Regulated Service Providers, CEOs of regulatory agencies, maritime experts, Lawyers, organised private sector, importers and exporters, Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders are expected to attend the sensitisation programme.
By Uzor Odigbo
Ministry of Transportation in conjunction with Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has concluded plans to hold a one-day sensitisation programme on some of the functions of the council.
The programme, which will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, is slated to hold Friday, July 22, 2022 at Eko Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos,
The theme of the programme: “Port Economic Regulator – NSC in Focus”, is aimed at enlightening the stakeholders and the general public on the mandate of the Council as Port Economic Regulator.
A paper entitled: “Promoting Competitiveness and Compliance in Nigeria’s Maritime Industry” will be presented at this much anticipated event by Prof Bongo Adi, a maritime economist.
Regulated Service Providers, CEOs of regulatory agencies, maritime experts, Lawyers, organised private sector, importers and exporters, Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders are expected to attend the sensitisation programme.
Recall that the Federal Government’s Port Reform programme of 2006 transferred the ownership of Nigerian’ seaport terminal to private operators under a landlord port model. In the reform, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) became the landlord and the technical regulator for the ports while there was no agency in the maritime sector given the mandate of port economic regulator.
This brought about irregularities in the shipping sector. The anomalies include the imposition of different tariff headings by terminal operators and shipping lines/agents, lack of holding bays for containers, shortage of modern cargo handling equipment, etc.
In order to address these anomalies, the maritime stakeholders sought the appointment of a regulator for the ports. Thus, on February 14, 2014, the Federal Government pronounced Nigerian Shippers’ Council as interim port regulator. Shippers’ Council had before that always protected the interest of shippers. In 2015, the Federal Government declared Nigerian Shippers’ Council as the Port Economic Regulator.
As the port economic regulator, NSC was saddled with the responsibility to institute effective regulation at ports, working with other government agencies. The Council has over the years also embarked on various initiatives to bring sanity to the ports.