Shippers Council Bill Encounters Minor Hitches, Now Back to National Assembly—-Akutah

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By DAPO OLAWUNI

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Dr Pius Akutah Ukeyima has revealed that the Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) Bill 2025 has been sent back to the National Assembly for corrections.

Recall that the National Assembly had previously passed the bill, and it was awaiting Residential accent of President Bola Tinubu before it was unexpectedly sent back to the Attorney General of the Federation.
Speaking with maritime journalists on the sidelines of the visit of Secretary General of International Maritime Organization (IMO) to Lagos on Friday, Dr Akutah said the Bill has now left the Attorney General’s office and back to the National Assembly.

“The Bill left the president to the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for advisory and a lot of issues came up regarding the mandate of the agency. So, but those issues have been clarified by the council.

“We met with the Attoney General of the Federation and we have looked at those issues one after the other regarding the mandate because under the establishment law, the mandate was totally different from what it is today inside that bill. This created a little bit of confusion, but that has been resolved because the gazette of the presidential order of 2015 and the regulations of 2015 have all been handed over to the Minister of Justice.

“So, they have now looked at it again to see that the mandate has changed by the order of the president appointing the Shippers Council as the Port economic regulator and the regulations that were issued pursuant to the order.

“Those aspects that needed to be corrected have been corrected and the bill has come back to the National Assembly on its way back to the president for assent.
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“So, there was a little bit hitch but we have overcome that hitch, so it is now on track heading back to the president” he confirmed.
According to the Shippers Council boss, the agency is optimistic of the Presidential accent before the end of the year 2025.

“The National Assembly still have to look at it because of those corrections that were made. You can’t correct a bill that has been passed without the National Assembly looking at it.
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“So, there are not so many corrections just a few of them regarding the mandate and then regarding the one percent freight fee. The language there was redrafted and not to mean the revenue, not to mean the funding of the agency but the revenue to be generated by the agency which will go into the federation account.

“So, those little corrections they have all been done and so it’s for National Assembly now to make those changes and it’s not going back for presentation, it’s just for them to make those corrections and then send it back to the president.
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“So, the Bill is still with the National Assembly. You know that they have been on recess they were supposed to resume last week but I think they moved it forward. So, as soon as they resume I think the speaker of the House of Representatives who is a sponsor of the bill is aware of those changes. The chairman senate committee on marine transport services is aware. The chairman of the committee on shipping services is aware. So, as soon as the National Assembly resumes sitting they will look at this quickly and then do all the corrections and send it back”
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Akutah further revealed that one of the questions of the Ministry of Justice after the returning of the Bill is on the mandate of the Nigerian Shippers Council.
“The issue was whether the council has the mandate to become the Port Economic Regulator. That mandate was given to the council under the presidential order of 2015.

“This fact was not very well known to the Ministry of Justice at the point when the bill came back to them and then again the regulations of 2015 which has copiously given a nitty-gritty of what economic regulator we do, was also not known at the time when it got to the ministry.

“So, the ministry called upon us and we provided all those details to the ministry and then again I told you about the provision regarding the one percent freight fee. The provision appeared to be saying that the freight fee was the funding of the agency whereas it is the revenue to be generated by the agency” Akutah concluded