Ahead of the passing into law of the Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill 2023, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr Pius Akutah Ukeyima has reiterated that the Council has full capacity to become the Port Economic Regulatory Agency.
The NSC boss stated this during the 2024 Annual Seminar for Maritime Journalists themed: “The Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Transition, Issues, Prospects and Challenges” held in Lagos on Wednesday.
Represented at the event by the Council’s Director of Special Duties, Mustapha Zubairu, Akuta chronicled the issues that led to the establishment of the NSC as promoted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) aimed at enabling developing countries to key into the benefits of international trade.
He noted that since the establishment of the Shippers Council in 1978, it has evolved from just protecting shippers interests to building dry ports across the country through partnership with private investors and becoming the interim economic regulator of ports in Nigeria.
He said: “By virtue of its appointment as economic regulator of ports, the NSC is expected to create an effective regulatory regime for the control of tariffs, rates, charges and other related economic services at the ports. It is also to in addition to its statutory functions monitor the implementation of the commercial components of the lease agreements between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the private terminal operators.
“Specifically, the NSC was required to: provide guidelines on setting and modification of tariffs, rates and charges for service providers in the Nigerian port sector; monitor the tariffs and charges of all the port service providers to prevent arbitrariness, and ensure conformity to industry best practices.
The Council is also to monitor to ensure that the cost burden arising from poor services by the operators are not passed to the consumers and enforce standard of service delivery to ensure the availability, affordability, accessibility, stability, predictability and adequacy of service, among other functions.”
He noted that all the Shippers Council now need to strengthen its structures to keep delivering on these functions is the passage of Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill 2023.
“Once the Shippers Council is made to transit to port economic regulator by virtue of the passage of the Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill, what we need to do is to restructure and strengthen the various departments,” Akutah insisted.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Mediacom, publishers of Shipping Position and organisers of the seminar, Mr Olusesan Onilemo said “the Annual Seminar for Maritime Journalists” has become one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the PR Department of the NSC, as an organisation, adding that his organisation is deeply grateful to successive heads of the Public Relations Department of the Council.
He said: “Every year, in the last nine years, we gather like this to deliberate on a particular issue that is central or germane to the Nigerian maritime industry. This year, we have carefully chosen the Theme as: The Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Transition: Issues, Prospects, Challenges.
“This year, we deliberately narrowed-down our focus to a topic that can offer a dual opportunity for maritime journalists and content owners to acquire knowledge about the emerging dispensation at the NSC, and also understand the apprehension of direct stakeholders about The Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill 2023, which is in the last stage of being enacted.
“We commend the determination of the Management of the NSC for giving the Bill all that is required to come to life. The bold move to regenerate the NSC is the motive behind the zeal.”
He asserted that the Bill would be a game-changer in the Nigerian shipping and port-related businesses.
“Currently the rating of ease of doing business in the ports is low. It is anticipated that the new law will ensure that there is fairness and competition in pricing of services, while providers and users enjoy a new experience. Certainly, its passage and eventually signing into law by the President will usher-in a new dispensation that is yet being imagined,” he noted.
