Why Nigerian Shippers’ Council is implementing 1% Freight Stabilisation Fee – Akutah

Barrister Pius Akutah, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers' Council

Barrister Pius Ukeyima Akutah, EExecutive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council

In an interview with journalists during the management retreat of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), the executive secretary, Barr. Pius Ukeyima Akutah spoke about the performance Bond signed by the council with the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry, the 1% freight stabilisation fee, and the National Transport Commission (NTC) bill, among others. Excerpt 

Recently, you signed a performance Bond with the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, how do you intend to achieve this?
Under the performance bond that we signed with the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, certain roles are assigned to the Shippers’ Council. The role of developing a policy for the Marine and Blue Economy is assigned to the ministry. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council is only a contributor to that role. The minister is already working on that role and we have had a series of stakeholder engagements, retreats and conferences in respect of that, and the policy is being developed as I speak to you.

The minister has always said that he wants a workable policy. For instance, if you talk about port renewal or reconstruction of the Nigerian port, it is quite a huge resource that is needed for that development. This is not the kind of investment that the Nigerian government will want to put its money into at the moment.

All that the minister and every agency under him have to do is to provide that enabling environment where the private sector will be attracted, so that that investors can come in and develop the port sector. So, we are working hand-in-hand with the minister.

Now, talking about legacy, the major thing I want to do going forward is the restructuring of the Shippers’ Council. Shippers’ Council is no longer what it used to be because the mandate has changed drastically. Now we have the mandate to be the port economic regulator, meaning that in the economic activities happening within the port, we are responsible for regulating even the players.

So, we are not just looking at the welfare of shippers, the issue of tariff adjustments and all that, we are looking at the overall economic benefits that will come from that sector.

How do we drive that? We need to have a law. The swift passage of that law will enhance every other thing that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council will be doing going forward. Once that law is passed, the next thing is that the Shippers’ Council will truly become an agency that is raising revenue for the government.

We will implement the ICTN, and at the end of the year, see how much we have contributed to the national GDP (because we have to contribute). I want to be able to raise the profile of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council so that by the time I am leaving, it will be contributing meaningfully to the national GDP. That is one of the major achievements I want to attain.

There are complaints that NSC is not visible in the ports, how do you intend to make the council visible?
The Shippers’ Council is visible in the port. We are not outside the port, our officers go there for enforcement regularly, and I must say that the PSTT is also working very well. The coordinator of that task force, Moses Fadipe, is here with us and is still working with his team, nothing has changed. I need to say that we have not had the gridlock that has been happening within the port corridor for some time; it is because of the activities of the committee, and it is still working.

The 1% Freight Stabilisation Fund (FSF), won’t this add to the cost of doing business at the port?
 
This is the right time for us to drive the issue of funding for the Shippers’ Council because the Oronsanye Report is very clear about what the Shippers’ Council should do. As much as the other agencies have been merged, and some completely disbanded, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council under that report is supposed to generate its revenue and be self-funding. So, more than anything before, it is now that the Shippers’ Council should be able to raise its revenue profile and begin to raise its funding.

The 1% Freight Stabilisation Fee is statutory funding for the agency, and the agency has not been able to implement that fee. So, now is the best time to implement it. The port development levy, which we have been using now as a source of funding for the council, we can leave because, according to the Oronsanye Report, we are not supposed to be given any subvention from that sub-head.

So, once we achieve our 1% freight stabilisation fee, which is statutory, we are not going to ask for the port development levy anymore. We will just confine ourselves to what the report said we should do, and then we begin to look for other sources of funding, I believe we have certain responsibilities to raise money, not only to fund the agency but the national GDP as well and contribute meaningfully to the national GDP.

How to make Cargo Evacuation efficient at the Seaports 
We set the standards, and the shipping companies and terminal operators are supposed to work with the standards that we have set. We have the turnaround time, and dwell time for cargo from the entry point where they move out of the ship to the terminals, and when they are cleared and taken out.

All of these standards have been set by the Shippers’ Council; what we intend to do is to continue the enforcement, and continue our engagement with stakeholders, so that they know the value of improvement within the port sector.

