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Tag: NSC

  • Nigeria risks sanction over absence from Wrestling Grand Prix

    Nigeria risks sanction over absence from Wrestling Grand Prix

    There are strong indications that Nigeria may be sanctioned by the United World Wrestling (UWW), if it fails to attend next week’s UWW-organised Golden Grand Prix in Azerbaijan.

    Being the end-of-the-year tournament organized by the world wrestling ruling body is expected to have the top four athletes in each weight categories with continental champions competing to have a share of the mouthwatering prize money for the top three.

    NationSport learnt yesterday that African champions, Nigeria’s Blessing Oborodudu and Odunayo Adekuoroye have been listed among selected athletes across the globe expected to compete at the three-day championship holding in Baku.

    Despite getting the approval of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to attend the tournament, the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) is yet to secure the required fund to embark on the trip.

    It was leant that if Nigeria fails to make it to the tournament, the country will be fined and sanctioned by UWW and this might affect the country’s chances of qualifying more athletes for the Olympics.

    Being among the few athletes that were invited from Africa to compete at the championship, Adekuoroye and Oborodudu are also using the tournament to tune up for the Olympics Qualifiers holding in Algeria as well as the next African Championship in Alexandria, Egypt.

    Aside from being the African champion in the women’s 53kg freestyle, Adekuoroye qualified to take part in the tournament as being among the top four in the world in the weight category.

    Oborodudu qualified to take part in the competition following her triumph at the 2015 African Championship in the women’s 63kg freestyle.

    However, the recent development may deny these athletes to be part of the championship and wrestling federation has not been able to access the fund approved for the championship.

    24 events will be competed for at the tournament taking place at the Baku Sports Hall with winner in each event carting home $10,000 while runner’s up gets $5,000. The third place athletes will get $2,000 each.

    For coaching the eventual winners, the coaches of the winners will get $2,000 for their efforts.

  • NSC South-South zone to organise Chess competition in Edo

    The Zonal office of the National Sports Commission (NSC), South-South Zonal has said it would organise a Chess competition in Edo to popularise the game in the country.

    The Zonal Coordinator, Yemi Usikaye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Benin that the competition would provide equal opportunities to all participants to showcase their talents as well as learn new skills.

    The competition, which would feature the male and female categories, would be staged at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin.

    Usikaye said the arrival date would be on August 19, while the competition would run between August 20 and 24. The six states in the zone to participate  are Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom.

    “We don’t want to concentrate only on football, wrestling and boxing. We want to develop other games, where we have comparative advantage locally and internationally. We have a representative in the World Cup holding in October and we also have a representative in the World Billionaire Chess Game,” he said.

    He noted that exposing the players to regular training and competition would make them high flyers and encourage grassroots development of the sport.

    Usikaye said there would be a meeting of sports directors from the zone to be held in Benin on August 20.

  • NSC seeking official carrier for athletes to All Africa Games

    NSC seeking official carrier for athletes to All Africa Games

    The National Sports Commission has solicited support from well meaning Nigerians and cooperate organisations as the country athletes prepare to take part in the 11th African Games; scheduled for Congo Brazzaville.

    The sport commission led by its Director General, Mallam Alhassan Yakmut yesterday held a meeting with the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Max Air, Dahiru Bara’u Mangal in Abuja and asked the airline to be the official carrier for the Nigeria contingent to the Games.

    According to Yakmut partnership with the commission will be a mutual benefit. He explained;“I have been observing with keen interest the support Max Air have been giving to develop sports such as football and polo in Katsina State, and I am sure you be interested to partner and sponsor the Federal  Government outing in forthcoming All Africa Games in the Congo by using your airline to airlift our athletes to the games”.

    Mallam Yakmut added that given present economic reality, there is absolute need to seek for partner and support from well-meaning Nigerians to contribute their quota in sponsoring contingents to this year’s All Africa Games.

    According to the Director General,  “the thrust of this meeting is to request you to partner with the National Sports Commission in the area of being the official carrier”.

