Assessing The National Transport Commission Bill

Stakeholders have expressed support for the Nigerian Shippers Council to be transmuted into the National Transport Commission if the bill is finally passed by the National Assembly. In this report, YUSUF BABALOLA examines the bill and its impending benefits.

one bill Maritime operators and stakeholders have been eagerly waiting for it passage is the National Transport Commission Bill. The bill for many years has been at the national assembly waiting for passage though for inexplicable reasons, this all-important bill has been ignored, disparaged and neglected.
It still remains a mirage while a bill that was meant to grow the transport sector and the economy would suffer such a fate at the national assembly. It has passed and survived through two national assemblies during which it was neither thrown out nor given the treatment it deserved by passing it into law.
It was observed that the need for a broader regulatory agency to cover economic regulation for marine, road and rail Transportation led to the conception of the NTC Bill in 2008.  With the recognition of the overriding need for a transport commission which has a clearer thrust on the maritime sector, the bill not given the kind of aggressive advocacy as was given the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is still on course for concern.
Benefit of the NTC Bill
Nigeria maritime trade alone accounted for 85 per cent of the country’s trade and therefore a properly regulated maritime sector, would yield a whopping average of N7 trillion on a yearly basis for the nation’s economy. According to a former director at the Ministry of Transport and a member of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr. Collins Okoroafor, “Nigerian Ports is over 35 million tonnes and Nigeria is very active in international Trade,” he said.
Also speaking, Emeka Akabogu, a maritime lawyer, said the National Transport Commission Bill is the most important bill for the transport sector in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the bill has been marooned by the National Assembly.” He noted that the bill establishes a commission for the economic regulatory framework for the transportation of people and goods in the country.
“Agencies are like the foot soldiers of the president in achieving regulatory goals,” he noted. According to him, there are two levels of regulation: compliance or technical regulation and economic regulation.
The National Transport Commission will be an economic regulator that will not deal with technicalities of the operations of transport, or compliance, but will ensure that there is fair commercial operation amidst competitive practices and ensure efficiency in transport services provision by the operators. The commission’s primary task will be economic regulation for the transport sector – ports, inland waterways and land transport – which includes railway and road, he explained in a recent chat with newsmen.
Explaining further he said, Section 5 of the bill specifically provides the functions of the commission as thus: “Create an economic regulatory framework for the provision of transport services and facilities; facilitate effective competition, promote competitive market conduct and ensure that the misuse of monopoly or non-transitory market power is prevented in the provision of transport services, (as well as) promote private sector participation in the provision of transport services.
Other tasks for the commission include to “ensure that operators and users have equitable access to the use of transport facilities, services, channels and routes while having regard to the level of competition in and efficiency of the regulated transport industry and monitor the performance of the regulated sector.”
To do these, the bill envisages that the NTC shall exercise powers to implement government’s economic regulatory policies on transport; protect the interest of users of transport services by ensuring that prices are fair and reasonable while having regard for competition in the regulated industry.
Why Shippers’ Council Should Transmute To NTC
It is significant that the proposed NTC Bill prescribes similar functions for the NTC as those being currently performed by the Nigerian Shippers Council.  According to Barrister Chibuzo Ekwekwuo, more powers will enable the Nigerian Shippers Council to make strong regulation and issue guidelines and regulatory notices for economic regulation without incurring the inconveniences of going through unnecessary litigation.
Ekwekwuo however supported Shippers Council to be transmuted into NTC. Also sharing this sentiment is the Executive Secretary of the Council, Barr Hassan Bello. He said it would be more reasonable and economical to transform the NSC into the NTC instead of creating a new agency which would amount to unnecessary duplication.
In his words, what the NSC needs at the moment to reenergise is to effectively perform its role in the industry within an appropriate legal framework. However, it is believed that what is required of the National Assembly is to look into the needs and come up with the envisaged permanent legal framework to support the performance of the council’s additional role of economic regulation in the maritime industry and transport, through transmutation of the National Transport Commission.
Also, stakeholders lamented that the bane of the Nigerian transportation system is its non-connectivity. We think that one of the things that the NTC will achieve is interconnectivity among all the modes. Besides, the Shippers’ Council is gradually metamorphosing from its small enclave of being ‘the protector of Nigerian shippers’ to a more engaged agency; working for all. Transmuting to NTC is in furtherance of its current assignment as the Economic Regulator.
Stakeholders Task National Assembly On Quick passage of NTC
Maritime stakeholders have at different fora called on the national assembly to put politics aside and pass the bills to ensure a better future for the maritime sector. According to the President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero “These bills cannot be a political bill whereby I am passing it because I am the Managing Director today.
“It is a bill that will mid­wife and reshape the maritime industry for the betterment of the economy” he said.  Stating what Nigeria is losing to Non passage of the bill, Amiwero said,” we are losing out, we control almost 80 per cent of the cargoes within the sub region and we have lost up to 60 per cent of the cargoes to our neighbouring countries.
We have lost all our freight components to our neighbouring countries and you found out that Nigerians are moving out to all these neighbouring coun­tries. They are the one do­ing the business there. What is the population of strength of Cote D’Ivoir, they are not more than 40 million but their tonnage is higher than Nigeria and who is the owner of those goods there, they are Nigeria goods.
