The National Assembly yesterday harped on the need for Nigerians to appreciate the role being played by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in ensuring free movement of goods from one point to the order within the country and in protecting the interests of the poor shippers.
The Chairman, House Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways, Hon. Pat Asadu who made this known during their oversight visit to Council stated that while the Committee appreciates the position occupied by the Council, it would partner with it to ensure that it (Shippers’ Council) gets more money as well as get appreciated by Nigerians.
Asadu recalled the efforts of the Council in establishing a dry port in Kaduna to serve the interest of the shippers from the North-West in particular and the entire North in general, a project he said were being replicated in Anambra, Abia, Oyo and some other states in the federation which he said would decongest Lagos ports.
According to him,” This is a very important organization, many Nigerians have not appreciated how much this can achieve but here we were just informed that those who are importing goods in the north west, instead of coming to Lagos to clear, you can go to Kaduna and wait for your container and this project is supposed to be ongoing both in Anambra, in Abia in Oyo, in a lot of states and we want them to make sure that that is done because it will decongest Lagos and beyond that they protect the poor in the ports, that is the way we look at it. We have to partner with them and make sure they get more money and get appreciated”.
On why they were at the Council, the Chairman pointed out that the committee was at the Shippers’ Council as part of its oversight function to assess the budget performances of the Council in the outgone year of 2016 so as to enable it to see how to appropriate for the Council in the current year’s budget.
While stating that the Council had done well in the 2016 budget performances, he however informed that the Council would be coming back to the National Assembly to defend their 2017 budget proposal adding that areas where they had issues had been pointed out to them even as he admitted that there were still some areas the Council needed to improve upon.
“We are here mainly on routine thing, you know the National Assembly, what the constitution says is that we have power to appropriate funds for government enterprises but further, we need to follow how that money is used to make sure that what it is approved is applied as approved. As a committee and in the house, we have adopted a model that at regular intervals, we have to interact with agencies and find out how monies appropriated for them are being spent and if there are questions we raise them. This becomes more imperative once we are approaching a budget because we always feel it is wrong to give money, if you send somebody to do a trade and he is not spending the money well, you don’t give him more money. So, before we do the budget, like 2017, we must see how 2016 is spent. So we are here to look at the 2016 performances of the shippers’ council.
“Essentially, we have made our observations, it is an ongoing process, they are coming back to the National Assembly to do what we call defense of budget. So, if there are issues we have noticed, we have pointed it out to them but on the general, they have done well. There are still areas for them to look at. Of course you know what Nigeria is passing though, so, where performances have been low, because the revenue had not come the way we projected. We also offered suggestions on what they can be looking at to ensure that they get more money in this system and then spend the money”, he said.
Earlier in his welcome speech, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello appreciated the membership of the Committee for all the necessary assistance it had offered the Council to enable it deliver on its mandate.
While acknowledging the fact that the Council was well aware of the expectations of the Committee, Bello however hinted that they had strived to live up to the expectations of the Committee.
He said,” I welcome the Chairman and his members to Nigerian Shippers’ Council on oversight function especially on the performance of 2016 budget. We are always delighted to have you here, we have worked with this committee, we know the caliber of people in this committee, we know the expectations of this committee and we have tried as much as we can to live up to your expectations.
“I cannot but on behalf of the council be grateful to this committee for their contribution towards legislation and oversight functions and even most especially to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. They have helped this council to survive in no small measure and when the history of the development of the council and the maritime industry is written, I know that this committee will occupy a noticeable chapter”.
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