    He added that the airlines stands to benefit tremendously from this proposal as it would be a win-win situation for both parties, saying the use of logo of the airline and advertorial of the companies activities will receive adequate attention from the commission.

    The Secretary of the company; Sani Ibrahim,  who responded on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer,  Dahiru Mangal assured that the organisation will partner with the Commission to perform the task.

    His words “We are happy to be part of the arrangements and appreciate the privilege of being chosen as the official airline, we will do our best to ensure the airlift of Nigerian athletes to Congo is successful”.

  • NSC’ll give priority to Olympics, All Africa Games -Yakmut

    •Sambo to commission High Performance Centre

    To compete favourably in international competitions, the Director-General, National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, says the Commission will henceforth ensure that all Olympics and All Africa Games’ sports will get enough assistance.

    Yakmut, who revealed that the NSC under him would pursue a four-point roadmap, said the NSC had already started evaluating all the facilities in the country to ensure they play key roles in rebuilding the country’s falling sports sector.

    He was in Lagos at the weekend to inspect facilities at the National Stadium, which has been left comatose by successive administrations since the return of civilian rule in 1999.

    According to the former national team volleyball captain, elite athletes and those events where Nigeria has medal potential would get adequate attention to ensure they are in competitive form at all times.

    He said: “I was in Lagos when Ese Brume first came on the scene at the D.K. Olukoya Championship. A talent like that should be programmed to be at the height of her game by now. We will look at ways to help such talents develop properly.

    “Recently, our elite athlete, Blessing Okagbare, complained of the neglect of the grassroots and someone like her cannot be dismissed because she knows what she is saying. We will look at ways to address the issues she raised because that is what would help us grow.”

    Yakmut disclosed that he has a four-point roadmap, which include “things that must be done in the first 100 days; things to achieve within six months and one year; the long term, which is what must be done within the four years of my tenure; and the legacy of my tenure.”

    He revealed that the 140-bed High Performance Centre in Abuja would be opened on Wednesday by Vice President, Namadi Sambo, adding that Category A athletes would move into it immediately, “but it would be finally opened for camping in June.”

  • Shippers’ Council in the eye of the storm

    Shippers’ Council in the eye of the storm

    Last year, the Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) was temporarily appointed as seaports economic regulator, with a mandate to, among others, check arbitrary charges at the ports. However, almost a year after, the ports remain uncompetitive and unattractive for business due to the rising cost of doing business. This has pitched the council against importers, clearing agents and other stakeholders in the maritime industry, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA reports.

    Despite its capacity to generate for the country an estimated N7 trillion in revenue, the Nigerian maritime sector remains inefficient and uncompetitive. High cost of doing business at the ports, cumbersome clearance procedures, bottlenecks in cargo evacuation, inadequate cargo handling equipment, and lack of transparency, among others, have conspired to make the ports inefficient and uncompetitive, forcing many importers to patronise ports in neighbouring countries, especially Benin Republic.

    Government’s regulatory agencies and relevant ministries have confirmed the massive diversion of cargoes to ports of neighbouring countries, which are later substantially smuggled into the country through the numerous porous land borders, resulting in loss of huge revenue to the government.

    This was why President Goodluck Jonathan, last year, appointed the Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) as seaports economic regulator. The council was given the mandate to reduce cost of operations at the ports. However, one year after, the council appeared not to have lived up to its mandate, and this has become one of the sore points in the nation’s maritime business, as importers and clearing agents kick.

     

    Cost of clearing containers

    At the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports in Lagos, the cost of clearing containers remained the same, between N150, 000 and N300, 000. Investors and importers under the aegis of Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS) said the high cost of clearing cargoes have remained high at the ports. They attributed this to multiple charges imposed on imported goods.

    President of the association, Mr. Jonathan Nicol, said the five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and the one per cent PAAR charge were some of the many charges Nigerian shippers pay.

    He gave others as the 35 per cent automobile levy and the Common External Tariffs (CET) levy.

