Strong indications emerged that the Nigerian Shippers Council NSC, the country’s Economic Regulator for the maritime industry may rejig the operations of some Inland Dry Ports IDPs operating in the country with a view to making them efficient and effective in bringing shipping services to the hinterlands.

The Council has also said that President Bola Tinubu has mandated it to do everything within its powers to ensure that Funtua Dry Port, Katsina, which had already been designated a Port of Origin and final Destination for import and export of cargoes becomes fully operational before the end of the first quarter of 2024.

Speaking in Lagos last week when members of the League of Maritime Editors visited him, Executive Secretary/CEO of the Council, Pius Akutah said the NSC might undertake a review of the concession agreement with some operators of the IDPs in the country with a view to achieving the objectives for which they were set up.

He further disclosed that as the Ports Economic Regulator, the Council needs to ensure that the stipulated takeoff dates for the IDP projects being handled by concessionaires are sacrosanct in order to avail the people the services rendered by the IDPs.

He however expressed deep concerns that aside the slow pace of construction work at the IDP project sites by some of the concessionaires, possibly due to paucity of funds, there are also several cases where some state governments delay in providing the pieces of lands for the projects, which has also led to delays.

“One other challenge the Council has been facing is getting the relevant partners involved in the dry ports projects work more effectively. In some cases, where portions of land have been allocated, the necessary documentations are lacking; all these challenges delay the projects since the concessionaires cannot commence work.

“As a Council, we have been working round the clock to address some of these issues to ensure that the dry port projects, which are primarily designed to bring shipping services to the door steps of many Nigerians across the six geo-political zones of the country are effectively carried out in good time too.

“Another challenge is that some state governments have not been able to allocate lands whereas it is their responsibility to do that. In some places, lands have been allocated but necessary documentations have not been done. Under such situation, the concessionaires cannot commence work. We want to see what we can do about all these issues, going forward” Akutah said.

It was further gathered that the Council is working towards ensuring that those organisations that have undergone through the bidding processes to emerge as concessionaires have adequate resources to carry out the dry port projects.

To this effect, the Council is introducing a mechanism of process that would enable the financial status of prospective concessionaires before signing agreement with them to avoid the issues associated with takeoff delays.

The NSC –boss also disclosed that one of the priority areas for the Council would to ensure that more dry ports come on stream in the coming year, adding that President Tinubu has already mandated the Council to see to it that the Funtua Dry Port begins operation before the end of first quarter of next year.

He said: “In all these, the target of the Nigerian Shippers Council is to bring shipping services nearer to the people in line with government’s policy of facilitating trade.

“It is also to see how we can facilitate trade. We are taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement AfCTA. You remember we were almost the last country to sign into that. So, we need to encourage our people to let them know there are opportunities under that agreement in terms of trade facilitation.

“AfCTA has a lot of opportunities as far as trade facilitation is concerned, and this will in turn, ensure huge revenue for the government in the long run.”

Recall that former Minister of Transport Mu’azu Sambo, had said that the decision of the Federal Government to designate the Funtua IDP as a Port of Origin and final Destination for import and export of cargoes was due to the status of Katsina State as agricultural hub in the country for Trans-Saharan trade.

This implies that the IDP is empowered to operate shipping businesses including clearing and forwarding of cargoes directly from anywhere in the world. This development, which also gives it same status with Apapa Port and Tin Can Island Port both in Lagos, allows an importer in China for instance to stem his container for the Funtua IDP. It also means that an exporter in Funtua can stem his consignment to any seaport in the United States of America for instance or any other international seaport in the world.