Baring any unforeseen development, the House of Representatives will this week receive at plenary, three maritime industry bills, in a move to ensure that the bills were done with before the end of the current legislative session.
Sources close to the House committee on marine transport confirmed to Shipping Position Weekly that the three bills are: Nigerian Ports and Harbours Authourity bill, the Maritime Zones Bill and the Chartered Institute of Shipping of Nigeria bill.
While a public hearing for the Ports Bill was held last year, both the Maritime Zone bill and the Chattered Institute of Shipping of Nigeria (CISN) bill were only recently subjected to public hearing at the House of Representatives.
The new ports bill which incorporates the Independent Port Regulatory Commission (IPRC) has been a subject of controversy and suspicion since the law makers conducted a public hearing on the bill a few months ago.
The Bill seeks to repeal the Nigerian Ports Authourity Act of 1999 and to establish in its stead the Nigerian Ports and Harbour Authourity. It will also provide effective technical and economic regulation of the ports and institute a framework for Private Sector Participation, and for other related matters.
On its part, the maritime zone bill seeks to extend Nigeria’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), while the CISN bill seeks to establish a unified and regulatory institution for the purpose of training of manpower in the nation’s maritime sector.
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