    According to him, the combined cost implication of the charges on one consignment takes away most of the shipper’s capital. “The Federal Ministry of Finance has to provide leadership in managing the problems of the Nigerian shipping community. Government should think about the huge investments in building deep sea ports as well as maritime prospects in the next 20 years to attract more cargoes,” he said.

    Also, a frontline licensed clearing agent and a former chairman of Tin Can chapter of SALS, Dr Farinto Kayode, said at a meeting of clearing agents in Lagos that Customs charges originating from the PAAR system was becoming unbearable. He noted that as a final document and as far as value of cargo was concerned, the Customs could only query PAAR based on quantity.

     

    Litigation against NSC

    There have been squabbles between the NSC and terminal operators over the execution of a court judgment ordering the operators to stop ‘illegal’ revenue collection at sea ports.

    Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, last December 17, ordered the operators to stop the collections from importers and clearing agents, which the NSC contended was illegal.

    The operators appealed the judgment and asked the High Court to suspend its execution pending the determination of their appeal.

    But the NSC returned to Justice Buba, praying him to compel the operators to pay N150 billion for allegedly disobeying his order. In a statement, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) Mr Femi Atoyebi (SAN), accused the NSC of making frantic efforts to ride rough shod over the judicial process.

    Atoyebi accused NSC of adopting illegal and unacceptable method because the case is a subject of an appeal, adding that STOAN also has an application for stay of execution before Justice Buba.

    The statement reads: “The law in Nigeria is that whereas, there is an appeal against a court decision and a motion for stay of execution/injunction is filed, none of the parties must do anything to frustrate the hearing of the appeal until the application has been determined.

    “It is also trite that the court from which an appeal lies and the court to which an appeal lies have a duty to preserve the ‘res’ (subject-matter) so that the appeal, if successful, is not rendered nugatory. We consider that the NSC lawyers should have advised them appropriately of the correct position of the law and if they did, it would appear that the NSC is refusing to follow the advice. We hasten to add that the NSC publication and any further step that may be taken by them in a bid to frustrate the pending appeal and foist on the Court of Appeal a situation of complete helplessness would be highly contemptuous of the court and we would not hesitate to apply the full weight of the law on such persons as may have authorised the publication.”

    Another maritime lawyer, Mr. Chidi Ilogu (SAN), said the NSC cannot execute the judgment delivered in its favour against members of the Association of Shipping Line Agencies (ASLA) on Shipping Line Agency Charges (SLAC) yet because of a pending appeal.

    Ilogu, who is the Counsel to ASLA, said members of the association, being dissatisfied with the Federal High Court judgment delivered on December 17, last year by Justice Ibrahim Buba, immediately filed a ‘Notice of Appeal’ challenging the entire judgment of the lower court.

    The lawyer said the judgment is being appealed on the grounds that the NSC cannot perform economic regulatory role at the ports in Nigeria pursuant to a presidential directive, which is inconsistent with the extant laws of the country including the NSC Act and regulations made pursuant thereto; that the purported economic regulatory functions are ultra vires the powers of the NSC as presently stipulated under the enabling Act, which has not been amended; and that the purported presidential directive, being inconsistent with the NSC Act, is null and void and of no effect.

    “In addition to the said notice of appeal, the plaintiffs filed an application for a stay of execution and/or injunction pending appeal.

    “It is a trite principle of law as established in a plethora of cases that where an appeal is pending and the applicant has applied for a stay of execution of the judgment appealed against, the parties to the appeal are enjoined to maintain the status quo – being the subsisting position before the judgment of the lower court,” Ilogu said.

    He said the purpose of an application for stay of execution is to preserve the ‘res’ and “the parties are legally obliged to avoid taking any steps that may foist a fait accompli on the Appeal Court and render its decision nugatory given that the rights and obligations of the parties are yet to be determined to finality by the appellate court”.

    He averred that the shipping companies and the shipping line agents were not collecting any illegal charges from port users as they are within the right to maintain the status quo.

