The Nigerian Shippers Council has made it mandatory for all port users to register online, noting, however, only 185 users have registered so far since the portal was introduced.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the Council, Barr Pius Akutah, during a stakeholder’s workshop at its head office in Lagos.
The registration of port users and service providers, which has been neglected for a long time, is now a priority especially against the backdrop of recent concerns reportedly expressed about the matter by the nation’s cabinet and legislative organs of government.
The NSC Act requires the council to provide a comprehensive database of all users of the nation’s seaports.
The NSC boss, who was represented by the Director of Consumer Affairs, Chief Carjetan Agu, noted that those who do not register may be barred from further participation in port trade and services in accordance with the Act.
Akutah said, “Only about 185 port operators have so far registered with the council and urged those that have not done so to take advantage of the sensitisation to do so before the commencement of enforcement.”
Agu informed stakeholders at the workshop that the process of registration had transited from manual to online registration. This is even as he stressed that the process is compulsory, hence with inherent sanctions in the event of non-compliance.
He said, “All operators are bound by the NSC (Port Economic Regulations) Act of 2015 to register with the council. You cannot come to us for assistance if you are not registered with the NSC; you have to register to derive the inherent benefits.”
Responding to stakeholders’ complaints that they are already licensed and or registered by relevant agencies of government in the line of their particular port businesses, Agu clarified that whereas port users mandatory registration with the council as the port economic regulator supersedes individual trade registration, the process, he further explained, takes precedence over and above particular trades or occupation.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs, Mr Celestine Akinjobi, provided additional insights on the efficacy of the registration exercise and appealed to all stakeholders to avail themselves of the exercise within the prescribed time frame, which is reportedly third quarter of 2024.
“Shippers Council believes in persuasion and not coercion, but when we discover that the level of compliance is low, we might be forced to uphold the law, because there are certain provisions that prescribe punishment for non-registration.
“One of the benefits of registration is passing of information. Also in the past, people bring in offensive goods at the port and upon investigation, they will say they were imported by faceless shippers. But after this registration, the issue of faceless shippers will become a thing of the past,” Akinjobi said.
The Deputy Director, ICT, Benjamin Ivwighreghweta, disclosed that different categories of operators are charged different administrative fee for the registration, ranging from N30,000 to N300,000.
He also provided wide range explanations on the available online quick registration processes, which he said was very interactive and easy to accomplish, hinting of the dynamics of the benefits of the registration.
Ivwighreghweta said, “If you are a regulator, you are supposed to know your customers; it is in this spirit that we are carrying out this exercise. When we started, it was a manual process, but we have now automated the registration process. Within minutes, even from the comfort of your homes, you can go through the registration process, make payments and equally print your certificate by yourself.”
Speaking against the backdrop of complaints by some stakeholders who claimed to have made payments and not captured in the data, he urged for patience and diligence to correctly fulfill all that is required to achieve effective registration.
