NPERA to Impose N20m Penalty Against Rebellious Shipping Services Providers
Dr. Akutah
By Our Correspondent
Providers of shipping services who operate outside laid down economic regulations guiding the shipping sector will face the wrath of the law, the Director-General of the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA), Dr Pius Akutah, has warned.
Akutah said the organization will not condone any act of arbitrariness coming from the providers of shipping services in the ports.
According to him, any provider of services who violates laid down regulations will be penalized to the level of N20million.
In a statement on Wednesday, Akutah who spoke when members of Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria visited him, said his organization is now better placed with strong legal backing to sanction erring operators.
He made it clear that the organization was not set up to regulate economic activities involving providers and users of shipping services at the ports alone, but equally to ensure compliance to laid down regulations.
He added that this was simply aimed at achieving efficiency in the ports.
Akutah said, “In the past, there was no such potency in our law, so we couldn’t enforce anything because the penalties were too insignificant to deter any infraction. The new framework provides for a minimum penalty of N500,000 for an individual first offender, while penalties can increase where infractions are repeated.
“The highest penalty for a corporation is N20m, and the agency could multiply the penalty where a company continues to violate the law. The aspects of the law on legal enforcement or criminal prosecution for infractions captured in the NPERA law will serve as deterrence.
“The idea is not to upset the system and make it chaotic or abnormal but rather to create a deterrent regime through the provisions of the law. With the fear of the consequences, they will play by the rules naturally.
“Ours is to set the standards and promote innovations and digitisation of this sector to the point that those standards become very easy for people to maintain. Enforcement, on our own part, is continuing to ensure that these standards are not lowered at any time.”
Providers of shipping services who operate outside laid down economic regulations guiding the shipping sector will face the wrath of the law, the Director-General of the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA), Dr Pius Akutah, has warned.
Akutah said the organization will not condone any act of arbitrariness coming from the providers of shipping services in the ports.
According to him, any provider of services who violates laid down regulations will be penalized to the level of N20million.
In a statement on Wednesday, Akutah who spoke when members of Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria visited him, said his organization is now better placed with strong legal backing to sanction erring operators.
He made it clear that the organization was not set up to regulate economic activities involving providers and users of shipping services at the ports alone, but equally to ensure compliance to laid down regulations.
He added that this was simply aimed at achieving efficiency in the ports.
Akutah said, “In the past, there was no such potency in our law, so we couldn’t enforce anything because the penalties were too insignificant to deter any infraction. The new framework provides for a minimum penalty of N500,000 for an individual first offender, while penalties can increase where infractions are repeated.
“The highest penalty for a corporation is N20m, and the agency could multiply the penalty where a company continues to violate the law. The aspects of the law on legal enforcement or criminal prosecution for infractions captured in the NPERA law will serve as deterrence.
“The idea is not to upset the system and make it chaotic or abnormal but rather to create a deterrent regime through the provisions of the law. With the fear of the consequences, they will play by the rules naturally.
“Ours is to set the standards and promote innovations and digitisation of this sector to the point that those standards become very easy for people to maintain. Enforcement, on our own part, is continuing to ensure that these standards are not lowered at any time.”
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