The Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), on Thursday, threatened crackdown on service providers and port users at the nation’s seaports over non-registration of the service with the council.

This was revealed on Wednesday, by Pius Akutah, the Executive Secretary of the NSC, during a sensitisation programme for stakeholders on the registration of regulated port service providers and users at the council’s headquarters in Lagos.

He, reiterated the importance of adherence to the online registration requirements by all service providers in the port adding that it was in line with the duties of the council as enshrined in Section 4 of the NCS’s Regulation of 2015.

Akutah, who was spoke for at the event by Cajetan Agu, the Director of Consumer Affairs of the NSC, stated that the registration was geared towards “having a database of genuine port service providers and users as well as Knowing Your Customers policy.

The NSC boss highlighted the evolution of payment processes from manual to automated systems within the council and underscored the benefits of registration.

Also speaking, Celestine Akujobi, the Assistant Director, of Consumer Affairs of the NSC, added that the sanctions awaiting defaulters “include withdrawal of NSC services and restrictions on port operations. Only 185 port service providers and users have registered so far,”

“Stakeholders must acquaint themselves with the online registration process to avoid penalties, the NSC added.

Akujobi said, despite a notable uptake in registration among international service providers.

“The council is concerned with the lagging compliance among Nigerian counterparts. I want to urge stakeholders to swiftly register with the council to capitalise on the myriad benefits associated with NSC registration,” he noted.

Wakadaily gathered that, in a bid to tackle the challenge of faceless shippers and importers, the Nigerian Shippers Council announced an online registration for terminal operators and other port service providers.