The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), says it saved Nigerian economy N6 billion through resolution of industry-related conflicts in 2024.
The Executive-Secretary of the NSC, Dr Pius Akutah said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Akutah said that the council protected investments in the sector through strict compliance to standards
He said that the NSC ensured that services like cargo clearance and resolution of trade related disputes met industry expectations by setting standards that were geared towards achieving efficiency of the port sector.
“We have standards, and then we ensure compliance with those standards, and we monitor them. We have a compliance unit in the agency, and we also have an enforcement unit.
“The enforcement unit goes out to ensure that players in the industry play by the standards so as to be able to meet up the expected efficiency in the sector.
“We also have a unit that deals with complaints. So when there are complaints, they go to that unit. The unit is sufficiently empowered to deal with those complaints,” he said.
According to Akutah, the NSC resolves several industry-related complaints on a daily basis.
“Every week, we roll out some of the complaints that have been handled within the last week and those that have been resolved.
“Some of these complaints involve huge amounts of money that would have left the economy.
“For instance, in 2024, I was in Kano and a young man started a ginger export business, but he did not quite consult anyone. He was about to lose 70,000 dollars in that one singular transaction.
“When the issue came up, within 24 hours, that issue was resolved and the company paid back the 70,000 dollars to him,” he said.
He said that the council later linked the businessman up with the appropriate persons that would educatel him on the business.
“So, we have a very robust complaints handling unit that deals with a lot of complaints,” he said.
He said that the NSC was also taking steps to curb imposition of illegal surcharges on Nigeria-bound cargos by some shipping companies.
“Some time ago, we had a matter in court where the issue of surcharges came up.
“The court ruled on behalf of the Nigerian shippers that these companies should pay back certain amount of money to cover surcharges that were illegally imposed within a period of time.
“We are currently negotiating with various shipping companies and terminal operators to be able to pay back those surcharges,” he said.
He said that at the moment, no company had imposed any illegal surcharges on Nigeria-bound cargos, adding that NSC was very serious about illegal surcharges.
“Wherever any shipping company dares to put up any illegal surcharge, we will take it down, and we will implement the full weight of our regulatory authority,” he said.
——Port congestion, unreturned empty containers issues long resolved—–
Meanwhile, Council also disclosed that recent reports on unreturned empty containers and port congestion issues have long been resolved.
According to him, the recent news about shipping companies refusing to return empty containers and ports becoming chocked up and clogged are recycled news.
“Recently, we heard reports about shipping companies refusing to take empty containers, and that the ports are becoming chocked up and clogged, and its affecting clearance processes.
“The minister immediately drew my attention to it because he was attending the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting outside the country at the time and and he was worried.
“So we began our investigation into the matter, and we now realised that this was something that happened some time ago and had already been dealt with it,” he said.
Akutah said that though there were container issues in the past due to misunderstanding from various business transactions.
He, however, said that recent reports were resurfaced reports.
He noted that containers dumping in ports were usually not done intentionally by shipping lines but due to unresolved issues during transactions.
Akutah said that when there was a contract between a shipper and a shipping company of whatever nature, the shipping company could not just breach the terms of the contract.
“It is not a deliberate thing that shipping companies will refuse to take empty containers.
“If they are under a contractual obligation, they have no reason whatsoever not to take those containers after all. Why would they sail back empty when they have financial obligations to cover?
“These are issues that come up every now and then and as the port economic regulator, it is our responsibility to ensure that these issues are dealt with as they appear,” he said.
He said that currently, ports across the country were not congested, and neither were there huge number of unreturned containers as reported by the media.
