NTC Will Usher In A New Transport Order – Amaechi

• Only 5 mega freight forwarding companies needed
• CRFFN to be re-organised  
• Aviation now under NTC regulation

The emerging  National Transport Commission(NTC) will usher in a new transport order that will entrench all the segments of the sector in the system, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has said.

NTC bill has been passed by  both houses of the National Assembly, awaiting the president’s assent to become a full fledged Act. Currently, MMS plus gathered that there is harmonization   taking place to ensure that the variations in contents are managed before the end of the eight National Assembly tenure.

One of the items of harmonisation is the inclusion of the Aviation sector in the NTC regulatory framework, it was gathered.

Speaking with  the media in Abuja, the Minister who assured that the bill would be assented to as soon as it is transmitted to the president, was hopeful that it would transform the transport sector in the country.

In his affirmation of the Minister’s statement the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello said, ‘ NTC will give defensive powers for everybody to be entrenched in the system”.

MMS plus gathered that under the NTC administration, the freight forwarding  industry will be sanitized to the extent that mega companies with heavy capitalization are expected to emerge as dominant operators . To this end, the Minister is determined to reorganize the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) for the new challenges.

According to Bello whose agency  is transmuting to NTC, “ Freight forwarding profession in Nigeria has to be reformed. They have to be  consolidated.  If  we have five solid companies it is enough.”

Meanwhile, the NSC  and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission(ICRC) will soon come up with a new agreement on project completion timeline for the Inland Container Deports(ICDs) also called dry ports in the country.  The maximum completion duration will be 18 months with  revocation of licence  as penalty   on default.

While the Kano state government has indicated interest in ensuring that the Dala Dry Port project is constructed after 13 years of existence on paper, the licence of the premier  dry port project in Ibadan under the concession of Catamaran Group Nigeria Limited has been penciled down for revocation following the engagement of a new foreign investor in the project which the Oyo state government has embraced.