Against the backdrop of a recent audit report revealing that private terminal operators in Nigerian ports lost about N58.9 billion to the rising foreign exchange scarcity, Consumer Price Index (CPI), among others, in eight years, a one-day town hall meeting on “Cargo Handling and Port Charges” will hold in Lagos to evaluate the state of port operations, quality of services and the factors that determine appropriate cargo handling charges.

The town hall scheduled for March 8 will be chaired by the Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and will feature stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and her Industry, Trade and Investment counterpart, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah are special guests of honour.

Among the subjects slated for discussion are: the level of competitiveness of Nigerian ports, templates for port pricing, availability and efficiency of cargo handling equipment, impact of foreign exchange and government’s fiscal policies and abuse of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) Protocol by shippers.

According to statement issued by Mr. Okey Ibeke, publisher of Business and Maritime West Africa, organisers of the town hall meeting, since the concession of the ports to private terminal operators over 10 years ago,  Nigeria’s economy has undergone fundamental changes characterised by exchange rate vagaries and fiscal policy reviews that have impacted substantially on the level of service delivery at the ports.

“Importers, manufacturers and other port users alongside service providers have a lot of outstanding issues the failure of which to resolve have affected the growth of the industry. These will be addressed at the town hall with policy makers and users of shipping services all poised to make their case”, Ibeke stated.

Among the organisations and groups expected as discussants and lead presenters are private terminal operators, shipping agencies, chambers of commerce, trade groups, freight forwarders and banks. Also in the cast are statutory agencies, including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers Council, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as well as marine transport committees of both arms of the National Assembly.