For the second time, the planned National Transport Commission, or NTC, has not been approved by the president.
At the 16th Maritime Seminar for Judges in Abuja, Garba Datti Muhammad, the chairman of the House Committee on Ports and Harbours, told Vanguard in an exclusive interview that the National Assembly had completed the Bill but regretted the President’s failure to assent, pointing out that the assent period had passed.
The option, he clarified, is for the law to be brought to the incoming legislative administration for review.
“We started it in the last Assembly,” he said. When we arrived, I believe it had been resubmitted. We passed it, and the Senate agreed. The president still needs to sign it, but he hasn’t done so yet, and the deadline has gone.
The agencies that are impacted must also be more active, and the minister in charge must persuade the president to sign the bill due to its significance. Perhaps we will need to resubmit it in the next House.
The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian maritime industry, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN), and the Ministry of Transportation itself are all under the committee’s jurisdiction, he stated.
Thus, I believe that we have been collaborating closely. Additionally, we work anytime the Act establishing these institutions or agencies is amended. They contact us, we review it, and occasionally we review the Acts to identify any gaps, after which we make the necessary adjustments.