    “The NSC is well aware of the pending appeal and application for stay of execution and has indeed, filed a response to the application for stay of execution before the trial Court and same is yet to be heard.

    “Nigerian Appellant Courts have held that a party, who has appealed and asked the Court for a stay, will not be held in contempt merely because he has not obeyed the order which he is appealing against or which he wants stayed or suspended pending the appeal.

     

    NSC’s lawyer’s position

    But NSC’s lawyer Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) disagreed, saying: “The mere fact that there is a pending application for stay of execution and an appeal do not remove the effect of the judgment we got. Our position is supported by a Supreme Court decision that it will be unfair to allow a losing defendant ‘to continue cutting down and selling economic trees on the land’ adjudged by the trial court not to belong to them simply because of a pending application for stay of execution and an appeal.

    “What the appellants, who have been found not to be the owners of the land in dispute want of this court, in effect, is for the court to lend its authority to the appellants, for them to continue devastating the land in dispute by being allowed to continue cutting down and selling the economic trees on the land while the owner of the land – the respondent – sits back and watches, helplessly, the fruits of his judgment being denied him. That will be justice inverted. I will not be a party to such an inversion.

    “This Supreme Court decision is apt to our case. Applying the decision, it is clear that the terminal operators cannot continue to impose and collect illegal charges on the pretext that they have filed a pending application for stay or appeal.”

     

    Why the council is worried

    The Executive Secretary, NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello, is worried. His worry arose from the country’s quest to achieve the status of hub of shipping activities in the West African sub-region amidst an uncompetitive and unfriendly port sector.

    The council is also dealing with stakeholders, who have been playing without the rules as the port terminals were concessioned to private operators without consideration for appointing a regulator to assess options for competition, to decide on entry rules, regulate on pricing freedom and monitor outcomes.

    Expectedly, the operators resisted attempts by the NSC to introduce reforms at the ports that will engender attractiveness and competitiveness by dragging the regulator to Court.

    Bello said the global competitiveness of Nigerian ports has a major role to play in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Port reforms, he said, has brought tremendous benefits to the economy.

    “However, there is still the need to harness other potential areas of the port sector with a view to bringing down the cost of doing business and enthrone efficiency,” he said, noting that a vacuum was created by the absence of an economic regulator that will act as a referee, and the vacuum has made it difficult for the nation to enjoy the gains of the reform.

    “Niger and Chad Republics would rather go to Cotonou in Benin Republic than Apapa in Lagos because of so many reasons. There is the deployment of technology there and things are done at fairly transparent level,” Bello said, adding: “we have to counter that and make our ports efficient so as to attract cargoes from our competitors.”

    Competition, he said, is central to regulation. “How do we make the ports competitive?” he asked, stating, “You have to have an economic regulator, who is like an auditor, he is focusing on the efficiency of the ports, which is based on some key performance indicators. These include questions like, what is the turnaround time for vessels? What is the dwell time of cargoes? What is the clearance process? How do you evacuate cargoes from the ports to their final destinations? What are the incentives? What are the infrastructure available? What is the level of corruption or transparency? The importers then have to weigh it whether to bring their cargoes to Apapa or go to Cotonou.”

    Bello explained that what the NSC did in the last few months was to have consultations with various stakeholders. “We held many breakfast meetings and dinners trying to sell an idea. The idea is simple. If the game is played by the rule, it will be for the benefit of all. When you have chaos or brigandage it will not benefit anybody in the long term. I am happy we have generally got an acceptance by stakeholders both in the private or public sector,” he said.

    Bello said in Shippers’ Council capacity as port economic regulator, is to consult, coordinate, moderate and harmonise the various processes and procedures with a view to achieving operational efficiency at the ports. However, where there is unreasonable resistance, he said the council will not hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions to ensure compliance. He, however, said they shall remain open, independent, neutral and consultative and all decisions would be based on the buy in of stakeholders.

