The Nigerian Shippers
Council (NSC) has asked the Federal Government not to grant monopoly of handling oil and gas cargoes to Intels Nig Ltd that operates primarily in Onne, Rivers State, Calabar in Cross River  and  Warri, Delta State.
The Director, Commercial Shipping Services of the council, Mrs Dabney Shall Homa made the demand at a stakeholders meeting held in Lagos recently.
Shall-Homa said they had been in the shipping industry for 32 years going forward and that there had never been any classification as oil and gas in any part of the globe, adding that it is only seaport terminals that are classified as multi-purpose, container, bulk or general cargo terminals.
“When we put that on our gassete as shippers’ council seeking to identify cargo coming  into Nigeria and we distrinquish oil and gas, we were asked by our colleagues internationally from which index did you get oil and gas? Is there any cargo or terminal called oil and gas cargo?
Multi purpose they call it, which could handle anything,’ she further said.
According to her, “we have the general cargo terminals, bond cargo terminals and containerized terminals. That is how terminals are classified internationally and Nigeria cannot be an island because we are trading with others.”
The director noted that if there was any agreement signed as a contract between parties, government could tinker with the contract because the intent of that contact is to create a cartel and not to create a level playing field which is the spirit of concessioning, pointing out that the concession agreement made, had certain critical pillars.
She disclosed that one of the critical pillars was to ensure that there is no evidence of monopoly and dominate position and to create a level playing field, stressing that in doing so, competition would be promoted between the players.
In his speech, a former minister of interior, Capt Emmanuel Iheanacho called for an open market to pave way for competition so that people could have a choice.