As NASS Assures of Legislative Backing for Council

The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC,  Mr. Pius Ukeyima Akutah, has assured the minister of marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, that the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in establishing the ministry shall be vigorously pursued and actualized as expected from the NSC.

Addressing stakeholders and participants at the  Council’s Special Retreat themed;  Strengthening Economic Regulation of Marine and Blue Economy in Lagos, Ukeyima said the performance bond as signed by heads of maritime agencies was performance driven based on expectations and economic projections by the President from the ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.

The ES/CEO flanked by his management team and participants at the retreat

“You will recall that the President held a similar retreat with his ministers where they signed a performance bond in order to implement his mandate”.

“That same retreat was held by the Ministry, a couple of weeks ago to cascade the performance bond that was signed by the Minister down to the Chief Executives of the agencies, including the Nigerian Shippers Council”

“We are  aligning our Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, to those of our ministry which has keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda  of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”

“We have signed that performance bond with the Minister, and now, we are cascading it down to the staff of the Shippers Council, beginning with the directors, down to the last person, we want to drive the mandate of Mr. President and everyone must be onboard, including the drivers and other cadre  of staff of the Council”, Ukeyima said.

Speaking on the regulatory functions and expectations from the NSC, Chairman House Committee on Shipping Services, Hon Abdussamad Dasuki highlighted the disparity between the sector’s existing contributions to the national GDP which hovered around a meager 1% and the anticipated 20% it should ideally deliver. He stressed the need for strategic interventions to bridge this gap and maximize the industry’s economic potential.

His words  “Like you all know, at the last Assembly, the law was passed by the two chambers but then, it didn’t have the accent of the president but by God’s grace, we have brought it back to the floor and we expect the president to accent to it very soon”.

“We are going to fast track that law and make sure that you have legal backing to do what is expected of you. We shall have this law by next year 2024.

“There are certain things expected from the Nigerian Shippers Council, one of them is the International Cargo Tracking Note, ICTN.    ICTN, at Parliament, we would take it up, and whatever that is required will be done within the shortest possible time.

“One of our take home here today is that, we should have a Nigerian Shipping Commission and not a Council, this is what will strengthen the agency, you are supposed to be a Commission, you are the regulator of this all-important sector”

“The Maritime sector is expected to deliver 20 percent of our GDP but presently, it is doing 1 percent or less, this is unacceptable”

There are some key fundamentals that are expected of this Council. One of them is the ICTN. These are things that as a Parliament, we will take up and make sure that whatever is required to implement it is done within the shortest possible time”, Dasuki assured