The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) Mr Emmanual Jime, has commended the work of the Technical Unit on Governance & Anti- Corruption Reforms (TUGAR) and bashed the impact of corruption against the development of the maritime sector, according to NAN.
Speaking in Abuja while receiving the Head of TUGAR, Joan Onwulere, the NSC helmsman said the NCS will play leading roles to combat various forms of corruptions which posed challenges to the progress of the maritime sector.
According to Jime, “Let us also be aware that there is still several ways to go, there is a lot of work left to be done.
“What we do at the NSC, because of the important role we play of regulating the commercial sector of the maritime domain, there is no way we will deliver on quality services if those services are mitigated by the incidences of corruption.
“We are together in this and it is a battle that I believe is winnable, but we have to carry on with this work to its logical ends. I want to thank you for coming and to assure you even more that whatever is needed as far as support from the shippers council is concerned.
“By way of funding, by way of provision of equipment to the best of our ability that we have been able to do till now, we can only continue to do and do even more.”
The Head of TUGAR, Onwulere thanked the NSC for supporting its activities in the past which had empowered them to achieve their mandate and appealed for more of the same going forward.
The NSC ES also noted out that the Council was spearheading the implementation of the Nigeria Port Process Manual (NPPM), adding that “I regret to say that the greatest challenge perhaps you may face going forward is that the shippers council appears to have been bearing the burden of the implementation of the port process manual single-handedly.
“This is supposed to be inter-agency platform, and so we can use this platform to appeal to all of the other agencies of government that are partners to what we do to also join shippers council in assisting [us] so that we do not have the kind of challenge on funding that we are having in this present time”.