Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill 2023 Passes Second Reading
OYETOLA
By Our Reporter
The Bill which seeks to repeal the Nigerian
Shippers’ Council Act Cap N133 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), and
enact the Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Act when
enacted into law, has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives.
According to a press statement by the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Rebecca Adamu, this was part of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega
Oyetola’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the year 2024, as signed in the
performance bond by agencies.
Presenting the Bill at the House of Representatives on Wednesday 14th February
2024, the Chairman, House Committee on Shipping Services, Hon. Abdussamad
Dasuki, said that the government made the Nigerian Shippers’ Council the Port
Economic Regulator in 2015.
In his words ‘‘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.
‘‘The Federal Government noted that the objective of the regulation is to create an
effective regulatory regime for the Nigerian ports after the concession of the Ports.
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’’.
‘‘The Shippers’ Council’s 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’’, he added.
He reiterated the need to repeal the existing NSC’s Act in-order to empower the
Council to be able to discharge its mandate as the Port Economic Regulator.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), was established in
1978 to protect the interest of Nigerian shippers. The Council’s mandate was later
expanded to include Economic Regulation of the port pursuant to the Port
Economic Regulator Order 2015.
This necessitated the review of the NSC Act to harmonize all the regulations into
the Nigeria Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill.
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