CHIDI UGWU, ABUJA
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has declared that there is no provision in its Act of 2007 for a 10% freight levy payable to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
This was NIMASA’s stance at the investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Commerce, Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, and Legislative Compliance on Monday, chaired by Hon. Ahmed Munir.
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The NEPC claims that its Act of 1992 provides for a 10% freight levy from the ‘Nigeria Maritime Agency,’ which according to NIMASA is non-existent, but rather the defunct National Maritime Authority, especially as the current NEPC Act predates the NIMASA Act of 2007. The NEPC also argued that NIMASA had previously disobeyed presidential directives on the matter.
Making his submission, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dayo Mobereola who waas represented by the Executive Director Finance and Administration, Hon. Chudi Offodile, told the joint committee that, “whereas the objective of establishing NEPC is quite laudable and in the interest of the country and its economy, we find it difficult to understand why the NEPC has persisted in trying to get successive governments to disobey the law. NIMASA will always obey lawful directives of the government, but in this case, the provisions of NEPC Act is inconsistent with the provisions of the NIMASA Act .
“NIMASA is a successor Agency of the defunct National Maritime Authority, but did not inherit any liabilities of the defunct NMA in realtion to NEPC. After the merger of Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council and the NMA to form NIMASA in 2007, we have transitional and transitory provisions contained in the NIMASA Act which proves that NIMASA did not inherit any liabilities or debt.
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He added that, “NIMASA was created with a different set of objectives, with clear provisions of how and where to apply its revenue. The officials of NIMASA today were not the officials of the NMA and will not be the officials of NIMASA tomorrow. The consistent thread that binds everybody including members of the National Assembly is the full application of the law. Engaging NEPC on what or how much to pay to them suggests that NIMASA is in possession of surplus funds, and which doesn’t exist. It will only be possible for us to consider it if it exists in our law. But it doesn’t. We cannot alter the provisions of the NIMASA Act as staff of NIMASA.”
Offodile further argued that the NIMASA Act came into existence many years after the NEPC, and that if it was the intention of the legislature to insert that provision for 10% levy payment to NEPC, it would have been provided for.
As for NEPC’s claim that NIMASA disobeyed directive from the presidency in previous administrations, NIMASA noted that it is just an Agency under its parent Ministry and such directives can only come through its directorate in the ministry. The Agency believes that it never received such charge from the Ministry, probably because the ministry may have clarified with the government at the time that the directive was inconsistent with the Agency’s law.
On her part, the Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerin Export Promotion Council, Mrs Nonye Ayeni insisted that NIMASA was liable to make the supposed 10% freight levy to NEPC because it was stated in the NEPC Act.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Hon. Uduak Odudoh who is also a member of the inquiring committee, stated that he had read the NIMASA Act and that there was no where in the Act that made mention of the NEPC. He noted that if there are inconsistency in the laws, it is the Judiciary that would interpret and not the legislature. He also appealed that both NIMASA and the NEPC should furnish the committee with their Acts, so they can be critically and fairly looked at.
In his concluding remarks, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Hon. Ahmed Munir urged both parties not to personalise the matter, because according to him, if the NEPC was in NIMASA’s position they would have the same argument as NIMASA and vice versa.
