In this interview with the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council; Barrister Pius Ukeyime Akutah, he speaks about the challenges facing the Council, how he intends to tackle them. He also gives hints about his vision for the Council
You signed a Performance Bond with the Minister which also forms part of the KPI for the Ministry of Marine and Blue economy. How will the Council’s management retreat enhance the performance bond you signed with the minister?
The performance bond is very key to pushing us to achieve our mandate as it captures all of what is expected of us as a council, and much more that we do in the council. Now this retreat is one of those gatherings where we will rub minds and develop policies, come up with blueprints that will guide our activities in line with the vision of Mr. President and the performance bonds that we have signed with the Honourable Minister. The Honourable Minister is working very hard round the clock to see how he can develop this sector, which is over the years there with us, but more than just being a sector, it has been in place for some time. There is a need to build more structures that will promote the activities of that sector towards generating revenue for the country and putting more effort in moving the national GDP forward. So there is much work to do. This gathering definitely will give us direction on what we need to do as a council to meet our targets and more.
With the bond you signed with the Ministry, one of the points is the development and implementation of the policy for the Marine and Blue economy. What has the Shippers’ Council done in this regard and when are you supposed to deliver?
Under the performance bonds that were signed with the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, there are certain roles that have been assigned to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. Now the role of developing a policy for the marine and blue economy is actually assigned to the ministry. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council is only a contributor to that role, but the major role is assigned to the ministry. The minister is right on top of that role and we have had series of stakeholders’ engagement. We’ve had retreats in respect of that and the policy is being developed, as I speak to you. Just like I said, our role is just to add up just like every other agency under the ministry. We’re working together in terms of developing that policy and the minister has always said that he will want a policy that is workable.
For instance, if we talk about port renewal or reconstruction of the Nigerian ports, you see that it is quite huge resources. There are resources that are needed to put into that development or renewal of the ports. This is not the kind of investment that Nigerian government would want to put money into at the moment. All that the minister and indeed the agencies under him have to do is to provide that neighbouring environment where private sector investment will be attracted, so that that investment can come in handy to develop the port sector. So we are working hand-in-hand with the ministry.
Earlier today, you talked about the top management need to work on a succession plan as many will soon be retiring. We read reports recently that when you came on board, some staff members were sacked. Do you want to throw light on this, because you just said there is a need to employ more people?
Yes, so there are rules of engagement when you go through the employment process. When that news was making the rounds, I at first did not want to comment because it was an internal thing. But I think one of the newspapers came to my office and I granted an interview, which I suppose has actually calmed everybody down. I’ve not heard so much about that until recently when some youth Corps members who had served with us were asked to leave because they had finished their service year and we have so many more NYSC members coming in. We needed to clear the backlog, so we can have the new ones to be accommodated in the office and then that news reared up its head. However, there was an approval to employ 45 people in the council and the process had started but it had not ended. As at the time that some of them received their letters of employment and then when we came in, we met some petitions from the Union and we decided to go into it. We set up a committee which looked into that and recommended that the persons should be asked to step aside pending when the process would be concluded fairly, as it were. We noted that some of the persons who were recruited did not even participate in the written examination which was not in line with the policy of the council. The council is a fair council and when people have written exams to be admitted into the council, they should be considered. Not just to pick people on the street and then give them appointment letters. So this is what happened, nobody was sacked. These people were not properly employed and they were just asked to step aside. The council is considering even inviting those people that took part in that exam to come back and participate again. And if they are able to pass the exams, they will be offered the appointment. Nobody is being victimized over anything.
You mentioned that the council would go paperless by August 2024. How prepared is the council and what are the modalities you are putting in place to achieve that?
The council has long before now started implementing the ECM policy of the federal government. So ECM is not new to the council. To the extent that this has been implemented over the years, all that we need to do is to further improve the technology; that we now fully go paperless. As I speak to you, we have structures on ground that have supported that over the years. And what we need more to work on is the cultural change initiative. We need to talk about that and train our people to ensure that they participate in that change. But the structure has already been laid. All we need to do is to leverage on what we have and improve on it.
What do you want to be remembered for when you leave the Shippers’ Council?
The major thing that I want to do going forward is the restructuring of the Shippers’ Council. You know that the Shippers’ Council is no longer what we used to know as the Shippers’ Council. because the mandate has changed drastically. Now we have a mandate to be the port economic regulator. Meaning that the economic activities that happen within the port domain, we are responsible for regulating even the players. So we are not just about looking at the welfare of shippers, looking at the issues of tariffs adjustment and this and that. But we are looking at the overall economic benefits that will come out of that sector. How do we drive that? We need to have a law. And I talked about that law earlier. The quick and smooth passage of that law will enhance every other thing that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council will be doing; going forward. So once I have that law passed, the next thing is that the Council will truly become an agency that is raising revenue for the government. When we implement the ICTN, at the end of the year, how much have we contributed to national GDP? We have to contribute. I want to be able to raise the profile of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council so that at the time I’m leaving; it will be contributing meaningfully to Nigerian national GDP. That’s one of the major achievements I want to attain.
