The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has commissioned a law firm to study all the existing laws that had to do with transportation with the sole aim of codifying a legal regime to guide the operation of inland transport in the country.
The Executive Secretary of the Council, Barr. Hassan Bello who disclosed this in a chat with Primetime Reporters in Lagos decried the absence of a legal framework to guide the operation of inland transportation in the country.
Bello hinted that the council would be extremely practical this year in its bid to realize a lot of things in the nation’s maritime sector adding that there must be a connection, arguing that there was multimodal transport in the country but what was lacking was the intermodals.
“There must be a connection, there is multimodal but as you said, intermodal is the problem. What is the connection between the different modes of transport? This is important. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, there is a gap, a legal regime is missing about inland transport. What is the liability? What is the insurance cover? So, Nigerian Shippers’ Council has commissioned a law firm to study all the laws.
“So, we have to make laws for all these things and sanitize these things and make sure that if you carry these goods, you don’t default. We are working with RTEAN, NARTO< AMATO, we are still having a meeting because we are going to have registration of tucks, we can’t have rickety vehicles bringing goods to the ports anymore. One person one truck, no! You have to have a registered company and then you have to have a minimum of six trucks in your fleet”, he said.
“Now, you have the six fleet, we will look at that, you register the trucks, we see five for one month and we didn’t see one, we will ask you, Oga what happened now? Where is the sixth one and he says, it just spoiled and we will tell him, you can’t operate now when you are shorting one and then there is a tracking system in you trailer, you must put it because most of this drivers go to a particular place and stay for five days, nobody knows what they are doing. We will know that a truck is not moving from this office.
“So, they are forced to employ people, University graduates with computers who will be managing their fleet. So, that is how employment comes. But here is a man, he has one truck, he comes with the driver, sometimes he drives it or gives it to 18 year old boy to drive an articulated vehicle and kills people and then the containers falling off. It does not happen anywhere, only in this country. Why wouldn’t you have it latched with the body? Because some are not latchable and you allow it, no! it cannot happen. We have to enforce these things because we are human beings”.
When reminded that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) last year carried out truck registration exercise last year at the ports, he said,” NPA has their own work cut out for them. It is not us, in fact, sometimes when you hear me say these things, it doesn’t mean that we are going to do it, it could be appropriate something, like the management of traffic, we are working with the World Bank, we brought the World here, they saw the traffic, they have now analysed the traffic, they have seen that the one of Apapa-Tincan logistic ring, at every moment, there were 5, 000 trucks but what you need is 1, 300 tucks. So, the rest, what are they doing?
“So, now, the World Bank will come and pot electronic gate. It is only when you are needed that you can access the Apapa. So, we will never have this gridlock here. But when we study it, we may okay, NPA go ahead with it. So, but we initiated all these things, then we look at the appropriate department and say, carry on with the project. Our own is to be involved in everything”.
He however disclosed that the traffic Management will be having meetings on the 24th (hopefully today) adding that all these would have to undergo the processes, including the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Council (ICRC), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the procurement process and so on even as he said that NPA had been very dynamic saying that it had shown leadership, so also the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Send your news, press releases/articles as well as your adverts to info@primetimereporters.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @reportersinfo and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