    Highlighting the effect of economic regulation on the regulated entities in the transport and logistics chain, Bello said terminal operators will experience protection of their investments from undue interference, leading to guaranteed return on investments and increased profitability.

    There will also be predictability in processes and procedures, assurance of level playing ground, and availability of common user information service provided by the regulator.

    On the part of the government, Bello said there will be improved revenue generation; improved infrastructural development; improvement of the nation’s global competitive index and consequent attraction of FDI.

    He noted that the shipping companies will experience improved delivery of marine and terminal handling services leading to reduced turn-around time of vessels and reduced cost of vessel operations.

    Also, an effective regulation will engender professionalisation of freight forwarding practice, leading to elimination of touting, sanitisation of the port environment and the promotion of global linkages.

    “We wish to note that the NSC is not competing with any other government regulatory agency, but striving to actualise the mandate of making our ports the sub-regional hub and international logistics centre. On this note, we call for the support and cooperation of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON); National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); the Nigeria Police, and all other stakeholders. We shall also rely on the political will and the support of the government to enable us succeed in this our assignment,” Bello said.

     

    Outdated shipping policy

    Agbakoba, a maritime lawyer and former president of Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS), said he is organising a policy dialogue that will bring together all stakeholders to highlight the constraints in the shipping sector, which at present are preventing Nigeria from becoming the maritime hub of Africa and an international maritime centre.

    He said the Nigeria’s shipping policy framework is outdated and incoherent. The last major review was 28 years ago i.e the Nigerian Shipping Policy (NSP) Act No 10 of 1987. As a result, Nigeria’s ports have become uncompetitive.

    “Nigeria requires an economic regulator for shipping sector. Until recently, there is no clearly recognised economic regulator for the shipping sector. The Federal High Court has held that the NSC is an economic regulator. It is only when the NSC is empowered to regulate that stakeholders in the sector can turn around the fortunes of their businesses and generate huge revenue for the nation as their counterparts in other jurisdictions such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and USA do,” he said.

    Having been appointed as the economic regulator of the ports eight years after the port concession exercise when private companies took over cargo handling operations, NSC has been taking steps to ensure that Nigerian ports become competitive again and attract more cargoes.

    This is because Nigeria has the destination of cargoes. More than 65 per cent of the imports into the West and Central Africa sub region end up in the country of an estimated 170 million population, the largest in the continent.

    “I remember what we say then that Nigeria is the hub. Nigeria cannot be a hub, you cannot decree a hub. The shipper has a choice, he enters into contract of affreightment and chooses port of discharge,” Bello said, during a recent media interaction

    “We have to look at the Nigerian ports and find out why neighbouring ports are having more cargoes than Nigeria and that is the function of an economic regulator. That is what the NSC has been addressing. It is not an easy thing,” Agbakoba added.

  • 2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships: NTTF appeals to NSC for cash

    2015 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships: NTTF appeals to NSC for cash

    Few weeks to the kick-off of the 2015 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championships holding in Cairo, Egypt, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) is passionately appealing to the National Sports Commission (NSC) to support the team financially to be able to be part of the championship.

    The tournament, according to Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), serves as qualifiers for this year’s World Championship scheduled for April in China. Also, the championship will aid Nigeria’s players in their quest to improve their world rating.

    According to NTTF Secretary-General, Chinedu Ezeala-Ogundare, the Cairo tournament serves as prerequisite for any team to be part of the 2015 World Championships in China, while it would also improve the country’s chances of getting good rating in the world.

    “The competition was scheduled to hold in Sudan this year but because of the Ebola Virus Disease, it was cancelled. But the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) just confirmed to us that the tournament will now be hosted by Egypt and this is a must for us and we must make it down there. For now, we are hoping to assemble our best players within and across the globe so that we can have a strong team.

    “We are using this medium to appeal to NSC to support us financially in order to be part of this competition. The performance of Aruna Quadri has now put more attention on Nigeria and for us, we need to be part of the competition to ascertain our status as a continental power house,” the NTTF scribe said.

