Maritime Seminar for Judges yield results

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Hassan Bello last week announced that the Council has made significant progress after the recent seminar held for judges in Nigeria.

Speaking to newsmen, Bello revealed that the seminar, which has led to the domestication of three conventions and a series of administrative changes in the sector, could be suitably considered a canvasser of thoughts.

He stated, “Through the seminar, we have domesticated about two or three conventions, we have also made some administrative changes in maritime sector, which in turn has significantly influenced judicial decisions.”

Bello also intimated that a committee has been set up to see that decisions reached at the seminar are actualised. The committee according to him, will drive the implementation of all propositions made and decisions emanating from this very crucial programme for judges.

He said, “The Council set up this committee with inter-ministerial responsibilities, to look at the communiqué issued at the end of the seminar with a view to identifying how to implement the recommendations.

The executive secretary, who also spoke on the increased jurisdiction of the council expressed satisfaction at the corresponding increment on its financial allocations.

“With an opportunity and leverage like this, we could triple the revenue coming in from the ports through Customs. We would be happy to bring in more revenue to the government, We have started our work in earnest and I must say that we are making progress. We have made a profound statement on issues that we have negotiated,” Bello said.

Also giving a progress report on the position of Inland Container Depots otherwise called Dry Ports, the Shippers Council boss had this to say,

“It is going on. We have just turned the sod for Funtua. The concessionaire will start construction very soon. We have had discussion with Oyo State government; the Ibadan ICD and many others are in the pipeline. I think the idea has gone down now, it is being accepted. With these dry ports, we will be taking shipping to the doorsteps of shippers. It means that Apapa Port and road would be free from congestion.  It means that the economy of the places where these ICD’s are located will boom because of the industries attached to it. The haulage industry, the warehouses and so on, and the cost of transportation would reduce drastically.”

He added: “We are working with customs, what is left now is the legal framework and this has been sent to the president by the Minister of Transport. The moment it comes out, construction will start. And then these ports will be ports of destination and ports of origin, which means through bill of lading, you can consign cargo to Funtua from Denmark and when they come, they will not be examined at Apapa, they will just be taken by train to Funtua where they would be examined and you see the train is working now.  When we are fully done, all these trucks coming, you will not see them littering the roads any more, they will be in the localities of the ports. So, it will solve the perennial congestion at the port. It will be faster and it will cost the transport cost.

Speaking also on multi-modal transport system in the country, Bello said: “That is what we have been doing. Multi-model transportation is the way to go about it. We are even supported by the United Nations Convention on carriage of goods wholly or partly by sea otherwise known as the Rotterdam Rules, which we crafted together with all the African countries. This is a goods convention, which supports multi-modalism   it will support inter-modalism. This is ideal.

It is a model where seaports are linked with the rails, road and inland waterways. It is not all road, now in Nigeria, 80 per cent of the carriage is by roads. That is why we have problem with the roads. So, if we have other means of transport we will use them. The ports particularly, must be linked with many modes of transportation. So, multi-modalism is the future and Nigerian is already moving in that direction,” he said in conclusion.

It would be recalled that The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) recently partnered with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) to hold a maritime seminar for judges. The programmed themed, “Sustainable Development in the Maritime sector in Nigeria”, addressed some of the critical challenges in the maritime sector; such as, admiralty jurisdiction, piracy, armed robbery at sea, maritime boundaries in Nigeria, charter parties, lay time and demurrage, with particular focus on section 20 of the Admiralty Jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, liability of terminal operators, and marine insurance in relation to oil and gas.

  HASSAN BELLO is the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council. In February 2014, the Shippers Council was appointed Interim  economic regulator for Nigerian Ports industry.