By Chinedu Ukatu

By way of introduction, the Ndigboamaka Progressive Markets Association is the Umbrella body of major/international markets in Lagos State and by extension representing the trade/business (shipping and ports) interests of the largest numbers of the international shippers across the markets.

It is not an overstatement that our association is the entry point of over 23 million traders across board.

Firstly, this press release serves as a prelude to  the scheduled world press conference which shall be jointly anchored along with our affiliate partners, before we step into the peak period.

Motive:

The motives propelling the proposed joint world press conference, primarily, is to resist all manner of negative name callings  and choice belittling classifications of our sector, aimed at discrediting us  (trading public/shippers) with bad names and staining our images over time, such as ‘informal sector’ and unorganised’ just in a bid to continually extort and ridicule our business interests while arm twisting the game of  enriching fellow Nigerians who are ideally, under oath to serve and protect the interest of the federal government, but  chooses to collude with the trading public in their profitization stakes and then turn around to give same traders  bad names and  often treat them as a nonentity in the scheme of industry equations.

This thriving act is not acceptable, anymore.

The Need for a Central Regulatory Coordination

Permit us to emphatically register our support for any positive step that will engender the enthronement of an independent industry economic regulatory regime, enabled by legislative enactments, provided such enactments will not be at the detriments of the Nigerian shippers.

You may recall that, just last week the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Shippers Council, Barrister Pius Akutah in a joyous mood announced that the House of Representatives have passed ‘The Nigeria shipping and Port Economic regulatory Bill.’

Also, may we carefully inform here that, prior to this time we had written to the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Shippers Council, soliciting for a clarifications over salient issues of interests to the Nigerian shippers, which was not accorded a deserved attention, just for the joyous mood of this day.

This singular act of undermining, perhaps was resorted to, owing to the so many wrong allusions and assumptions that, non organised private sector, should be regarded as inconsequential, which was conscripted, as a response to the smartly industry conceived so-called term “non-compliant trading public” by another agency of government, which we regard as a selfishly crafted nomenclature to hold down the trading public, who today are the largest employer of labour, financial contributors and narrow heads driving the  economic and social development in the nation.

The spate of this self-serving industry terminology and arm twisting shall be visited in the joint press conference.

Our Findings and Concerns Prior to the Bill Passage:

We suddenly discovered that the body language and activities of the Nigeria Shippers Council suggest that it has lesser interests in protecting the shippers, especially, so in the face of its quest to metamorphose into shipping and economic regulator, with much emphasis on revenue interests, and the enthusiasm and zeal with which the process was fast forwarded,  made us to contemplate the adverse effects of government resources as a boondoggle.

We contemplate so with the hindsight that the intents of the new proposed bill is to repeal shippers protection interests and in its place, be replaced for an industry economic regulator body, which targets is mostly driven by revenue objectives with additional charges and levies imposition, being targeted at the Nigeria shippers directly and indirectly.

To buttress this contemplation, we note that:

1. The bill states that one of its core objectives is to “establish the Nigeria Shipping and Port Economic Regulatory Agency as an economic regulatory authority (hereinafter referred to in this bill as “the agency”) for the shipping and port sector (in this bill referred to as “the regulated sector”) and to set out the objectives, scope, functions, and powers of the agency”.

Furthermore, with respect to the above and haven gone through the proposed bill, as it stands, you will agree with us that, it is obvious that, this proposed bill clearly jettisons the original intents of protecting the shipping interests of the Nigerian shippers (as listed in the NSC Act 133 2004).

With this, the Nigeria Shippers Council will now join the leagues of  shippers exploiters, better said, as one of stakeholders in the international trade supply chain, milking the shippers dry, especially within the shipping and port value adding supply chain.

2. The bill proposes indirect fees to be imposed or passed unto the Nigerian shippers.

We noted that section 26 of the proposed bill centres on the “Establishment of the Fund of the Agency”.

Also, we noted that, with respect to Sub Section 26 (2c – i and ii) of the bill which states that:

The agency shall establish and maintain a fund from which shall be defrayed all expenditure incurred by the agency.

Subsection 2C (i) “a charge of three percent of carriage or  contract or charter fees or charges to be collected by shipping companies, lines, carriers, agents, or haulers and paid over to the agency.

And subsection 2C (ii) states “two percent of gross tariff earnings of service providers in the regulated sector to be collected by the agency” – all of these shall be passed on to us in the long run.

