The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is on the verge of contributing N3 trillion naira, about half of the nation’s projected expenditure for 2018, Mr Ibrahim Kashim, a maritime industry expert, said in an interview with Daily Trust yesterday. The development follows a judgment of the court of appeal sitting in Lagos State on Tuesday which upheld a 2015 decision of the federal high court which ordered Sea Port Terminal Operators to refund N1 trillion Shipping Line Agency Charges (SLAC) collected from Nigerian Shippers from 2006 when the nation’s Seaports were concessioned to them.
The court dismissed the appeal of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) challenging the powers of the NSC to fix shipping charges. In a unanimous judgment read by Justice C.N Uwa, the three-man panel of judges upheld the judgment of Justice Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos and all the reliefs granted therein in favour of the defendants.
Shedding more light on the import of the judgment, Kashim, who until recently was the Director in charge of the Department of Post Privatization Monitoring of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) said the court judgment, if implemented would be the single major financial contribution to the nation’s coffers from a non-oil source in the history of the country.
“It might interest Nigerians to know that the decision of the Court of Appeal which upheld the earlier judgment of Lagos Federal High Court if implemented will be the best thing ever to happen to the national budget from non-oil sector. Following the ports reform undertaken by Obansanjo in 2006, we at the BPE followed up and ensured a smooth post privatization monitoring. But there was a disturbing vacuum. A referee was not appointed for the maritime industry. This had to be done in 2014 when the NSC was appointed as Economic Regulator for the Ports Sector,” he said.
“What we are witnessing today is the outcome of the doggedness of the leadership of the NSC to ensure that all players in the industry play by the rules. The High Court ordered a refund of N1trillion in 2015. That was 2015. Today, the value should be about N3trillion now or more considering the devaluation of the naira that has taken place in the last three years,” Kashim said.
