Shippers council to implement new port order

Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has reiterated it’s readiness to implement new port order in Nigerian Ports in order to enhance the ease of doing business in the country.

The Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello made this known in Lagos, during the 8th edition of the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) Section on Business Law Conference held at Eko Hotel and Suites.

He said the new port order is for service providers, users and all stakeholders in the port sector to operate in line with global best practices and offer the highest standards of port and related services obtainable.

Speaking on the topic:“Ease of doing Business in Nigeria” session of the conference, Bello stated that implementation of the new order entails making the ports competitive by instilling efficiency and cost effectiveness in the provision of services as well as making the ports user friendly.

According to him, the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) is an index created by the World Bank to rank countries according to the conduciveness of the regulatory environment of a country for doing business.

He said it is important to remember that there are 10 sub-indices or issues that make up this index. “The sub index that is within the purview of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is Trading Across Borders which is concerned with the number of documents, cost and time necessary to export and import. This has to do with the transportation and logistics cost of doing business for our international traders and it is a very key element in the facilitation of trade both local and international.

“Here we are dealing, essentially, with how ultimately traded goods move from the seller to the buyer timely and cost effectively. We are therefore considering the issue of documentation and procedures as well as their impact on timeliness and the cost of export/import which ultimately is a reflection of the nation’s ability to trade efficiently and effectively globally”, he said.