Maritime stakeholders, under the auspices of the Maritime Advocacy Foundation (MAF), have alerted Nigerians to moves aimed at scraping the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and its replacement with the Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency through legislation in the National Assembly, especially in the House of Representatives.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos, at the weekend, MAF’s Head of Publicity, Dr. Eugene Nweke, stated that globally, shippers are referenced as initiators of trade, financial exchange and transportation whose activities boost global transport activities and sustain national economies, adding that in spite of their efforts, shippers have been the proverbial hen that lays the golden eggs in the transportation sector.
The group stated this in a communiqué titled: Re: A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Nigerian Shippers Council Act (Cap. N133, LFN. 2004) and Enact the Nigerian Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill to Provide for Economic Regulation of the Shipping and Port Sector and other Related Matters.
Speaking to maritime journalists, Nweke pointed out that its response to the move is a clarion call on industry stakeholders to stop the undue disregard and negation of the NSC through legislative excesses, even as the House Committee on Shipping meets today to debate the issue.
In establishing a background to the subject matter, it restated that shippers are the reasons job creation thrives globally and that import and export data are purely their making, adding: “By global recognition, international conventions have been severally reviewed to cushion the transport intricacies between the ship owner (shipping lines) and cargo owner (shippers).
“The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) slogan betrays the fact that trade has become the instrument of promoting global peace and not just economic activities. In this regard, the respect and interests of the shippers should be paramount. It is on record that without the shippers no freight markets and without freight markets there are no transport activities across modes.”
MAF further recalled that apart from the provisions of the shipper’s rights in the Marine Insurance Act of 1909, three principal international surface transport conventions have evolved over the years to streamline the interests of ship owners and cargo owners.
These are The Hague and Hague-Visby Rules and Hamburg Rules to cover all forms of sea transportation, the contract of international carriage of goods by Road-CMR Convention for road transport and the Convention Relative Aux Transports International Ferroviares-CIM/COTIF Convention for rail transport.
On government efforts to protect the interests of Nigerian shippers, the group pointed out that the shippers’ councils in other West and Central African countries are involved in cargo sharing and ensure that shippers’ councils protect shippers’ interests, which is not the case in Nigeria.
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Citing Decree 1978, which focused on the protection of shippers’ interests, it said the decree, which was represented as the Nigerian Shippers Council Act (Cap. 133 LFN 2004), evolved 10 years after the National Shipping Policy Decree of 1987, with focus on the protection of ship owners’ interests in Nigeria.
Maintaining that maritime stakeholders find the two decrees as complementary to each other, the MAF insisted that it will be against the renewed hope mantra of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to create a Marine and Blue Economy Ministry from the Ministry of Transportation without a corresponding establishment to specifically protect the interests of Nigerian shippers.
They restated that the move to repeal the Nigerian Shippers Council Act (Cap. 133 LFN 2004) is a deliberate assault on the collective wisdom of Nigeria’s founding fathers, adding: “We, therefore, call on the ministers of transportation and Marine & Blue Economy to save the interests of shippers, who had over the years and sustained jobs creation in addition to their contributions in revenue generation in the country.”
Giving an overview of the importance of shippers’ council in the transportation industry, they said from informed and available research works, a nation’s shippers’ council functions to ensure it provides for and protects the interests of its national shippers against unfair trade, competition and illegal business practices.
Shippers’ councils help to maintain economic and trade stability, offer advisory and recommendations on informed trade realities and statistics to other relevant agencies, as well as evaluate trading climate and proffer solutions.
They equally help in ensuring that infrastructure services are delivered efficiently to shippers based on fair competition and satisfactory delivery services to shippers by the logistics services providers and in identifying the least factors that impede the cost of production and quality services, while also ensuring the identification of suitable services that shippers require in all sub-chains.
Others are in possession of a legislative oversight jurisdiction to monitor and enforce compliance by other agencies through prompt consultation and professional engagements.
They also offer advice and information of general character on duties, collect, analyze and publish trade-related activities statistics and data, as well as recommend and provide position statements to the appropriate agencies for upholding compliance and protecting the interest of shippers.
