By Joshua Yousouph
The Federal Ministry of Transportation in collaboration with Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is organizing a sensitization programme for stakeholders in the maritime industry on Promoting Competitiveness and Compliance in the industry and on some functions of the council.
A statement signed by Shippers Council Head of Public Relations, Mrs Rakiya Dhikru-Yagboyaju which was made available to our correspondent on Monday, disclosed that the sensitization programme which will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, is scheduled to hold on Friday 22nd, July, 2022 at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, by 9.00am.
According to her, the theme of the programme “Port Economic Regulator – NSC in Focus” is aimed at enlightening the stakeholders and the general public on the mandate of Nigerian Shippers’ Council as Port Economic Regulator.
The Council’s spokesperson also informed that a maritime economist, Prof. Bongo Adi, will present a paper titled ” Promoting Competitiveness and Compliance in Nigerian Maritime Industry” at the event.
Expected stakeholders to attend the event are: Regulated Service Providers, CEOs of Regulatory Agencies, Maritime Experts, Lawyers, Organized Private Sector and Shippers, Nigeria Customs Service officials and other maritime stakeholders.
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“It may be recalled that the Federal Government’s Port Reform programme of 2006 transferred the ownership of Nigerian’ ports to private investors. In the reform, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was the Landlord and the technical regulator for the ports while there was no agency in the maritime sector given the mandate of port economic regulator.
This brought about irregularities in the shipping sector. The anomalies include the imposition of different tariff headings by terminal operators and shipping lines/agents, lack of holding bays for containers, shortage of modern cargo handling equipment, etc.
“In-order to address the anomalies, the maritime stakeholders sought the appointment of a regulator for the ports. On February 14, 2014, the Federal Government pronounced Nigerian Shippers’ Council as interim port regulator. Shippers’ Council had before that always protected the interest of shippers. In 2015, the Federal Government declared Nigerian Shippers’ Council as the Port Economic Regulator.
“As the port economic regulator, NSC was saddled with the responsibility to institute effective regulation at ports, working with other government agencies. The Council has over the years also embarked on various initiatives to bring sanity to the ports” the statement read.
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