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 invisible toll gates:Why National Single Window is Nigeria’s ultimate economic battleground

Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru

Walk into any market in Nigeria today, from the commercial hubs of Lagos to the roadside stalls in Yola, and ask why a bag of rice or an imported spare part costs three times what it did last year.

The typical public commentator will blame global inflation, floating currencies, or macro-economic shocks.

But those who understand logistics know the real truth lies buried under layers of paper, manual stamps, and artificial delays at our seaports.

Nigeria’s international trade is suffocating not from a lack of deep water, but from a deliberate design of convenience.

The recent operational rollout of the National Single Window (NSW) has triggered behind-the-scenes panic among Port cartels, and for good reason.

For decades, keeping our clearing processes fragmented, manual, and dependent on desk-to-desk human interaction was the perfect business model for syndicates.

When cargo dwell times drag on for 21 days, those delays are money in the pockets of the gatekeepers and a death sentence for local businesses.

Let us look at the raw field realities. The push by the Nigeria Customs Service to aggressively crash clearance times down to global 48-hour standards is meeting fierce internal resistance.

Why? Because a unified digital ecosystem means you cannot easily manipulate documentation, hide illicit cargo, or demand “mobilization fees” before signing off a container.

The outcry and protests from certain freight-forwarding syndicates aren’t about technical glitches; they are about the sudden closure of invisible toll gates.

This is exactly why governance at our national gateways can no longer be left to the mercy of transactional bureaucratic habits.

Building deep-sea infrastructure like Lekki Port is a massive physical achievement, but concrete and cranes are useless if the administrative processes at the gate remain backward.

Real structural reform requires turning our Ports into automated, friction-free pipelines that prioritize production over rent-seeking.

If Nigeria wants to survive this fiscal squeeze, the National Single Window cannot just be treated as another glossy IT project launched in Abuja.

It requires unyielding administrative enforcement to completely dismantle the corrupt cartels managing the manual desk chains.

The invisible toll gates at our Ports must be completely demolished, and that exact same structural discipline must be scaled across our border stations and trade corridors.

The era of managing international trade with 20th-century paper trails is dying. The future belongs to the builders of automated, transparent systems.

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

Analyses

NNSL: Debt burden of refloating new national carrier

Some of the aged NNSL retirees

Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru

Nigeria’s maritime industry is trying to rush into a bright future while carrying a very dark past.

Right now, the Federal Government is making big moves to launch a new national shipping line through high profile Public Private Partnerships(PPP) with global shipping giants.

It sounds like a great plan under the “Renewed Hope” Blue Economy agenda.

But we have to ask a blunt question: how can you float a new fleet when the foundation of your old national carrier is still completely underwater?

On paper, the economic argument for a new shipping line makes perfect sense.

Nigeria loses roughly $10 billion every year to foreign shipowners who carry our oil and gas exports.

Building a domestic fleet would keep that humongous freight money inside our economy, create thousands of jobs, and give the country its pride back as a maritime power.

But the stubborn stance taken by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the veterans of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) is not just emotional grumbling.

It is a matter of basic survival and law.

Almost thirty years after the NNSL was liquidated, thousands of retirees have still not received their final severance pay.

Many have died in absolute poverty, waiting for bank alerts that never came.

This creates a deep trust issue that no amount of fancy Port infrastructure can fix.

Launching a brand-new fleet while ignoring the very people who pioneered the seafaring profession in Nigeria sends a terrifying message to the young cadets in our maritime academies.

It tells them that a life at sea under the Nigerian flag offers zero long term security.

Government officials can argue all they want that this new private sector model is a fresh start separate from past government failure.

But the average worker standing at the jetty does not differentiate between ministries; they see the government as one single entity.

The Ministry of Finance has continually failed to release the approved funds for these retirees, even though officials keep claiming the payment process is almost finished.

This endless delay threatens the entire maritime agenda.

The truth is, we need reconciliation before we talk about refloating any shipping line.

If the government can magically find hundreds of millions of dollars for Port modernization and vessel financing, they can easily find the funds to pay off these old debts.

Ignoring these veterans is a guarantee for industrial strikes and legal battles that will freeze new investments before the ships even arrive.

For Nigeria to dominate Africa’s maritime space, it must prove that it actually values its workers as much as its cargo.

A new shipping line should not just bury the ghost of the NNSL. It needs to be an evolution that begins by paying the deep debt owed to the men and women who first carried our flag across the world’s oceans.

A nation that treats its pioneers like garbage cannot expect loyalty from the next generation.

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

Analyses

The trillion naira vault: Building political-proof ports for Nigeria

The Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru focuses on the strategy to lock away the NPA’s port modernisation funds from the groping hands of the politicians in other to avert the calamity which befell the infamous Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF)

Following up on the intense national discussion regarding the NPA’s ₦1.489 trillion revenue target, here is a preview of my analysis on how we can structurally lock this massive wealth away from bureaucratic hands.

We cannot allow the historic failure of the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF) to paralyze our economic imagination.

The solution to Port decay isn’t to stop collecting funds, but to change who holds the keys to the vault.

From deploying bankruptcy-remote SPVs to issuing local currency infrastructure bonds backed by pension funds, this piece outlines the exact financial engineering needed to modernize Apapa and Tin Can Island.

Watch out for the full analysis tomorrow.