An Advocacy group within the Nigeria Maritime sector, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC), has threatened to take the Nigerian Shippers Council to the Industrial court of justice for what is described as yearly waste of funds being spent in hosting the annual Maritime Seminar for Judges.
Speaking through the National coordinator of the group, Chief Sir Patrick Osita Chukwu at a press conference held in his Apapa- Lagos Office, Chief Osita qurried why the NSC has continued to waste funds which should have been used for Nigerian shippers training and sensitization in organizing the seminar.
He called on the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Barr. Pius Akutah to suspend what he referred to as a jamboree as they spends billions of naira in hosting these judges.
Chief Osita Chukwu stated that training of Judges falls directly under the purview of the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and not the NSC. He warned that if the council continues with the planned seminar, SNFFIEC would lead a protest to the National Assembly and to the Presidency to seek that seminar for Judges be expunged from the Nigeria Shippers Council Act as, according to him, it was smuggled in just to squander funds, insisting that he must make sure the right thing is done.
Chief Osita maintained that the appropriation of such huge funds to judicial seminars even as the country is presently facing a very serious economic crisis while NSC keeps neglecting it's core mandate as the nation’s port economic regulator.
In his words, “Recall plans by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to continue hosting the annual Maritime Seminar for Judges. This is a waste of human and financial resources which the agency would have used to take care of shippers and the ports; Since becoming the economic regulator of the ports, he alleged, there have not been concrete actions by the agency to reposition the ports to make them as business – friendly as other ports across the globe".
Continuing, he said, ”I say it that it is not only an economic waste but negates the principle of getting the right to things done for our ports and shippers. We have been trying our best to see that the trillions they are making in all Nigerian customs ports impact on the shippers in the transaction of business in Nigeria has remained so bad that whatever you’re seeing today is not what supposed to be".
The SNFFIEC boss said a huge challenge to his organization is that the Executive Secretary cannot be accessed because he hardly stays around to listen to genuine complaints by stakeholders.
We are yet to feel the impact of the NSC’s regulatory role. Each time you visit the NSC, the Executive Secretary is not in the office. He’s always away, spending shippers’ money on training judges,” he said.
”We need the NSC to resist whatever may be the pressure that will undermine the principle of accountability and all other actions that can jeopardize the economy by the way they are going.”
”We have the National Judicial Council which can be very free and pragmatic enough to undertake seminars and training sessions for judges.”
SNFFIEC, he indicated, considers sending a petition to the President, the National Assembly, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, and the Attorney General of the Federation on the need to probe the activities and finances of the Shippers’ Council to ensure the proper things are done and accountability enthroned.
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