By Yemi Olakitan
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The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has stated that it is leading efforts to ensure that the National Assembly reviews its enabling Act (NASS).
Speaking from his office in Apapa, Lagos, NSC Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Jime bemoaned that the council’s current challenges include a lack of sufficient funding to carry out its job in addition to its lack of enforcement authority as a regulator.
He said that the Senate had approved the law three times, with President Muhammadu Buhari twice failing to sign it.
Jime stated that the OMNIBUS bill, another piece of legislation being considered by the National Assembly, has several provisions that the Nigeria Shippers’ Council could have used to boost its operations.
He claimed that when the OMNIBUS bill was eventually presented to the National Assembly, the Shippers’ Council provision was left out because the NTC was still being processed.
The two percent from the seven percent Port Development Levy collected at the port, he claimed, is the agency’s primary source of income production, but this amount is insufficient to carry out the mandate of the organisation.
Jime explained how the Council’s actions have been constrained by a lack of money, particularly those of the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT), which has been unable to broaden its focus beyond Lagos ports to include other ports. Jime expressed regret at the possibility that the National Transport Commission (NTC), which aims to turn the Shippers’ Council into a more potent agency, might not be given the green light. He claims that due of the restrictions in the Shippers Council Act, the agency’s capacity to carry out specific tasks, such as penalising violations, is severely constrained because it is unable to do so. He said that NSC’s decision to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission was genuinely motivated by this (FCCPC).
Jime stated that he will engage with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s legal division to process the legal requirements under the council’s Act in order to seek its revision.
