2% ports development levy inadequate for NSC – Akutah

• Published On: 30 January 2025 at 05:10

Dr. Pius Akutah, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers Council, has stated that the two percent port development levy received by the NSC at the end of each quarter is insufficient to fund its operations.

Akutah recently told The Nigerianwatch that the council planned to collect the 1% freight stabilisation fee and implement the International Cargo Tracking Note as an alternative source of revenue for the agency.

Akutah stated that the agency's budget for 2025 is based on three revenue sources and that the implementation of the ICTN will greatly benefit the sector by ensuring cargo security.

"Our budget is based on three revenue streams, one of which is the two percent port development levy, which comes to us at the end of each quarter and is grossly insufficient to fund the council's operations. We are now projecting the International Cargo Tracking Note, which, as I previously stated, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has been pushing for its implementation because every stakeholder wants it for the economic value it will bring to the country in terms of revenue generation and cargo security," Akutah stated.



According to him, Section 27 1C of the Nigerian Shippers Council Act CAP N133 Laws of the Federation 2004, which established the council in 1978, provided for the council's funding through the implementation of a one percent fright fee.

He did, however, lament that the council's lack of funding is due to a failure to implement the fee.

"Over the years, the fund has not been implemented, and that is why the council has been grappling around looking for ways to fund its activities," he told me.


The ES stated that because it is a provision of the law that is currently in effect in Nigeria, they have decided to implement it as well.

He stated that a careful analysis demonstrates that the benefits of implementing the 1% goods stabilisation fee outweigh the costs it will impose on the sector.

"So, in the 2025 budget, we have that as a source of revenue for the council so that it can be better positioned, particularly as the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency. Because we are looking at having strong regulations that will impact the president's economic policies in order to drive trade facilitation in the sector and grow the sector's economy, as we saw in 2024," Akutah explained.