The federal government has ordered the transfer of inland dry-port functions from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), as it moves to separate port regulation from the development and operation of port infrastructure.
Adegboyega Oyetola, the minister of marine and blue economy directed the transfer on Thursday and ordered the creation of a committee to oversee the Shippers’ Council’s transition into the newly established Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA).
Nigeria has three inland dry ports that includes the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano and Funtua Dry Port in Katsina. Four others in Oyo, Abia, Plateau, Borno and lagos states are still in various stages of planning.
The new directive follow President Bola Tinubu’s assent last month to the NPERA Act, which establishes a statutory economic regulator for Nigeria’s ports and replaces the NSC’s 12-year interim regulatory role, which also made it responsible for promoting and developing inland dry ports
Under the new arrangement, NPERA will focus on regulating tariffs and charges, competition, licensing, service standards and commercial disputes, while the NPA will take over the inland dry-port functions.
Oyetola said the separation was intended to prevent the economic regulator from carrying responsibilities that could create conflicts of interest.
Read also: Nigeria’s long road to a ports economic regulator
“A regulator cannot function as an operator and, at the same time, be expected to be perceived as an unbiased referee,” he said.
The ministerial committee will oversee the transition from the Shippers’ Council to NPERA and determine how functions are redistributed among agencies under the ministry.
The government said moving the inland dry-port programme to the NPA would allow the facilities to be more closely integrated with the country’s wider port infrastructure and operations.
Industry players are observing how the government divides responsibilities between NPERA, the NPA and other maritime agencies without creating new overlaps.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
