From Anthony Nwachukwu, Lagos

To address some of the challenges hampering business growth in the shipping segment of Nigeria’s maritime and blue economy, the House of Representatives has promised to facilitate the establishment of a maritime bank.

Chairman of the House Committee on Shipping Services, Abdulsalam Dasuki, gave the assurance Thursday during the committee’s oversight visit to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) in Lagos.

Dasuki, who was responding to the challenges listed by the council, including capital flight, as affecting the shipping and port segment, said the committee would “look into the possibility of championing the maritime bank.

“The maritime sector – key players and ship owners – will have their own bank. The whole idea is to stop the capital flight we currently have in the maritime sector.

“I believe we are going to have not only the support of the House of Representatives but the entire National Assembly to make sure that this is done.

“Also, we are going to have the ship owners, together with your (NSC) team to see how we can improve the services for the ship owners in Nigeria, and that sitting will be done as soon as possible.”

Stating that the bill to make NSC the true regulator has passed the second reading, Dasuki assured that public hearing on the “all-important bill that we believe will be the catalyst for changing our economy” will hold soon.

According to him, “the challenges have been highlighted; the expectations from this agency and other maritime-related agencies, I believe, can do much better when that law is passed.”

However, the committee asked for further briefing on one of the expected provisions in the bill – the 1% freight stabilisation fund – at the budget defence.

Moreover, “we have taken note of the current issues happening with the Ministry of Finance with regards to your 50% revenue generation, which you highlighted as not a revenue-generating agency.

“I believe you have the relevant support from us to ensure that you get all these funds that are due to your agency.

“After getting the funds, we will expect you in return to deliver more and do what is expected by bringing more money to Nigeria.

“I am happy that you vowed that the Nigerian Shippers Council is going to ensure that Nigeria’s GDP will grow based on your contributions by the end of 2024.

“I will like to encourage you to do more; let us put our words into action so that by the time we are here for another oversight, we should be having good figures coming up based on some of the resolutions that we are going to make.

Earlier, the agency, while listing the many challenges  arising from the absence of a legislation empowering it as the Port Economic Regulator, had disclosed in its presentation that it saved N33,116,861,421.99 billion from capital flight.

The NSC Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akuta Pius Ukeyima, stated that the added role of port economic regulator places more work on the agency to regulate the sector.

This is especially with the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy with the mindset “to diversify the Nigerian economy from purely crude oil to other sectors beyond crude oil export and import.

“By this mandate, we are required to, more than ever before, facilitate trade and ensure the efficiency of all the ports operating in Nigeria, so that business will thrive and Nigeria will make money.”

Banking on the support of the committee for a speedy passage of the enabling bill, Akuta said: “We now have a committee that is centred purely on shipping services in the House of Representative.

“We believe that our close collaboration and cooperation will see the rapid development of the sector.

“We believe at the Shippers’ Council that at the end of 2024, if we have not contributed to the national GDP by way of our activities, in terms of naira and kobo, we have not achieved any result.

“We are counting on you to give us the massive protection that will push us forward to achieving all of that.

“The bill (to make the NSC the port economic regulator) is needed to push this agency to attain all of the objectives set before us. Without that, it will be very difficult for us to even navigate our ways.”

Justifying the imperative of the passage of the bills, the NSC disclosed that it sanitised the joint boarding of vessels and joint cargo examination by all relevant agencies, taking it from 120 to an average of 230 boxes daily.

It also saved the country N58,422,884 billion as over 95% of vessels that called at the Nigerian ports and terminals from March 2023 to date left without incidents.

More so, it saved N6138,288,645,019 billion in five years through the port service support portal, through which it received complaints against arbitrary charges, container deposit refund, import and export fund, among others.

Likewise, it saved N167,113,819,613,56 billion through tariff negotiations, among others.