NSC boss restates commitment to implement new Port Order
The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Hassan Bello has restated the council’s readiness to implement a new port order to make Nigerian Ports competitive and improve the ease of doing business in the country.
Speaking at the just concluded 9th Annual business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) in Lagos, Bello who was a discussant at the “Ease of doing Business” session of the conference, stated that the new port order is for service-providers, users and all stakeholders in the port sector; to enable them operate in line with global best practices and offer the highest standards of port and related services obtainable. According to him, it entails making Nigeria’s ports competitive, efficient and cost effectivene in the provision of services as well as making the ports user friendly.
He said: “We’re aiming at making our ports so user friendly that they naturally become hubs for the sub-region. The ingredients for the new port order are well spelt out in the fmandates given to NSC as the Interim Port Economic Regulator.”
Speaking also on the ease of doing business in Nigeria, Bello noted that the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) was an index created by the World Bank to rank countries according to the conduciveness of the regulatory environment of a country for doing business.
“In the first instance,” he said. “We must remember that there are 10 sub-indices or issues that make up this index. The sub index that is within the purview of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is Trading Across Borders, which is concerned with the number of documents, cost and time necessary to export and import. This has to do with the transportation and logistics cost of doing business for our international traders and it is a very key element in the facilitation of trade both local and international.
“Here we are dealing, essentially, with how ultimately traded goods move from the seller to the buyer timely and cost effectively. We are therefore considering the issue of documentation and procedures as well as their impact on timeliness and the cost of export/import which ultimately is a reflection of the nation’s ability to trade efficiently and effectively globally,” he announced.
According to the NSC boss, the ingredients of the new Port Order include, Streamlining and Coordinating cargo clearing process to eliminate costly delays and cumbersome clearing procedures, thus ensuring the ease and cost of doing business at the ports are competitive and in accordance with international standard. Guidelines are also provided on tariffs (setting minimum and maximum levels) in order to guard against arbitrariness, reduce high cost of doing business and prevent inflationary effect on the economy;
“It seeks to set, Monitor and enforce standards of service delivery to ensure availability, accessibility, affordability, stability, predictability and adequacy of services rendered, encourage competition and guard against monopoly and abuse of dominant market position; perform mediation roles among stakeholders and establish accessible and modern dispute resolution mechanism and to promote market entry and exit,” he said.
Bello stated further that in line with the above mandates, NSC is collaborating with concerned stakeholders to ensure the attainment of 48 hours target for the clearance of goods from the ports by consulting, coordinating, moderating and harmonizing the various cargo clearance processes and procedures with a view to achieving operational efficiency at our Ports.
He added, “NSC in collaboration with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN) is spearheading the overhauling of Freight Forwarding practice with emphasis on the following, professionalization of the freight forwarding practice Council, consolidation of operators, instituting approved minimum share capital and necessary equipment and facilities for real professional operations.
“From the above enabling instruments we can surmise that the activities of NSC are expected to have superintending effect on the quality, availability and efficiency of transport and logistics services as well as the costs (charges) as provided in Sections 3 (d) and (e) of the Act and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (Local Shipping Charges on imports and exports) Regulations, 1997.”
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council, (NSC) was established in 1978 by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act Cap133 LFN 2004 in addition to two regulations on Freight Rate Stabilization Fees (1986 & 1995) and one regulation on Local Shipping Charges on Imports and Exports (1997) , two regulations of Inland container depots and Freight stations of 2007 and NSC ( Port Regulator) Order of 2015 to provide a forum for the protection of the interest of shippers (importers and exporters) on matters affecting the shipment of imports and exports to and from Nigeria, advise the Federal Government on matters relating to freight rates, terms of shipment, port charges and facilities and generally on problems of the shipping industry in Nigeria, serve as an agent for economic development through efforts at minimizing and stabilizing transport costs
In addition to the above statutory functions, after the implementation of the Federal Government’s port reform programme, which led to the concession of port terminals to private operators, the Government noticed a disturbing vacuum in the sector, namely, absence of an Economic Regulator that will act as a referee in the industry. This vacuum is believed to have been the direct cause of the difficulties the nation experienced with the program. As a deliberate remedial effort, the Federal Government in Feb 2014 appointed Nigerian Shippers’ Council the Interim Economic Regulator for the ports sector with effective administrative backing of the Federal Ministry of Transport to remedy the chaotic situation at the Nigerian Ports and reduce cost of doing business there in.