The Acting Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shipper’s Council (NSC); Mr Hassan Bello has called for an urgent review of obsolete maritime laws to maximise potentialities in the sector.
Bello made the call on Sunday in Abuja at a forum where he said that the statutes establishing the nation’s maritime agencies were no longer in tune with current realities.
He noted that the maritime sector had the potential of becoming the highest revenue earner and liberates the country from its monolithic oil economy.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shipper’s Council (NSC); Mr Hassan Bello has called for an urgent review of obsolete maritime laws to maximise potentialities in the sector.
Bello made the call on Sunday in Abuja at a forum where he said that the statutes establishing the nation’s maritime agencies were no longer in tune with current realities.
He noted that the maritime sector had the potential of becoming the highest revenue earner and liberates the country from its monolithic oil economy.
To achieve this, Bello said the laws establishing the Nigerian Shipper’s Council, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and other maritime Agencies needed to be reviewed.
“The need for the reform of Nigeria Shipper’s Council Act is imperative because it is an old Act passed in 1978, about 35 years ago.
Harping on the need for a review, he said:“You will agree with me that there has been passage or a fusion of time since that time and international trade has grown in leaps and bounds, leaving the law panting, running after it and that should not be the case.
“Here, we are in the age of electronic interface, we are in the age multi-modernism, we are in the age of door-to-door cargo delivery and so many other nuances of trade and a law has to codify such development.
“That is why we need to reform not only NSC laws but other operators and other regulatory agencies like the Nigeria Ports Authority, the law must change because NPA is not running transport infrastructure now, they are the landlord under that model.
“The NIMASA, the law has been changed and many other agencies, the National Inland Water Way Authority the laws are being changed to suit what is obtainable at present.’’
Bello noted that the statutes establishing the agencies as public authorities did not take cognizance of the fact that they could be run by the private sector.
“The tune has changed and the dance must change and that is why we need reforms and if you don’t reform, then the law will be archaic, incongruent and irrelevant,’’ he said.
According to him, the 1978 Act which created the Nigerian Shipper’s Council gave it some regulatory functions but largely in advisory capacity.
He said the current realities in the sector had placed on the council the responsibilities of intervening in the areas of tariffs, benchmarking of freight, monitoring and enforcing standard in service delivery which were not envisaged by the Act.
Bello said that government could no longer alone run the roads, the rail, freight and sea ports, but must encourage private participation which was not envisaged by the Act.
He noted that with increased private sector participation in the industry there was the need to engage commercial regulators that would moderate the activities.
The regulators would among others attract more private capital into the transport industry encourage increased participation and competition in the sector and arrest abuse of monopoly.
Bello said that the regulator would also evolve mechanism for settlement of dispute in quick and reliable ways and control entry and exit into the market to discourage quackery and fraud.
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