The Nigerian Shippers Council is collaborating with some legal practitioners to develop a body of laws that would regulate the movement of cargo by road and rail.
Hassan Bello revealed this while addressing delegates from the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) at the headquarters of the Council during a courtesy visit led by the NITT Director General, Dr. Aminu Yusuf.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) Barr. Hassan Bello lamented that there were no laws binding on the road and rail transportation system in Nigeria. He stressed that there was a legal lacuna in land transportation compared to the other modes of transport.
“The road and rail modes of transportation are not regulated like other modes of transport. We still use the common laws but it is not modern. So, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and some lawyers are trying to constitute laws to regulate the movement of goods by roads and by extension by rail”, Hassan said.
Hassan Bello also said that the Shippers’ Council would partner with the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) in Zaria for effective human and capacity building development in the agency.
According to the Executive Secretary, there was a deficit of knowledge in the transport sector and NITT was established to carter for that need. He asserted that both institutions would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for trainings and workshops, even as he maintained that most of the problems in the industry would have been prevented if there was sufficient knowledge among all stakeholders.
Bello commended the institute for its creativity and marketing nous which led it to come out of Zaria in order to solicit for support rather than wait for the government to provide all the funds. He also praised the institute for its efforts in training a large number of professionals in the transport sector.
The Executive Secretary also reiterated that there was a need to reform the freight forwarding practice for better performance for the industry growth noting that the Council has been a strong advocate for the practitioners to get adequate training.
In his remarks earlier, the Director General of NITT, Dr. Aminu Yusuf had urged the Shippers’ Council to take advantage of NITT programmes to train its staff. He noted that the institute is the apex multimodal transport training and research institute mandated to professionalize the transport industry in Nigeria.
Dr. Aminu also appealed to the Council to invest in the infrastructural development of the institute and jointly carry out research projects on transport and logistics to further find solutions on specific problems in the industry.
He said, “we have submitted proposal for a joint two-day workshop with the NSC on the role of transport and logistics in international trade in Nigeria and this is in addition to the training proposal sent to your office for consideration “.
He added that NITT has been able to put in place measures to ensure that transport education becomes responsible for the overall development of the sector.
By Kenneth Jukpor
