The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre has expressed deep concern over the continued delay in securing presidential assent to the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Authority Bill, describing the development as a critical policy issue with far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s maritime competitiveness, trade facilitation and investment climate.
SEREC disclosed this in its latest policy bulletin titled ‘NPERA Bill: Nigeria cannot afford another regulatory vacuum in the port industry’, signed by its Head of Research, Eugene Nweke, obtained by The PUNCH.
The body warned that as the tenure of the 10th National Assembly gradually draws to a close, any failure to conclude the legislative process may result in the bill lapsing, thereby compelling a fresh legislative process in a subsequent assembly.
It added that such an outcome would not only delay a long-awaited reform but also prolong the institutional vacuum that has existed since the concessioning of Nigeria’s seaports in 2006.
According to SEREC, nearly two decades after the port concession programme, Nigeria has yet to establish a statutory and independent economic regulator, “dedicated exclusively to the oversight of port pricing, tariff administration, competition regulation, economic performance monitoring, and sector-specific dispute resolution.”