“Togo, what is their population strength they are not more than Lagos and look at their tonnage; go round and see what we are talking about, it not just that some civil servant sit­ting down in Lagos and start to tell you one things or the other. Nigeria is losing out in a very serious way and this is very serious issues be­cause the freight components which create employment are being diverted to other countries.
“Once a ship diverts, it goes with the freight components and you come back with the cargoes. The freight components are those charges that are sup­posed to be for Nigerians. For in­stance, if a cargo which is sup­posed to be for Lagos is diverted to Togo, the charges the ship­ping company is sup­posed to charge, the service the terminal operators is sup­posed to charge and the charges the licensed custom agent is sup­posed to charge and the transporters are now going to be charged there.”
He added, “And when these goods come in, they come in just like that and only pay import duty. So, those components are what we call freight components be­cause we paid you for it. So, Nigerians are entitled to their freight payment. That’s why in all over the world, freights are teamed with struggle be­cause that freight is what gen­er­ate employment. In our case, our freights are left alone for diversion and more than 60 per cent are out of this coun­try. And these goods are still coming into this country perfectly. That is why you find out that our unemployment level is terribly high.
Another maritime industry operators who expressed regret at the non-passage of the maritime sector bills at the national assembly is Vicky Haastrup.‎ Haastrup who also doubles as the Chairman, Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), bemoaned the non-passage of the bill saying it constitutes a major source of concern to the concessionaires, especially given the huge investments they have already in Nigeria’s port industry.
She said that as an executive bill, the process of passage of the  Bill, for instance, should ordinarily not take longer that one year, but has regrettably lasted for more than eight years. “The non passage of the Bill will continue to give the concessionaires serious course for concern. I particularly used to bother so much because a bill such as this should not take longer than one year to be passed into law,” she said.
Another maritime lawyer, Barr. Chima Nwana said a bill for An Act to Establish a National Transport Commission as an Independent Multimodal Economic Regulator for the Transport Industry and for Other Related Matters will increase private sector participation in the maritime sector, stressing that there was need to allow stakeholders collaboration with government to improve regulation.
Customs To Rake Billions As FG Begins Online Auction of Seizures
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is set to rake in billions of naira from auctioning of cars, trucks, tankers, leather and other items seized from smugglers who ostensibly wanted to evade duty payment to the federal government.
Recall that the new auction policy is coming 19 months after Customs auctions were suspended following the voluntary retirement of the former Comptroller-General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi.
However, the Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) approved online auction but only for tax payers with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) issued Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be eligible to participate in a new auction sales of seized items by the Service. According to investigation, the process is part of the guidelines contained in a new e-auction portal to be deployed for disposing of seizures that have undergone the process of court condemnation.
The portal, www.trade.gov.ng require applicants to input recent passport photo with a payment of non refundable administrative fee of N1000. The new e- auction  portal for the sales of seized items at  Customs Commands across the country is expected to reduce congestion in the various government warehouses and increase revenue from the sales.
The process is a way of enhancing transparency, reduce human contacts and ensure that only the highest bidders for any auctioned item take it. Aside Tax Identification Number (TIN) by prospective bidders, other terms and conditions includes exclusion of customs officers and their families from participating in the bidding process either directly or by proxy.
The guidelines also indicate that auctioned items cannot be replaced or funds paid refunded to bidders. Successful bidders are expected to make payments within five working days as auctioned items whose winners fail to pay within the period forfeit the auctioned item to the second highest bidder.
Successful bidders will be given a period 14 days from the date of payment to remove the item bidded for or forfeit it at expiration of the period. Any auctioned item not removed from the warehouse within 14 days from the date of payment shall revert to its pre-bidding status which makes such item open for sale again.
Winners in the auction process are also expected to pay  25 per cent of the auction amount to the Terminal Operator with another  25 per cent of the auction amount to the shipping line operator.
Owners of seized items are excluded from bidding for them but may however participate in the bidding of other items while owners of overtime items with evidence of payment of duty and other charges has priority over a successful bidder of the item provided the item has not been exited out of the Customs control.
Interested persons will be expected to access what is put for sale through NCS trade portal i.e www.trade.gov.ng  interests to bid and the system will trigger victory to the highest bidder. Aside being transparent, the new method will also increase the amount of revenue government makes from auctions as bidding will be competitive and devoid of bias or favouritism.
Hitherto, the service had done auctions through issuance of documents to beneficiaries with which such beneficiaries approached the warehouses before making payments to designated banks. This method was viewed as not being transparent as beneficiaries of the auctions were believed to have been selected through a non competitive process.
Confirming the development, Joseph Attah, spokesman for Nigeria Customs, said the Comptroller General took time to entrench the new method that requires deploying of ICT, avoiding human contact and influences. He said apart from increase of revenue for Government, the online platform will ensure integrity of the process.
Attah added that the new system is undergoing a test run for applicant acceptability before it is open to the public for access and transactions. President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the distribution of perishable items like rice, soap, clothes, vegetable oil etc  to  internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across the country.