It is for their good; the good of the economy, the good of their businesses. So, if you waste too much time, you delay the business from moving (they say time is money). If you don’t put in place efficient processes that will move cargo and reduce the turnaround time according to international standards, then we are doing it to ourselves, including investors in the sector.

So, ours is to enforce the standards that we have set so that within the ambit of these standards, people can operate, but when you go outside these standards, we try to bring you back to line.

We have to look at our regulations as well and see how they can be business-friendly because all that the Shippers’ Council will be doing going forward is to ensure that we raise our revenue and contribute money to the federal government. So, our regulations will be very friendly as we take up the role of a revenue-generating agency and let the businesses in the sector also make a profit.

What’s your take on the Apapa, Tin-Can Island Traffic Flow?
When we visited the (Tin Can Island Port) terminal and they raised the issue, it was the PSTT that still went back to work, and you can see that that corridor is free already, and we will continue to do that, as much as possible, to ensure that that corridor is free for traffic.

At the launch of Fadipe’s book, the representative of the Apapa Local Government said that if not for the activities of the committee, there was a time when the local government was planning to move its secretariat out of Apapa. So, you can see the benefit of having that committee working.

Again, our enforcement team within the council is also working hand-in-hand with the committee to ensure that we keep that corridor free because we have no other option. Until we can achieve the intermodal transport system, we have just these roads and must ensure that they are clear.

Timeframe for the 1% FSF Implementation
The minister had given us a timeframe of two weeks. That has expired, but we are working hard on that. Within the council, we are developing a cost-benefit analysis so that when we talk about this, we should be able to show the cost-benefit, because people might think that it will add to the cost of doing business if we insist on taking the 1% FSF, but, if you look at the cost-benefit analysis, you will know that it doesn’t add to the cost of doing business.

Rather, it is a statutory provision and it also helps the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to carry out its mandate. Not carrying out its mandate will create more problems for the sector than the 1% fee.

More IDP construction without utilisation, how do you address this?
The Inland Dry Ports are also one of the policies of the government to bring about port efficiency. We are under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and there are opportunities for Nigerians in that agreement, and if we open up our markets for the whole of Africa, then we should be willing to also export from Nigeria.

So, the IDP project targets bringing shipping services to the hinterlands, closer to people who need them. Rather than bringing your goods to the seaports for export, you can export them right from where your farms are, where you are producing whatever it is.

We also decongest the ports by that singular action and at the same time promote international trading activities in the hinterland. So, we need to develop that policy and continue to move in to possibly flood our hinterlands with dry ports, but they must be actively engaged in business; people must use them, it is not just to construct.

But then, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is not bringing money from government coffers to build IDPs, they are public-private partnership business enterprises, so people, sometimes state governors, come to us and say they want to develop IDPs. We have to see the locations and how viable those projects are for import/export business.

For instance, in Enugu State, we have a vehicle transit area to be located at Oboloafor and we are insisting that we should invest in a vehicle transit area in that location because it is already a transport hub where vehicles (transporters) travelling between the north and south break to rest and refresh before they move.

So, we should establish a vehicle transit area there rather than an IDP when Onitsha (inland port) is just down the line, where trade and business activities are already going on. If we have an IDP within that radius, it might not serve the purpose as much as possible. So, we consider all these, we are not just engaging in the construction of IDPs but we want them to be effective, and efficient and contribute to international trade within our country.

What’s the status of the ICTN? 
The ICTN has been up before now, but you will recall that there was an attempt in the past and some processes had commenced but had not come to a conclusion before the end of the last administration. Now we are trying to bring the stakeholders together and see how we can resolve some differences among them and then be able to move on quickly.
That’s the process we met on the ground, and we must make the best out of it, and by that, I mean that we have to bring everyone on board to be able to discuss, iron out differences, and only at that point can we move forward. We are trying to avoid situations that will stall the whole process, so all that we need to do is to make sure that the stakeholders are on the same page and resolve their differences and we move forward.

What’s the status of the National Transport Commission (NTC) Bill vis-a-vis the conflict of control?
We at the Shippers’ Council are more concerned about repealing the Shippers’ Council CAP N133 2004 and enacting a new Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act which will give us the mandate as Port Economic Regulator. I don’t think the other bill is still pending anywhere in the National Assembly.

Source: BusinessInsider

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