Speaking about the new Shippers’ Council bill, I believe you are also aware of the National Transport Commission Bill which has been in the National Assembly for a while now. Stakeholders have been insinuating that these two bills have similar content, and they feel the two of them may not successfully be passed as one may go down for the other. What are your thoughts regarding this?
We at the Shippers’ Council were more concerned about the bill repealing the Shippers Council Act, Cap. N. 133 LFN 2004, and then enacting a new Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act, which will give us the mandate as Port Economic Regulator and that is our concern. There are politics in the other bill, which I believe you are aware of. I don’t think the bill is still pending anywhere in the National Assembly. It went with the last Assembly. In my mind, it is only the Nigerian Shippers Council Bill that is pending at the National Assembly. The repealing and enactment of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act, which is pending at the National Assembly is one critical area that we must focus attention on and ensure that that bill is passed expeditiously. This is because without that bill being passed, we do not have a legal framework that is adequate enough to enable us to carry out our mandate as part of the economy we regulate. We have been challenged before, all the way to the Supreme Court for exercising our powers under the regulations and the order of Mr. President appointing us. We have no choice but to get this Law.
One of the speakers talked about the visibility of the offices of the council inside the terminals at the ports. What are you going to do to make sure that the Shippers’ Council is visible to address challenges as a regulator at the ports?
Realistically speaking, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is visible in the ports. Nobody has driven us out of the ports. We are not out of the ports. Our officers go there for enforcement very regularly.
The Ports Standing Task Team (PSTT) seems to be in limbo for some time now. Should we say that it’s dead or are you still going to bring it back?
I must say that the PSTT is also working very well. It is not disbanded. The coordinator of that task force is here with us; Mr Moses Fadipe and he’s still working with his team. Nothing has really changed. And if you see, we have not had the gridlock that has been happening within the port corridor for some time. It’s because of the activities of the PSTT and they are still working. It’s not moribund. It’s still working.
We know the Shippers’ Council is challenged in terms of funding and the other time you made mention of the Orosanye report and how it has affected the funding of the council. You also mentioned the 1% stabilization fund. Could you please explain this better?
Yes, we’ve talked about funding generally and over time. It is quite important and this is the right time for us to drive the issue of funding for the Shippers’ Council because the Oronsanye panel report is very clear about what the Shippers’ Council should do. As much as other agencies have been merged together and all of that, some are completely disbanded. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council under that report, is supposed to generate its revenue and be self-funded. So more than any time before, it’s now that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council needs to be able to raise their own revenue profile and begin to raise their funding. So the one percent freight stabilization fee is statutory. It’s a statutory funding for the agency. It is in the Act and over time, the agency has not been able to implement that one per cent freight stabilization fee. So now, it is the best time for us to go ahead and implement that.
So the two of seven percent port development levy, which we have been using right now, as the source of funding for the council, we can leave that because according to our Oronsoye’s panel, we are not supposed to be giving any subvention from that subhead. So once we achieve our one percent freight stabilization fee, which is statutory, we are not going to be asking for the port development levy anymore. So we just confine ourselves to what the report says we should do and then we begin to look for other sources of funding, which I believe that we have certain responsibilities to raise money, not only to fund the agency, but to fund the national budget as well, and to contribute meaningfully to the national GDP.
The last time you visited the TICT, the terminal complained about the traffic situation on that axis which is affecting the turnaround time of cargo from their terminal. Now that the axis is very free, have you engaged them to know whether it has helped to improve the turnaround time of cargo for them?
When we visited that terminal and they raised this issue, it was the Task Team that we called upon and we mandated them to go back to work. And you can see and confirm that the corridor is free already and we’ll continue to do that. We’re not going to stop. We’ll continue to do that as much as possible to ensure that that corridor is free for traffic. I think we’re at an event during a recent book launch from one of us in the Council and I recall the representative of Apapa Local Government was there with us. And he did say that if not for the activities of that committee, that there was a time in Apapa that even the local government was planning to move out of Apapa and move their Secretariat out of Apapa. So you can imagine the benefits of having that committee working. And again, our own enforcement team within the council is also working hand in hand with the committee to ensure that we keep that road corridor free, because we don’t have any other option. Until we are able to achieve the intermodal transport system, we have just these roads and we must make sure that these roads are clear.
What is the timeframe for implementation of the 1% freight stabilization fee?
Yes, the honourable minister had given us a timeframe of two weeks. That has expired, but we are working hard on that within the council. We are developing a cost-benefit analysis so that we can be able to manage our case very well. When we talk about this, we should be able to show the cost-benefit analysis because people might think that it will add to the cost of doing business if we insist on taking that 1% fresh stabilization fee. But actually, if you look at the cost-benefit analysis, you will know that it doesn’t add up to the cost of doing business. Rather, it is a standard thing. It is a country provision in our law which we must achieve. And besides that, it also helps the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to carry out their mandate. So without carrying out the mandate, it will create more problems for the sector than solving the 1%.
