NSC’s dispute settlement saved N2.4b over five years – official

According to the Nigerian Shippers Council, its complaints processing procedure has saved stakeholders N2.4 billion over the last five years.

Mr Rotimi Anifowose, the NSC’s Director of Planning, stated this recently in Lagos, when the council received the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola.

According to Anifowose, the Port Service Support Portal is where the council collects complaints from regulated service providers and users.

Anifowose went on to say that among the complaints were arbitrary charges, container deposit refunds, and import and export fraud, among other things.

He also stated that the council’s creation of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual saved the country an average of $20,000 per day in vessel demurrage between 2021 and 2022.

“We have applied the Nigerian Port Process Manual and the International Cargo Tracking Note.” The council, as the principal agency in implementing the NPPM, oversaw the actions connected to joint vessel boarding, joint cargo examination, and the Operation Free the Corridor initiative. This amounted to $12.4 million, or N5.4 billion at the official exchange rate in 2022.

“The council is encouraging the digitisation and automation of all port procedures in Nigeria in order to reduce the instances of human touch in cargo transportation and eliminate manual documentation for efficient service delivery.” This led in the digitization of all processes by shipping and port service providers,” Anifowose noted.

Earlier, the minister expressed enthusiasm for the International Cargo Tracking Note, which was hosted by the Shippers Council, and stated that his administration will promote its implementation to enable effective cargo monitoring and transportation.

“Also, the port community system platform, which serves as a single point of contact for all actors in the sector, would facilitate doing business.” As a result, it is something we would strongly consider. I’ve been looking at the situation of our ports, and it’s really disappointing. “I’m not blaming anyone because the ports are ancient,” he said.