Maritime stakeholders consisting concessionaires, shipping line owners and government maritime agencies, who converged at the third annual Maritime Round Table (MAROUT) in Lagos yesterday have called on the federal government to urgently reconsider and pass into law the Nigerian Transport Commission Bill, to establish an economic and commercial regulator in the maritime sector.
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The forum, organised by the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping in collaboration with Amasutter Nigeria Limited, was held to appraise results achieved five years after the nation’s seaports were given out to private operators in concession arrangement to drastically improve performance.
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The stakeholders, who gave a low score to ports concession, also declared that a total revamp of relevant legislations (such as the laws establishing the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA) must be pursued to ensure protection of investors’ interest, which is necessary to realise full advantages of ports concession.
The director-general, NPA, Engr. Omar Suleiman, said the maritime industry was still having problems five years after the concession contracts, because an economic regulator was not in place before the concession.
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Suleiman, who was represented by the director of finance and administration, Mr. Atekoja said, “Unlike what happened in the telecommunication sector where a commission was already set up before a revamp of the sector begun, there was no commercial and economic regulator for the maritime sector before the concession arrangements.
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“Passage of the Nigerian Transport Commission Bill will be a major way forward.”
The secretary-general Abuja MoU, and former director-general of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mrs. Mfon Usoro, said another agency would be required as the economic regulator.
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She also urged maritime stakeholders to immediately begin the process involved in reviewing maritime legislations, as it affects public-private partnership, as well as drive the process for the enactment of the Nigeria Transport Commission Bill.
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“The law has to provide appropriate institutional framework for ownership, management, operation and control of ports and harbour. The laws establishing the NPA did not foresee private sector involvement in ports management, and so are not good enough for the current situation in the sector. Every maritime investor must contribute to ensuring that the Nigeria Transport Commission Bill is passed,” she said.
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According to the president, National Council of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, out of the 26 ports handed over to private companies in the concession arrangement in 2006, only six are functioning efficiently.
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He said the concession was abused by some people in government, and added that “government is not committed to ports concession.”
The NPA is typically a technical regulator and it is not effectively doubling as an economic regulator. An economic regulator is expected to approve tariff charges, prescribe tariffs for non-competitive services and promote non-discriminatory market practices.
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