By Seun Ibiyemi
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Dr. Pius Akutah, has disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu returned the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) Bill to the Ministry of Justice for review due to concerns over the mandate section and the proposed one per cent Freight Stabilisation Fee.
Dr. Akutah revealed this while speaking with maritime reporters on the sidelines of the visit by the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, to Lagos.
According to him, the identified issues have now been addressed, and the Bill has been forwarded to the National Assembly for reassessment before being transmitted back to the Presidency for assent.
“The NPERA Bill was returned by Mr. President to the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for advisory due to issues raised over the mandate section of the Bill, the one per cent Freight Stabilisation Fee, and the new role of the Shippers’ Council as Port Economic Regulator,” Akutah explained.
He said the Council met with the Attorney-General of the Federation, and both parties have resolved the grey areas after reviewing the Presidential Order of 2015 and accompanying regulations, which officially designated the Shippers’ Council as the Port Economic Regulator.
“Those issues created a little bit of confusion, but that has been resolved because the Gazette of the Presidential Order of 2015 and the regulations of 2015 have all been handed over to the Minister of Justice,” he said.
“The Ministry has now seen that the Council’s mandate was established by the presidential order, and the necessary corrections have been made. The Bill has gone back to the National Assembly on its way to Mr. President for assent.”
Dr. Akutah noted that the legislative review was necessary because a bill already passed by the National Assembly cannot be corrected without parliamentary input.
“The corrections are not so many, just a few regarding the mandate and the one per cent freight fee,” he clarified. “Once the National Assembly resumes from recess, it will review the corrections and forward the Bill back to the President.”
Providing further context, the NSC boss said the misunderstanding about the Council’s mandate arose because the Ministry of Justice was unaware of the 2015 Presidential Order and accompanying regulations, which had already defined the Council’s economic regulatory powers.
He added that the clause on the one per cent Freight Stabilisation Fee was also revised to clarify that the charge was a revenue source for the agency rather than its primary funding mechanism.
Dr. Akutah expressed confidence that the updated version of the NPERA Bill would soon receive Presidential assent, describing the legislative fine-tuning as a “temporary hitch” that had been fully resolved.