Hope Rises on New Ports and Harbours Bill

Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon.Emeka Ihedioha has said that the Ports and Harbours Bill which was killed at the twilight of the last legislative calendar will soon be brought up at the lower legislature.
Ihedioha who is the former chairman of the House committee on marine transport disclosed this in Lagos on Wednesday at the public presentation launch of a book titled “Contemporary Issues in Maritime Industry’’ which is edited by a maritime journalist, Mr. Sesan Onileimo.
  The Ports and Harbours bill which has been in and out of the National Assembly since the last administration is expected to give legal backing to ports reform including the controversial port concession.
  Ihedioha recalled that eight maritime industry – related bills were passed into law by the last legislature and assented to by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
  “Very soon, I will be sponsoring an amendment in the Ports and Harbour bill alongside a few colleagues of mine. We began the process of amending it in the last legislative session, but we did not get there before the session was completed. But today we have began processes to see to the actualization of that amendment, we will introduce it in the next few weeks to the house”, Ihedioha told the crème de la crème who gathered to witness the launching of the book.
The ceremony was witnessed by present and past chief executives of agencies in the maritime and related sectors of the economy as well as other stakeholders, including freight forwarders, seafarers, union leaders, students among others.  
The Chief whip added that the immediate past marine transport committee was able to ensure that the maritime sector had the highest number of bill that was signed into law.
Also speaking on the occasion, the Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Mr Tony Nwabunike acknowledged the immense roles played by Ihedioha in ensuring that the council was established.
  Nwabunike was optimistic that the council would inject professionalism into freight forwarding.
  According to the freight forwarder, the Act 2007 which established the council is purely binding on those of us practicing freight forwarding.
  “In a short period of time, we will roll out the council’s guidelines and work strictly in line with the seven-point agenda of the federal government’’, he added.
The occasion was also used to formally present a weekly news paper Shipping Position Weekly which is also published by the author of the book, Mr. Sesan Onileimo.
Earlier, in his welcome address, he had told the guest that his organisation was willing to partner with reputable members of the shipping community to float a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that will take over the rights to the book.
The book itself is a compilation of interviews with notable stakeholders in the maritime industry as well as some of the newspaper’s editorials.