- Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola
By Anthony Nwachukwu
The Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Act, which seeks to repeal the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act Cap N133 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives.
Presenting the bill on Wednesday, the Chairman, House Committee on Shipping Services, Abdussamad Dasuki, noted that the government made the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) the Port Economic Regulator in 2015.
“If you go through the documents before us, you will see that there is a gazette by the Federal Government in 2015. In that gazette, the Federal Government highlighted what the Shippers’ Council is actually doing today,” a statement from the NSC Assistant Director, Public Relations, Rebecca Adamu, quoted Dasuki to say.
“The Federal Government noted that the objective of the regulation is to create an effective regulatory regime for the Nigerian ports after the concession.
“Port does not mean the Nigerian Ports Authority alone, it also means all the stakeholders in the ports, for the control of tariffs, rates, charges and other related economic services.”
However, “the Shippers’ Council gazette is being implemented today as a regulation and not as an act. The regulations provided that the NSC shall perform the role of interim port economic regulator with the administrative backing of the Federal Government.
“The regulations further provided that from the commencement of this regulation in 2015, every regulated service provider in the Nigerian ports shall register with the council, and as at today, they are answerable to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.”
Against this background, Dasuki reiterated the need to repeal the existing NSC Act in order to empower the council to discharge its mandate as the Port Economic Regulator.
The NSC was established in 1978 to protect the interest of Nigerian shippers. Its mandate was later expanded to include economic regulation of the port pursuant to the Port Economic Regulator Order 2015.
This necessitated the review to harmonise all the regulations into the Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill. The ultimate passage of this bill is a key performance indicator of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola.
