Buhari declines assent to 2 transport bills

President Muhammadu Buhari has declined assent to two bills in
the transport sector.

They are the National Transport Commission Bill 2018 and the
Federal Roads Authority (Establishment) Bill 2018.

The president’s decision came in a letter to the National
Assembly leadership read by the President of the Senate, Sen.
Bukola Saraki, at plenary on Wednesday.

Buhari said some sections of the National Transport Commission
Bill contained safety regulations that would duplicate the
functions of existing transport agencies.

He said, “Safety regulatory provisions enshrined in some
sections of the bill which are technical in nature fall within the
purview of central legislation implemented by agencies like NIMASA
(Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), NPA
(Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and therefore should be expunged
from the bill.

“Two, the percentage of the amount to be retained by the agency
from royalties collected under section 19 (2)(d) should be reduced
from 10 to five per cent.

“Section 12 (9)(2)(d) stipulates that a portion of the proceeds
from royalties collected by the authority empowered to collect
royalties from transport service providers should not exceed 10 per
cent which is collected by service providers and
concessionaires.

“Three, section 19 (2)(f) which stipulates charge of three per
cent freight tariff stabilisation fee on all imports and exports
out of Nigeria including wet and dry cargoes should be amended and
reduced from three per cent to one per cent.

“This is what is currently contained in the Nigerian Shippers
Council legislation,” he said.

On the Federal Roads Authority (Establishment) Bill 2018, the
president said the proposed road sector regulator would usurp the
supervisory power of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and
Housing.

The president pointed out that the proposed agency would also
render the “entire technical workforce of the supervisory ministry
redundant”.

“The establishment of the road sector regulator as a separate
and distinctive body in Part 6 of the bill is capable of rendering
the entire technical workforce of the supervisory ministry
redundant.

“The supervisory power of the ministry over the road sector
would be taken over by the road sector regulator and will leave the
ministry without the power to exercise its supervisory role.

“I feel the ministry would have little or no desirable role to
play in the road sector.

“This is because ownership and management of roads would be
vested in the road sector regulator such that the supervisory
powers would be exercised by it, leaving the ministry without any
clear statutory function,” Buhari argued.(NAN)

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