Our Hue and Cry in the International Frontiers

As international trading public, we have continued to put forth our great hue and cry protesting that there is something wrong with our whole shipping and port system, especially, with respect to double handlings and obnoxious charges without cost functions.

For the record, our hue and cry goes in the areas of:

1. A maritime industry where regulators publicize zero piracy attacks on the Nigeria’s bound vessels, yet an economic regulator prefers that, the “international war risk insurance charges” be imposed on its shippers without recourse.

2. An industry where global actors expresses grave concerns on geo-political tensions, rising shipping costs and emerging industrial policies restrictions which could reshape global trade patterns negatively, yet a supposedly shippers interests protector, prefers to fold its hands, even seen romanticizing issues with stakeholders, while the shippers are being exploited and distorted, all in the name of inter-agency collaborations which to us was consented to, aimed to wet ground and garner support in its quest to metamorphose into an industry economic regulator.

3. An industry where the interests of the Nigerian shippers no longer matter to its protecting council, as it appears comfortable and resort to the backbench while the international carriers and other stakeholders in the international trade and port value supply chain endlessly chronicles all form of logical and illogical charges both official and unofficial against the shippers.

4. To our chagrin, the protective council in its meetings engagements where we are being recognized us as the pitiable chicken that lays the golden eggs in the supply chain. Invariably, we are the “sacrificial party cow” that must be butchered and cut into pieces as “suya for all” without recourse.

5. As international trading public, we now find ourselves in an industry where we are often exploited and compelled against unknown international best practices and norms, and against our will to we accept and pay illogical charges and fees above industry and sub-region  average, especially to both multinational and local entities, just because we have been politically classified  for commercial interests as “non-compliant trading public”, whiles in truth those who classified us as such are the ones who are actually not compliant with their trade fiscal and monetary policies.

6. As international trading public, we directly and indirectly pay for their gross inconsistency, unpredictable tariff regime, always shifting goal posts in the middle of the game and thus leaving a patriotic business man who is profit driven to fall into an operationally crafted selfish system created to serve more of selfish purposes than common interests as proven “in every trade malpractices, it takes two to tangle”.

7. Unfortunately, no regulatory agency will is seen or been deployed to ascertaining the negative impact of all this directly and indirectly imposed charges on the Nigeria shippers. No, it does no longer interests anyone, especially in the face of rising inflation, thus further impoverishing the consuming public who are already saturated and grappling with too many bills mostly in the face of ailing economic hardship (hunger and starvation.).

8. Regrettably, the Nigeria Shippers Council we knew before now was a council that took several steps to combat industry monopoly in an industry where virtually no competition thrives, especially in the port value adding supply chain. Here, that same council is gearing up to join the leagues that exploit the Nigerian shippers.

9. We observed, to our astonishment  as it seems as if the council we respect for its doggedness but now hobnobs with agencies which  ideally it is  expected  to regulate or call to order, being at the forefront of penciling same down for a presidential industry performance merit certification/awards and not the other way round.

10. We never would expect that this council takes an industry pose like other regulatory stakeholders in the maritime industry that has continued, exhibiting the mentality of mere shopkeepers without an inventory and novation. As it stands, none ever cared or bothered, why must cost of doing business in our port remains very high, nor anyone sincerely worried about the impact of high cost of clearing cargo out of the ports or the image of the nation being tagged or classified as one of the globally unfriendly ports.

11. We did observed too, that in a dramatic twist, the operationally focused, ever dedicated, pleasant and passionate staffs of the council, we reputed for their technical know-how and patriotic spirit, are now helplessly shifting with a bye-bye looks on their faces, waving at the Nigerian shippers even as they appears to be either manipulated for political elites sakes to jettison their loves for the Nigerian shippers while the political elites representative uses moral suasion to keep them helpless in advancing the cause of protecting the shippers interests as its key obligations. This indeed, is an unfortunate situation. But to all the wonderful staff, we still owe our gratitude.

Conclusion:

“I do not care if I throw every single weapon or reactor into the ocean after we are done. We will have modernized French industry”

These were the passionate words of De Gaulle in its efforts and commitment to develop an independent market places  and modernize the French industry in general.

With the present vacuum in the protection of the Nigerian shippers’ interests, we shall uphold the same spirit of De Gaulle, to pursue via legislative mechanism, an independent shippers protection commission.

Thank you so much for your time.

*Being excerpts of the press statement by the President General, Ndigboamaka Progressive Markets Association (NPMA), Comrade Chinedu Ukatu in Lagos…recently.

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