    She, however, lauded the NSC for their unflinching backing in 2014, adding that she is optimistic that the country would make it to Egypt.

    In a statement made available by ATTF and signed by Mokhtar Toukabri, the tournament serves off on January 23 to 29.

    “ATTF has the pleasure in sending to all African Associations the new date of the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, 23-29 January 2015 and it will be held in Cairo – Egypt. We need to remind all Associations that this event is a prerequisite for all who would like to participate in the 2015 WTTC in Suzhou – China during 27/4 – 3/5/2015, which means that no entries from Africa in the WTTC except for those African Associations with at least one player to join us in the 2014 ITTF-Africa Senior Championships, Cairo 23-29 January 2015 according to the new rules of ITTF. We are waiting for your final entries before January 15, 2015,” he said.

    However, Nigerian players led by Portugal-based Aruna Quadri are eager to be part of the tournament in order to halt the dominance of Egypt in Africa.

  • Rumble at port over storage charges

    Rumble at port over storage charges

    The move by the Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) to force terminal operators to return port charges to the pre-2009 arrangement suffered a temporary setback last week, despite  that the Minister of Transport Senator Idris Umar has waded into the matter, it was learnt.

    The pre-2009 port charges were approved  by the government but the terminal operators have since engaged in what they called prograssive increase in port chages.

    However, the NSC as the port  regulator, said the terminal operators must revert to the old rate because the increase in the charges was illegal.

    This has caused a disagreement among the NSC, freight forwarders and the terminal operators in the last few weeks; and the role of the NSC as the commercial regulator of the port system, sources close to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) said, has been put to test.

    The minister, it was gathered, has summoned a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja to address the  issues raised in a petition by the freight forwarders’ group against terminal operators for imposing arbitrary charges. But the meeting, it was learnt, could not resolve the matter.

    A source close to the meeting said while the representatives of the freight forwarding group and others said their position, the representative of the terminal operators, maintained an unusual silence because of the litigation their umbrella body, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), has instituted against NSC at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi Lagos on the matter.

    The plea by the Minister that stakeholders should be open in their discussions on the port charges, it was learnt, was ignored by the aggresssors who cited their case at the court.

    The role of the NSC as the commercial regulator of the port system, sources close to the meeting said, had been put to test based on its inability to enforce the advertised new charges and the alleged inability of the minister to resolve the matter before the meeting ended.

    Also, the inability of the Executive Secretary of NSC Mr Hassan Bello who chaired the meeting after the minister left, to resolve the issue, findings revealed, did not go down well with the freight forwarders because of the unpleasant practices in the ports system.

    But the Director, Media and Publicity to the National President of ANLCA  Joe Sanni said the pricing mechanism of services in the ports, should be established by the government to attract businesses to the port.

    “Progressive storage charges have no known legal basis, neither is it practised anywhere in the world. Therefore, it must be dropped forthwith. That’s the crux of illegal charges. A standing committee of critical stakeholders must be established to meet every month to brainstorm on the brought-up operational challenges in the ports, for discussions.

    “Decisions arrived at, at such meetings should be passed on to the Nigeria Shippers Council, to engage relevant stakeholders, before implementation. Key Performance Indicators-KPI also needs to be introduced to monitor the performances of ports operators

    “A robust auditing of the major stakeholders in the port system has to be introduced and continuously sustained to serve as guiding rules to raising cargo through put in the maritime industry,” he said.

    In a statement by STOAN’s spokesman, Mr Bolaji Akinola,  the APM Terminals attended the meeting despite  the suit filed against it by STOAN at the Federal High Court.

    “APM Terminals’ representatives made it clear that they were at the meeting without prejudice to an ongoing court case on progressive storage charges and did not say anything at the meeting.

    “While various persons expressed different opinions at the meeting, it would be very wrong to imply that an agreement was reached on reversal of storage charges or on the powers of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. These matters are sub-judice. It is therefore wrong to make comments or pass judgment on a matter that is pending before a court of competent jurisdiction,” Akinola said.

