By Giwa SHILE
The Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider his decision to decline assent to the National Transportation Commission Bill.
The bill which had been passed by the National Assembly suffered a set back recently as the president declined his assent to it.
Executive Secretary of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that the situation had continued to affect the regulation of the shipping sector.
Bello, who was giving the stewardship of the organisation in the outgoing year, regretted that 12 years after port reform, the Transport Commission and the Port and Harbor bills remained unavailable.
“Because of the non availability of those bills, regulation has remained cumbersome and policy enhancement elusive and resistance to regulations common among operators.
“Litigation has been rife in the sector with it attendant private monopoly instead of public monopoly that will encourage competition in the sector,” he said.
According to him the passages of those bills will among other things enhance policy formulation geared towards the development of the sector.
He said that in a bid to smoothen transactions at the ports, the
NSC had developed standard operation procedure for port users to reduce delays
in cargo handling processes in order to reduce cost.
National transportion commission bill, which was meant to streamline
regulations in the transport industry, especially in the maritime sector, was
promoted by the shippers council.
