By GODFREY BIVBERE

National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu has said that the Ministry of Transport is scheming to make a department under it the commercial regulator of the industry.

Shittu who disclosed this at a one day shippers’ clinic organised by Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) in conjunction with Akabogu and Associates in Lagos, explained that despite the out cry by stakeholders over the absence of a commercial regulator in the industry, seven years after the concession exercise, the ministry seems not to be interested.

The ANLCA boss pointed out that the Ministry has thwarted all efforts in the past for the establishment of a commercial regulator in the industry. He throw his weight behind the call for the conversion of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to the commercial regulator. He said instead, the Ministry is scheming to make a department within the regulator.

He said that the absence of a regulator has led to the arbitrary charges by almost every operator in the sector, ranging from the terminal operators, to shipping companies etc. This, he said, has led to the exploitation of importers and their agents.

Shitu however admitted that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has some problems and this is as a result of the fact that they have not gotten the expected result from the perspective of industry operators.

He attributed this to the fact that the Act establishing the Council does not give it the neccesary powers to be able to effectively implement the law to the satisfaction of industry operators.

He further stressed that under normal circumstances, the exercise would have been completed with just three or four firms operating all terminals. The present arrengement has led to patitioning of the port, resulting in the space problem that is presently confronting the system.

The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippersf Council, Capt. Adamu Biu, observed that factors that led to review of local shipping charges in 1997 still persists. He said that the concessionaires have introduced new tariff headings outside the officially approved nomenclature.

According to Biu, the council has received complaints from shippers and freight forwarders on excessive charges by service providers adding that this calls for thorough overhaul of the system to ascertain various cost structures unit in terms of tariff bands and charges under the concession regime.