    Those at the meeting included the officials of NSC, BPE, Maritime Workers Union (MAWUN), APM Terminals, National Presidents Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and the Association of Registered of Freight Forwarders, Nigeria (AREFFN).

  • Shippers Council vows to eradicate arbitrary port charges

    The Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) is determined to stop arbitrary charges to make the ports attractive to business, The Nation has learnt.

    The NSC, sources said, was more determined to close the gaps created by the Federal Government during the concession of the sea- ports to private investors about nine years ago.

    The council, it was learnt, has expressed its readiness to pursue the case to a logical conclusion to improve the performance of the ports by regulating charges and making the ports more cost effective.

    After the final determination of the case, NSC, it was gathered, would ensure that arbitrary charges by shipping firms and terminal operators become a thing of the past in all the seaports.

    A senior official of the Federal Ministry of Transport, who craved anonymity, said at the weekend that the management of the council and the officials of the ministry had embarked on the journey to achieve efficiency at the seaports.

    The era of imposing arbitrary charges that have often been described by importers, exporters and clearing agent as uncharitable, the source said, had gone.

    Shippers’ Council, it was learnt, was going tough because during the concession, the agreement was that the terminal operators were not to increase charges without observing due process. Part of the agreement, the source said, was to call a stakeholders’meeting at which such charges would be discussed and approved before implementation.

    The terminal operators and shipping firms, the official alleged, introduced new charges in the past without calling a meeting of stakeholders.

    “It was this that prompted the agitation for the appointment of a commercial regulator to oversee the activities of stakeholders, including providers and receivers of shipping services. The freight forwarders had on many occasions gone on strike to protest the action of the service providers in increasing charges and for other deplorable conditions in the system. They had argued that this was so because there was no regulator to check the activities of the terminal operators and shipping companies, most of whom are sister companies of the terminal operators. It was based on this problem that stakeholders applauded the Federal Government when it approved the Shippers’ Council as the Economic Regulator,” the official said.

    Since the appointment of Mr Hazzan Bello as the Executive Secretary of the council, it was learnt, the council had started regulating  operators, importers, exporters and clearing agents.

    The NSC, it was gathered, had vowed to check excessive charges against importers to reduce prices of imported goods and make the ports competitive and attractive for business.

    Bello expressed optimism that the council would deliver on its new mandate.

    The council, Bello said, was determined to meet the expectations of Nigerians in terms of port operation, efficiency and port charges.

    He assured genuine importers that  irregularities and arbitrariness in the ports system would be addressed.

    The NSC, he assured, would look into the high cost of doing business at the ports, and what was responsible for the diversion of goods meant for ports to neighbouring ports of Cotonou.

    The President, Association of Nigerian Customs Licensed Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, urged the council to review charges  imposed on importers.

    He alleged that the terminal operators and shipping firms forced importers to pay demurrage even when it was their fault that the importers could not take delivery of their goods on time.

    Shittu urged the National Assembly to shippers, clearing agents and consumers of imported goods by ensuring that the bill to empower the council on its new role as port economic regulator was passed into law to stem the  tide of a litigation that could scuttle the good intention of the Federal Government to make imported goods cheap and available to Nigerians.

  • Maritime workers may paralyse ports today over storage charges

    Maritime workers may paralyse ports today over storage charges

    The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) may embark on industrial action today over plans by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to reverse storage charges at the seaports.

    In a letter with reference number MWUN/HMT/FMT/WDR/360 dated November 10, this year and sent to the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, the union said it was “alarmed that an institution with or without known legal authority to perform the duties of Port Regulator could evolve such biased directive targeting terminal operationals costs alone with dire consequences on our member’’.

    The letter signed by the union’s Secretary-General, Comrade Aham Ubani, said the council’s directive on the reduction of storage charges at the seaports would affect the welfare of dockworkers and hamper port efficiency.

    He accused the council of not consulting with relevant stakeholders on the implication of its directive before issuing it.

    The union said it would be wrong to blame the high cost of doing business at the seaports on the terminal operators.

