members of the Executive piloted the affairs of SALS, with my advice and support, and SALS became a very strong voice in the maritime space in Nigeria and globally, protecting the interest of shippers and organizing Shippers Day on an annual basis for a number of times.
“When in 2014 the terminal operators and the shipping companies in Nigeria unilaterally increased their charges astronomically and refused to comply with the directive of the Nigerian Shippers Council to revert to the rates approved, both the terminal operators and the Shipping companies went to Court, challenging the powers of the Nigerian Shippers Council to reign them in. I was instructed by the Registered Trustees of the SALS, acting through the President and Vice President to join SALS in the matter and represent the interest of SALS in the matter. I did to the best of my ability.
Nwagbara
“The cases started at the Federal High Court in 2014, have gone through the Court of Appeal in Lagos in 2015 and moved up to the Supreme Court about 2017/2018 where the cases still pend uptill now. I have full instructions of SALS, with agreement, as SALS lawyer, to conduct the cases at all levels, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Part of the terminal operators’ case has been settled out of court and APMT which sought out of court settlement as one of the appellants in the appeal at the Supreme Court has paid the settlement sum as demanded by SALS into the Cargo Defence Fund. The money belongs to Shippers, and not to any individual shipper, or body corporate whatsoever.”
Nwagbara maintained that throughout these years of legal battle, he never saw, met or heard of Mr. Leo Ogamba, as a member of SALS.
He continued: “Sometimes in the hay days of the cases, I slept in my office in Apapa with some Exco members of SALS, preparing processes over-night for filing in court the next morning. It was only about 2020/2021 that I know Leo Ogamba as a member of SALS. Generally I am not speaking for SALS on the allegations of Mr. Leo Ogamba, because I am not a member of SALS and I am not authorized to speak on their behalf.
“So, against the above background, to specifically answer to your inquiry: 1. I do not know of Mr. Leo Ogamba being favoured by the Nigerian Shippers Council to sign an out of court settlement agreement with a port operator, instead of myself and the former President of SALS, Rev. Nicol Jonathan. In the first instance, I am not the Nigerian Shippers Council’s lawyer in the case. Nigerian Shippers Council has her own lawyers in the matter. So, I believe it is improper, and smacks of ignorance, to say that Nigerian Shippers Council favoured Mr. Leo Ogamba (in place of myself and Rev. Jonathan Nicol) to sign the settlement agreement with a party in a matter I am conducting. The Nigerian Shippers Council does not have the power to stop me from signing out of settlement in a matter in which I am not their lawyer, and which I am conducting for my client based on instructions.
“2. From the above, it follows that it may not be correct to say that Mr. Leo Ogamba was removed from office as President of SALS because he was favoured by the Nigerian Shippers Council to sign an out of court settlement agreement with a port operator, instead of myself and the former President of SALS, Rev. Nicol Jonathan.”
