Engr Mansur Ahmed (President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria)
There is no ripe time for that than now; I think the NTC bill has been in the offing for the past five to six years. Obviously, we need to ensure more proactive regulations for the transport industry and I think that bill is in the position to remove a lot of the discrepancies between the various regulations in the industry. So I think it is a good thing.
Francis Omotosho (Nigerian Institute of Shipping)
The National Transport Commission Bill is long overdue, to the best of my knowledge, all major stakeholders, transport planners and all the supply chain professionals are indeed fully ready for the implementation of the NTC bill. The signing of the bill will surely determine the agenda for transport industry in year 2019. We can't wait to see the bill sail through the final approval.
Dr. Babatunde Samuel (Registrar, POTEMAN)
The birth of National Transport Commission is long overdue in the transportation industry. This is due to the fact that effective and efficient regulation of the industry account for the regulation of the transportation costs, time and service delivery. Other advantages of the NTC Bill include: reliability, monitoring and evaluation of all the transportation services and charges for comparison purposes, sustaining the progressive service line of the modes of transportation and complimenting one mode of transport with another to the merits of the transportation service consumers.
Dr. Eugene Nweke (Freight Forwarder)
The passage of the NTC Bill and subsequent enactment into an Act of the Federation is a rare, clear legislative resolution and determination of the law makers to promptly coordinate relevant spheres of maritime operations/activities, to attain optimum industry efficiency, via an effective regulatory and stabilization. This is a most welcome development in the industry direction.
John Egesi (Ex- NMA Director General)
No, I don’t think the NTC bill is necessary; it is a simple grab of power. The old NMA is like the central bank of the maritime industry and that role has been taken over by the NIMASA, they wanted to put my name down for that and I told them that I won’t be part of that, I want to make sure that we are on the same page. I mean, it is just grand styling of their purview to have extra knowledge, I don’t support it , the whole activities in the maritime industry is being controlled by NIMASA, don’t mind what is happening now, highly politicized. All these things are being paddled by friends of politicians; they want to mess up the whole industry and you won’t know your tail from your head.
Peter Obi (Member, CRFFN governing board)
Of course, the industry is ready; if the government will help at least keep to where they tell us they are going, other things will fall in place. If the government will tell us they are going here and we see them going there other things will fall in.
Paul Ndibe (Ag. Executive Director, CILT)
The maritime industry is ready for the Bill because the NTC Bill will set out the outline for the engagement of stakeholders in maritime and other transport sector. So, I think it is a healthy development, the earlier it is out the better for us. So, if there are grey areas, we can start streamlining them instead of waiting for too long because the economy is not smiling at anybody. There are challenges and foreign investors are all around the corner. So, if we have a policy that can shape our own indigenous operators with response to matters like that, I think that will be better otherwise by the time we wait too long, we will now discover that we will not even have time for all that.
Emmanuel Nwagbara (Maritime Lawyer)
We are very ripe for the NTC Bill. I said this because what Shippers Council is doing at the moment is mediation by virtue of their appointment as the interim regulators of tariff and service efficiency in the port industry. It is part of their mandate to ensure that the quality of service delivered is high and that the rates charged on services are not arbitrary. But right now, by virtue of the fact that they are just interim regulators of tariff in the ports industry, what they do at the moment is largely mediation. It is only the NTC Bill that can give strength to them and give them the needed teeth to bite where a player does not play by the role. So it is right to have the NTC bill signed into law. In fact, one of the interviews I had recently, I called on our president, Muhammad Buhari to quickly ascent to that bill in this administration. In fact it will be a very good Christmas gift for the maritime industry if the President will ascent to the bill before the end of this year.
Discussion about this post