The executive secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council ( NSC), Barr. Pius Akutah, on Sunday, said the Council under his leadership saved the country over N46 billion in the last one year.
Akutah who disclosed this at a media parley in Lagos to mark his one year in office said N40 billion was saved through confirmation of reasonableness of demurrage, freight rates, and charter party agreement while the N6 billion savings accrued from the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism of its complaints unit.
Akutah attributed the N40 billion savings to an innovative application developed by the Council eight months ago, automating calculations for freight, charter fees and others.
He said, ‘We have saved this country over N40 billion in the last one year by confirming the reasonableness of party charter, fees, and all that. We have saved this money in the economy. The economy would have been worse off if that money was not saved in the economy.
“And this was done because of an app that we have introduced in the last eight or nine months, which has actually helped us to automate the system for calculation of the reasonableness of freight, charter, fees, and all that.
“I also want to thank the Complaint Unit. With the work that you have done in the last one year, we have also saved this country about six billion naira, which would have gone into legal fees and would have caused more damage to the economy by way of orders that we ground some ships and ground some of the activities in the sector that would lead to huge economic loss. But we have not only saved about six billion of that money.
We have also improved the quality of trade by a singular act of resolving those conflicts in an ADR manner.”
Akutah also speaks on other significant strides achieved by the Council including efforts at promoting trade and efficiency to move the industry forward.
According to him, one of the Council’s notable achievements is the passage of the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency Bill by the House of Representatives, which is now awaiting Senate concurrence.
Akutah expressed optimism that the Senate will give its concurrence in the coming weeks, paving the way for the President’s assent.
He said the bill, when passed into law, will not only enhance the Council’s efficiency but also provide an opportunity to begin to harmonise trade laws within Africa.
His words, “By the grace of God, I believe that in the few weeks coming ahead, the Senate will have given its concurrence for that bill and we await the assent of Mr. President. I believe that the bill is one of the major initiatives that Mr. President is taking to reposition this sector towards economic growth, economic boom, for job creation, and many other sectoral achievements that will come following the passage of that law.
I want to believe that all of us that gave support to this bill understand that the law is coming into being to reposition the industry in terms of what is happening globally concerning trade and commerce, and even within African territory.” Akutah emphasised the urgency to capitalise on the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), which opens up a vast market of over 1.5 billion people with a combined GDP of $4 trillion.
He stressed the need for Nigeria’ to position itself to tap into opportunities presented by the free trade agreement and develop its markets.
Part of the strategies to achieve this, the NSC boss said, is the Council’s renewed collaboration with stakeholders, shipping companies and other government agencies involved in trade facilitation as well as development of the manufacturing sector to boost local production for export to other African countries.
Akutah highlighted the importance of maritime logistics in implementing the AfCFTA, citing connectivity within the African region as a major challenge. He said. “If you look at what is happening in the implementation of the African Free Continental Trade Area Agreement, one of the focus and one of the areas of failure if we don’t act very fast would be the issue of maritime logistics, because you will see that right now connectivity within the African region is a major challenge.
“How will goods move within Africa if we don’t promote the connectivity, the intermodal system of transportation to be able to move goods freely?” To address this, he said the Council is partnering with mega shipping companies around the world with a plan to transform Nigeria into a maritime logistics hub for Africa.
“Will we ensure that working together, we build the necessary infrastructure in maritime logistics which is one of the major areas that we are focusing on now to ensure that goods are moving.
“We need to encourage ourselves and pool in resources that can help us to look inwards but also look at partnering with other entities outside the country so that they can come together in a collaborative manner to set up this hub in Nigeria,” Akutah said.
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