Barr Chris Ebare (Chairman, Institute of Chartered Ship Brokers)
I still believe that the CRFFN is directly under the Federal Ministry of Transportation and subject to the Shippers’ Council, NPA and NIMASA. I don’t think they need to kick against this. If I am in the position to advise them I think the only best way to address these issues is to go straight to the Federal Ministry and liaise with the Minister and the Executive Secretary of NSC and see how they can harmonize it with their own Act. My simple advice is that they should allow the Bill. Where they feel that there is any conflict of interest, they should go straight to the Minister in conjunction with the Executive Secretary and iron it out. That will allow the free flow of activities in the ports.
Frank Obiekezie (National Secretary, AREFFN)
The NSC has been acting as the regulator for freight forwarders because of the inactiveness of CRFFN in addressing issues. I know that NPA and NIMASA have their own functions. The NSC should concentrate on the affairs of shippers, shipping companies and terminal operators. There are areas of specialization for NPA and NIMASA. I don’t think the Shippers’ Council should dabble into that. They have a lot on their hands already. We don’t know what will be the future of CRFFN. If it will survive, we prefer it to be our regulator, because we are closer to it.
Dr. Segun Musa (Deputy National President, Air and Logistics, NAGAFF)
I don’t think there should be a need for that bill the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is pushing at the National Assembly. It may just end up like the National Transport Commission Bill. I will advise that the Nigeria Shippers’ Council should be fused into the Nigerian Ports Authority to strengthen it. This will address all the overlapping functions contained in the bill which stakeholders are bothered about.
Dr. Kayode Farinto (Former Acting National President, ANLCA)
It will amount to double taxation. Shippers’ Council in order to generate money, they are still including freight forwarders. This is what they want the National Assembly to give consent to. When you talk about the Shippers Council, its responsibility is to protect Nigerian shippers. We are all after the cargo and who does the clearing? It is the freight forwarders. Where there are issues to be discussed, you need a seasoned freight forwarder’s experience to advise the Shippers’ Council, so that you can move forward. That is why somebody who is a seasoned freight forwarder must be a member of the Board of Trustees of Shippers’ Council. That is how it should be. They should not digress. Act 17 section 17 of 2007 negates them from collecting money.
Taiwo Fatomilola (National PRO AREFFN)
There have been overlapping of functions of all the agencies in the port already. Shippers’ Council wants to take over virtually all the functions of other agencies as if it is the mother of all. My advice is for other agencies to wake up to their biddings and functions. It was just because there were lapses in the functions of other related agencies that made the Nigerian Shippers Council to grab more than necessary.
Babatunde Mukaila (Immediate Past National Secretary, ANLCA)
This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in order to avoid conflict of interest and responsibilities amongst government agencies in the maritime industry. I believe the public hearing will iron out this dichotomy of overlapping mandates, which is presently the bane of corruption in the port.
Clinton Okoro (APFFLON PRO, Tin Can Chapter)
We had a meeting concerning the Bill sometime last year and I was surprised that the CRFFN gave them support. The issue here is that the present government is just after taxing the people to generate revenue. The tax is just too much. All the government agencies including the NSC are just pushing these bills in order to generate revenue by taxing the people. We are just helpless. Nigeria is a place where anything goes. Anybody that takes anything to the National Assembly and pays their way through will get what they want. I believe the right things should be done to avoid double taxation in the maritime industry.
Rev. Nicodemus Odolo (Trustee, Shippers Association of Lagos State)
If the NSC will accept corrections, the bill will see the light of the day. But if not, I pray it will not go the same way with the NTC bill. Yes, because it’s not going to help us. It’s going to create more problems. By the time you introduce this bill, we will have more delays when they are charging money. Because, do you know that anybody that is out to do business, to make money, there’s every tendency you’ll be looking at the area where you can make money and how you can make it. So, there is going to be another bottleneck because the interest of money is there. But if you remove that interest, they will do wonderfully well. They will be a good watchdog to regulate what is going on in the ports.
