Analyses

Nigerian Shippers’ Council: An economic regulator as hypocritical arbiter

Emmanuel Jime, NSC Boss

The Eyewitness Reporter

Today, Tuesday, October 24th, 2023, the looming disruption of port operations by the distraught freight forwarders who were protesting what they called a unilateral increase in terminal charges by the terminal operators, was dissipated when all the parties involved in the cargo value chain, especially the freight forwarders, were called for the re-negotiation of the increase.

The Nigerian Shippers’Council, which was said to have approved the initial increase without the involvement of the freight forwarders, beat a quick retreat amidst mounting pressure from the irate freight forwarders and called for a truce between the contending parties.

Yesterday, Monday, October 23rd, under the siege of the rampaging freight forwarders, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) who had stormed the corporate office of the Nigerian Shippers’Council Council, the Executive Secretary of the council, Emmanuel Jime, had quickly recanted the initial hike, said to be over 600 percent, admitting that there was an error in the process leading to the increase.

Held ” hostage” by the protesting freight forwarders troop, marshaled by the Field Commander, Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim, the National Coordinator, NAGAFF 100 percent Compliance team, Jime agreed that the council had made a mistake.

“There were certain steps that were not proper; so we will review them immediately” Jime admitted while addressing the irate freight forwarders on Monday, October 23rd, 2023.

“I’ll make sure that we re-engage the process in a way that will meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders in the industry.”

“I have personally discovered that our internal mechanism has not been properly implemented in order for us to arrive at the decision that we made.

“We made that decision, I cannot deny it, but the decision was made on the basis of some information that was provided by certain people.

.”We’ll review the decision,”

True to his words, Jime quickly convened a meeting among the terminal operators, shipping companies, and freight forwarders where the parties mutually agreed to a price hike of 400 percent.

With this, all parties were happy and the looming unrest in the port was dispersed.

The whole scenario has exposed the hypocrisy and insincerity of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council which is the economic regulator and statutory arbiter between the terminal operators and the shippers.

By its status and stature, the council is statutorily mandated to protect the interests of shippers against the imperialist tendency of the terminal operators.

It was at a later stage of its creation, that the scope of its functions was expanded to economic regulation which gives it the authority to mediate between the shippers and the service providers in terms of charges and services.

In the build-up to the initial increase which the council was said to have endorsed, why didn’t Jime and his management team do the right thing as espoused by the concession agreement that negotiations on price increase by the terminal operators should involve the shippers as represented by their agents and the terminal operators?

What is the input of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy who has to endorse the increase as recommended by the shippers council as contained in the concession agreement?

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council had all along been playing the Ostrich as its management kept sealed lips over the template adopted for the initial hike.

It was not until the heat from the agitating freight forwarders was getting unbearable that the Council’s Emmanuel Jime started to make his confession.

Like the politician he is, he was quick to recount the initial flawed process he was involved in order to stave off the looming unsavory consequence.

From the confession made by the Shippers’ Council boss, it was obvious that the council did not involve the freight forwarders in the initial process leading to the 600 percent now-rested hike.

It shows the height of insincerity and an act of complicity on the part of the Shippers ‘Council to have secretly approved the initial hike without following due process.

In as much as the terminal operators have the right to increase their charges, given the prevailing economic situation in the country, the shippers and their freight agents who will bear the brunt of the hike have the right to be part of the negotiation.

This was what the Shippers’Council did today, Tuesday, October 24th, 2023, though belatedly.

If the NAGAFF troop as commandeered by the fiery Tanko Ibrahim had not carried out physical blockage of some terminals and laid a siege on the headquarters of the Shippers’Council in protest, then it goes without saying that the initial hike would have gone unchallenged.

The council, in this matter, had given itself away as a biased and compromised arbiter whose hands have to be forced to do the right thing.

If the council had abinitio followed the due process in this matter, it would have saved the industry the avoidable tension that was generated in the last one week.

One thing stands out: no one, including the freight forwarders, has denied the necessity of a price hike, but the point of friction was the failure of the commercial regulator to toe the line of due diligence.

Unfortunately, the council, by this act of commission or omission, may have sustained a deep cut in its approval rating among the shippers whose interests it was statutorily created to protect and at the same time lost the confidence of the freight forwarders as an impartial arbiter.

Kudos to Tanko Ibrahim and his team who refused to be docile like the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) whose new leadership has displayed an unimaginable level of docility in this cause.

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Analyses

THE IBOM DEEP SEAPORT: Nigeria’s ultimate counterweight in West African maritime race

Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru

“A nation’s maritime greatness is not measured by the size of its conferences, but by the depth of its waters and the speed of its cargo.”

As the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) gathers in Lagos this week to deliberate on “Ports of the Future,” the conversation surrounding regional maritime supremacy has never been more urgent.

While the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy discuss logistical resilience, the structural limitations of Nigeria’s traditional Ports remain an elephant in the room.

To truly dominate the West and Central African sub-region and checkmate aggressive expansion from rivals like Lome and Tema, Nigeria must aggressively accelerate its ultimate maritime trump card: the Ibom Deep Sea Port (IDSP).

For decades, Nigeria’s economic heartbeat has been throttled by the geographical limitations of the Lagos Port Complex.

Even with the laudable arrival of the Lekki Deep Sea Port, the nation’s maritime infrastructure remains heavily centralized, leaving the eastern flank underutilized.

The Ibom Deep Sea Port, strategically carved into the coastline of Akwa Ibom State, offers a game-changing natural advantage with its 16.5-meter design draft coupled with a wide, unrestricted navigation channel.

Unlike the shallow, continually dredged channels of Apapa or Tin Can, IDSP requires no heavy maintenance dredging to welcome the world’s largest modern container vessels.

