The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has urged the Federal Government to appoint either the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) or an independent operator as commercial regulator of ports in the country.
President of the association, Mr Eugene Nweke, made the call in Lagos.
He said the call became necessary because both the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) were already occupied with other activities.
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has urged the Federal Government to appoint either the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) or an independent operator as commercial regulator of ports in the country.
President of the association, Mr Eugene Nweke, made the call in Lagos.
He said the call became necessary because both the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) were already occupied with other activities.
“If you look at the agencies clamouring to transform into port commercial regulator, you need to look at them either in terms of their track record or their commitment and involvement in the sector.
“When you look at the position of NIMASA – NIMASA presently is saddled with a lot of tasks, looking at that Act that established it.
“NIMASA having much in its hand cannot be a commercial regulator in the port industry.
“NPA has out-sourced the aspect of terminal management to the new ports operators and they are into agreement with the terminal operators. So they cannot aid and abet at the same time. So in that case, NPA is out of it.’’
Nweke said that the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) could not play that role because it was not stated in its provisions.
The freight forwarder said that with the design of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Act, it could not be a port regulator but could play a part of lead agency when it comes to issue that borders on revenue to government.
He said that the Shippers’ Council was close to it looking at the Act that established and gave it the power to represent the interest of the Nigerian shippers.
Nweke said that the Act was meant to ensure that the cost of doing business by the shippers was not too much for them to be out of business.
Nweke said that the shippers should rather be encouraged to be in business.
“In the past, evidence abound that shippers council has been unable to actually represent the interest of the shippers, especially with the advent of port concessioning since 2006.
“One would now start to ask questions. If you make the Shippers’ Council the commercial regulator, can they actually do it satisfactorily without fear or favour?
So the question is: do we now set up an independent body that will be saddled with this very task of being a port regulator?
“I think that would have been an ideal thing. But when you look at the cost implication, you may try to go back to Shippers’ Council, because, one, Shippers’ Council has structures on ground.
“Two, the idea, the experience is there; manpower is also there; infrastructural and authority they gotten it. So, they can fast track the process faster than putting an independent body.”
He suggested that the Shippers’ Council Act should be amended to have the ability to bite effectively to transmute to a commercial regulator.
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