FMOT, NSC to sensitise stakeholders on roles of economic regulator

The Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), in collaboration with Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is organising a sensitisation programme on some functions of the council.

The programme, which would be chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr Magdalene Ajani, is scheduled to hold on Friday, July 22, 2022 in 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 Nigerian Shippers’ Council as port economic regulator.

A paper titled, ‘Promoting Competitiveness and Compliance in Nigerian Maritime Industry,’ would 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 and shippers, Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders are expected to attend the sensitisation programme.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government’s port reform programme of 2006 transferred the ownership of Nigerian ports to private investors.

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In the reform, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was 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 the 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.

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.