It is engineered to comfortably host Post-Panamax ships, effectively breaking the structural monopoly of regional hubs and positioning Nigeria as the definitive transshipment destination for the Gulf of Guinea.

Beyond these engineering metrics, the actualization of the Ibom Deep Sea Port represents a masterstroke in economic decentralization.

Strategically located within the Ibom Industrial City multi-product free zone, the Port sits squarely along major global shipping routes.

For Akwa Ibom State and the broader South-South and South-East geopolitical zones, IDSP is the catalyst for a massive industrial rebirth, promising to unlock over 10,000 direct jobs and establish a new industrial manufacturing corridor that feeds directly into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Yet, in the theater of governance, the standard remains Facta Non Verba—deeds, not words.

The recent submission of the Comprehensive Feasibility Report to Governor Umo Eno in April 2026 has reignited a fierce debate: does this document signal the dawn of a maritime revolution, or is it merely another chapter in a long-running political anthology?

For the people of Akwa Ibom State, the story of the IDSP has, for decades, been governed by Res Ipsa Loquitur—the thing speaks for itself—where the prolonged absence of an operational Port tells its own story of political promises fading into the sunset.

To change this narrative, the project must escape what is currently a technical reality trapped in a financial purgatory.

The road to actualizing the Port remains entangled in bureaucratic bottlenecks, complex Public-Private Partnership (PPP) negotiations, and shifting federal priorities.

A project of this magnitude, requiring billions in investment, cannot bypass rigorous technical gestation periods.

However, as Minister Gboyega Oyetola champions the Blue Economy agenda at PMAWCA, the IDSP must move from a recurring item on the promotional checklist to a top-tier national infrastructure priority.

Securing international consortium backing and streamlining regulatory approvals from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) must be handled with the utmost urgency because public necessity outweighs private or localized interests.

The real test of sincerity lies in the immediate transition from documentation to mobilization.

The next true sign of life for the IDSP will not be found in another boardroom presentation, but in the finalization of the concession agreement with the Bollore Consortium and the actual flag-off of dredging and breakwater construction, currently projected for late 2026.

Only when the first piling is driven into the seabed will the project move from the realm of political possibility into the undeniable light of economic reality.

Ultimately, you cannot build a “Port of the Future” on yesterday’s infrastructure.

While the PMAWCA roundtable in Lagos offers a fantastic platform for regional diplomacy, Nigeria’s true maritime liberation lies in the completion of deep-water frontiers like Ibom.

If the Federal Government is serious about Port resilience, trade connectivity, and sub-regional domination, the Ibom Deep Sea Port must be treated as what it truly is: a non-negotiable national security and economic imperative.

Chief Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.

Analyses

Tomorrow on ‘Monday Discourse with Nasiru’

Ahead of Tomorrow’s PMAWCA 2026 Opening: A Maritime Awakening or Continued Rhetoric?

Good evening, distinguished leaders and stakeholders.

As the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) Board of Directors converges on Lagos tomorrow , Monday, May 18th, 2026, the sub-regional race for maritime supremacy enters a critical week.

With our own NPA Managing Director, Abubakar Dantsoho, holding the gavel as PMAWCA President, Nigeria has a rare diplomatic leverage.

Yet, as we prepare to discuss “Ports of the Future” tomorrow morning, a sobering reality remains: can we truly checkmate aggressive infrastructure expansions from regional rivals like Lome and Tema using yesterday’s centralized, shallow-draft Port architectures?

True maritime power is governed by Res Ipsa Loquitur—the thing speaks for itself—and the prolonged underutilization of our Eastern maritime flank tells its own story.

While conferences celebrate regional integration, Nigeria’s ultimate economic counterweight remains trapped in the balance: The Ibom Deep Sea Port.

Tomorrow morning, I will be dropping a comprehensive, feature analysis titled: “THE IBOM DEEP SEA PORT: Nigeria’s Ultimate Counterweight in the West African Maritime Race.”

We will dissect the technical realities of the April 2026 Feasibility Report, the legal maxims governing public infrastructure delivery, and the high-stakes timeline of the Bolloré Consortium as we approach the late-2026 dredging benchmarks.

Let’s watch the opening statements closely tomorrow, but more importantly, let’s prepare to interrogate the execution metrics.

Full analysis drops tomorrow.

Have a productive night ahead.

Analyses

MONDAY DISCOURSE WITH NASIRU

Chief Nasiru Ibrahim

Chief Nasiru Ibrahim, the former General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has joined the stable of theeyewitnessnews as a guest columnist.

Every Monday, Chief Nasiru will delve into the diverse world of maritime, politics and business in a rich and engaging prose.

He will lay bare the intriguing issues in these areas of human endeavours in his Monday Discourse.

Please stay tuned!!!

Tomorrow, join Nasiru as he takes us into the depth of “money politics, the delicate case of delegates, the NDC as a new political bride and many more.

Is the “Delegate Disease” Finally Cured? 🗳️💻

“Whatever is hidden by the fog of political intrigue is eventually revealed by the light of the ballot.”

As Nigeria hits the May 10th deadline for digital membership registers, the 2027 primary cycle has reached its first major “survival” test.

In tomorrow’s deep dive:

🔹 The ₦100M Ticket: Why “Direct Primaries” are bankrupting party treasuries.
🔹 The NDC Surge: Following the May 3rd defection, can the new Obi-Kwankwaso alliance mobilize 10 million members in time to beat the clock?
🔹 The Death of the Delegate: Is power really moving back to the people, or just moving to a different kind of “money politics”?From the BVAS overhaul to the ₦135B legal “war chest,” we break down the high-tech, high-cost future of Nigerian democracy.

Keep a date with us as we drop the full article tomorrow