By Godfrey Bivbere

The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC which is the nation’s Port Economic Regulator, also serves as the industry anti-corruption watch-dog in its bid to ensure smooth trade facilitation in the nation’s maritime domain.

Making this known in Lagos while presenting a paper titled “Ethics and Integrity in Shipping Trade,” at an enlightenment workshop jointly organised by the Council and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, Executive Secretary of NSC, Hassan Bello, said that the role is to ensure that there is no exploitation of any operator or port user.

Bello who was represented by the Director,  Consumer Affairs Department of the NSC,  Cajetan  Agu, said that as the Ports Economic Regulator, it is actively working to reduce costs and standardise services at the ports.

The NSC boss also pointed out that they are working in collaboration with the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-corruption Reform of the Presidency, TUGAR, and have developed a Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs, for all operators in the port industry.

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He said the Council is resolving complaints and /conflicts among stakeholders in the shipping and port sectors to reduce delays and cost. For this purpose, an online complaint handling platform was created, the Port Service Support Portal (PSSP). This will enable stakeholders to present their complaints online as well as receive feedback.

He also noted that the Council is a member of the Borderless Alliance promoting removal of impediments to cross border trade in West Africa as well as facilitating transit trade through Nigeria to the neighbouring land-locked countries.

The Shippers Council helmsman further disclosed that they are in collaboration with relevant agencies /bodies in the resolution of the incessant traffic gridlocks along port access roads and also an active member of the National Committee on World Trade Organisation, WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement NCTFA.”