Stakeholders Seek Independent Economic Regulator For Port Industry

Stakeholders in the maritime industry has urged government to create an independent economic regulator for the port industry.They said that such a regulatory body should be manned by the professionals who have deep knowledge of the industry. The stakeholders said such a regulation should be devoid of political interference and bureaucratic bottleneck.They suggested that the name of the regulator should be called National Independent Port Commission (NIPC). The suggestion was reached at a breakfast meeting with focus on creating a regulator for the ports operation, organized by the Ships and Ports Communication and Golden Edge Consult Limited. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Waheed Kareem, the chairman, Port Consultative Council.In his remark, Kareem stressed the need for a regulatory body that would create competition among the port operators. According to him, the National Assembly had a critical role to play in this regard.He said the people that would manage the regulatory body should be those who had deep knowledge of the industry. Echoing him, Capt. Abiodun Omotesho, while giving an overview of the port regulations, explained that a lot of ports were looking at how to create bigger ports through an independent economic regulator.. He explained that some ports had already created a regulator to monitor their port activities. Omotesho said that South Africa, which had five private ports, has a regulator. “If you want to regulate, it requires technological depth,” he explained. Omotesho said there should be independent regulation in order to get positive results for government and stakeholders, adding that, government agency cannot regulate the port to achieve good results.