    According to the MWUN, poor access roads to the port which gives rise to higher cost of trucking goods in and out of the ports; presence and practice of illegal tolls/extortions by various agencies operating in the ports both legally and illegally; activities of some customs men and officers which also add to the operational cost of ports; effect of congestion giving rise to demurrage and additional increase on the cost of clearing goods in the port; and delays in effecting custom examination and the attitude of most customs officers as lords who must be worshipped by agents rather than serving the needs of the customers as diligent civil servants all contribute to the high cost of doing business at the nation’s seaports.

    “The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria feels seriously aggrieved by the consequences of your directive as manifest in the refusal of our employers (i.e. Terminal Operators and Stevedoring Contractors) to negotiate the Dockworkers Condition of Service which is due for re-negotiation this year.

    “Our members have become restive and may resort to self-help action nationwide with effect from Monday, November 17 if the terminal operators still refuse to negotiate on the grounds of being incapacitated by the directive.

    “While humbly soliciting the Honourable Minister’s prompt intervention on this issue, we by copy of this letter to Shippers’ Council demand for immediate withdrawal of this biased directive to allow for search for a collective solution to the issue,”  he said,

    MWUN said its demand has become necessary to avert avoidable crisis at the ports.

  • Shippers Council to implement recommendation of judges’seminar

    Shippers Council to implement recommendation of judges’seminar

    The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC),  has began the implementation of  some of the recommendations of the Maritime Seminar for Judges held in June this year, the Executive Secretary, Hassan Bello has  said.

    Bello told The Nation that the NSCs’ Legal Department, has set up a committee to look at the communiqué issued at the end of the seminar with a view to identifying how to implement the recommendations.

    “A committee was set up at the end of the seminar. It has inter-ministerial responsibilities and they have set up a committee. It has been done to see that certain things are implemented. As you know, the maritime seminar is not just a talk shop. Through the seminar, we have domesticated about two or three conventions, we have also done some administrative changes in maritime sector. It has influenced our judicial decisions also. So, the maritime seminar is a canvasser of thoughts. So, this committee that has been set up is working to see that decisions reached at the last seminar are actualised

    Bello said the board of Nigerian Shippers Council is technical and is being represented by NNPC, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). “Also there are issue-based discussions on the challenges in the maritime sector and solutions to these challenges,” he said.

    On the increased jurisdiction of the council, whether there is a corresponding increment on their financial allocations, Bello said: “Yes, we love that Shippers Council is ready to go on. As a matter fact, we have made presentation and I am sure it is being looked at. We want to bring more revenue to the government. Through the Customs, we could triple the revenue coming from the ports if given the chance to work. We have started. We would soon make profound statement on issues that we have negotiated.”

    Speaking on  the Inland Container Depots otherwise called Dry Ports, he said: “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. If we have the dry port, it means we are taking shipping to the door steps 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 there are other 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 on mult-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. That is what is ideal.  It is a model where sea ports 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 Nigeria is already moving in that direction.”

    Talking on the concept of Transit Parks, Bello said the truck transit park is a Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) initiative for infrastructure change. “There is much deficit in infrastructure and Nigeria will have to modernise its transport infrastructure. Now, we can’t have trailers or trucks parked indiscriminately. That is why we said we could have a truck transit park. It is a modern way where we have parking spaces off the main way, where you have fuel stations, gas stations, hostels, shops, everything, the modern way of doing this thing,” he said.

    He added: “This is a revenue booster, we have been allocated land in Kogi State, for example, and this is where we will have the initial one. We are also talking with NNPC, which would like to have their retail outlets in these structures. By the end of next year, we hope that one or two trailer parks will be ready. We are working with other agencies of the government like the Road Safety Corps, and so on. Now, there should be some facilities which have been recommended by ECOWAS protocol on weights of goods by these trucks. It will reduce congestion; ensure the safety and security of cargoes. There will be trackers all over, where you track your cargo. It is a civilised way of doing things”.