Vincent Toritseju
24 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, has called for the cooperation of both the public and private institutions operating in the nation’s maritime industry, saying this was necessary for the overall success of the sector.
Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Council Hassan Bello made the appeal as he reacted to the recent Lagos Court of Appeal judgment affirming the Council as the ports’ economic regulator.
Welcoming the judgment, Bello said the development will enable all stakeholders to come to the round table for the overall success of the maritime industry.
The Council’s boss said that the judgment did not declare anybody winner or loser and that “when any stakeholder wins everybody wins and anybody loses, everybody loses”.
The judgment, according to Bello, only calls for the cooperation of both the public and private institutions operating in the industry, adding that all the Council was interested in is to make maritime a value-adding sector of the nation’s economy.
He also said that the Council was ready to work with all stakeholder in the industry provided they play by the rules and regulations guiding its operations.
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Mr. Kayode Farinto, said the judgment was a welcome development and hoped that the terminal operators will not go to the Supreme Court on the case.
He said: “The era of impunity is gone. Gone are the days when any service provider will slam arbitrary charges on Nigerian bound cargoes”.
Speaking after the judgment the counsel to the Shippers’ Association, Lagos State, Barrister Emmanuel Nwagbara, said the court upheld the judgment of the lower court reversing storage charges collected by the terminal operators and the increase of the free storage period at the ports from three to seven days.
He said, “The court of appeal upheld the judgment of the lower court and the appeal of STOAN was dismissed and the counter claim of the second respondent which is the Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) is upheld.
“Recall that one of the issues was whether the interlocutory decision given by Justice Ibrahim Buba should be allowed to stand and this issue was raised on the appeal by appellant.
“Also, as a representative of SALS, I filed an objection to that leg of the appeal arguing that there was no leave sort and granted for the appellant to join that aspect of their complaint to the appeal in respect of the final judgement of the court. That was what the learned Justice was referring to preliminary objection.”
