The representative of the executive secretary of the NSC, Mrs. Ada Okam at the event.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) have on Tuesday collaboratively engaged stakeholders in the Maritime sector in a sensitisation programme which took place at the main hall of the Rockview hotel, Apapa, Lagos. The event was tailored towards educating the stakeholders and the general public about the responsibilities of the two government agencies and for them to avail themselves of opportunities therein.
A welcome address was read by Mrs. Ada Okam, executive director, human resources of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and who represented the executive secretary of the Council. She said that “this is the first in the series of such sensitisation programmes lined up to enlighten stakeholders on their rights and responsibilities in the course of carrying out their activities at the Ports”. She noted that in January this year, the two government agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate with each other in specific areas of concern to both agencies in Shipping and Port services. She added that the collaboration is set to ensure a consumer protection regime within this sector of the Nigerian economy and as the economic regulator of this sector is constitutionally bound to act to encourage competition, for enforcement and compliance, prosecution of any service provider and user not obeying the laws, sharing of information and intelligence, consumer eduaction and awareness.
Tam Tamunokobia of the FCCPC making his presentation.
The representative of the executive vice chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the director legal services at the agency, Mr. Tam Tamunokobia in a keynote address said that “the one thing we are here for is for consumer protection, whether you are a freight forwarder, a shipper, a council member or a member of the FCCPC, what we are here for is the protection of the consumer”. He added that they needed to push the frontiers of their collaboration a bit higher, hence this resultant programme.
Emmanuel Bosah of the CBI making his presentation at the event.
Mr Emmanuel Bosah, the director of programme at the Convention on Business Integrity (CBI) Nigeria, who presented a paper titled “Ethics and Integrity in the Port and Shipping Sector” noted that they operate in the civil society space and have enjoyed fantastically positive relationship with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council over the past decade which has been geared towards promoting efficiency at the Ports including good governance and most importantly doing it all in the pursuit of the ease of doing business at the Ports as well as for trade facilitation.
Mr Bosah’s paper focused on three key points namely, why are we dicussing ethics and integrity, what recommendation to put forward to provide relevance to the industry in enhancing integrity in Ports operation and what sort of governance arrangements are necessary to ensure an efficient oversight and accountability that promote ethical practices and accountability in the maritime industry.
He noted that a lot of corrupt practices occur every day within and around the maritime industry as multiple interactions happen along the value chain. Mr Bosah recommends that it will be important to strengthen the compliance function within port agencies and also that it will be vital to provide incentives that encourage port users and officials to always choose to do the right thing.
Mr. Tam Tamunokobia also presented a paper titled ” Consumer Rights and Responsibilities in the Port and Shipping Sector as enshrined in FCCPA 2018″. He detailed the reason for the formation of the Consumer Protection Agency which was later transformed into the present Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and that the Commission is empowered to intervene in any sector that involves products and services saying that this is where the octopus nature of the FCCPC comes in.
Chief Eugene Nweke also spoke on “Freight Forwarders’ Perspective on the rights and responsibilities of stakeholders in the Port and Shipping sector”. He noted that both the regulator and the regulated have the responsibility of ensuring that the basic reasons for enacting laws that govern the operations within the sector are observed.
Olumide Adebisan representing the Shipping Companies noted that there are 5 major consumer rights which include the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to consumer education, the right to fair dealings and to be heard and the right to seek redressal. Mr. Adebisan also added that the consumer has the responsibilities to be honest with provided information, to carefully read and understand all information provided by the stakeholders, use the product and service in line with the terms and conditions, know how to make a complaint and to seek redress.
A lot of the stakeholders participating in the event agreed that all sides have roles to play in the education of the consumer and that things can only improve where there is a lot of knowledge about the guidelines and operations within the sector.
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