To engender discipline and make law breakers self- reliant while serving their various jail terms, a member of the House of Representatives, John bull Shekarau, representing Shendam/ Mikang/ Qu’an/ Pan federal constituency of Plateau State is advocating the renaming of Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) as Prison and Correctional Facility.

In a bill; An Act to repeal the Prisons Act CAP. P29 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enact the Nigerian Prisons Service to make comprehensive provisions for the administration of Prisons in Nigeria and for Related Matters, 2016, now before the House Committee on Interior, the lawmaker is also pushing for the use of ‘inmates’ in the new act as against ‘prisoners.’

Also, another member of the Federal House of Representatives, Muhammed Kabir Ajanah representing Kogi State, has called for a review of the 2006 ports concession agreement.

He made the call in a motion on the floor of the House where he traced the history of the concession agreement saying it was facilitated in 2006 as “a strategy to address the country’s inefficient port system and reposition Nigeria as a user-friendly trans-shipment hub in West and Central Africa. “

According to Ajanah, the agreement stipulates that cargo operational responsibilities were transferred to the private sector terminal operators, while the port infrastructure remained in the hands of the Federal Government. So the whole idea of the agreement was to boost revenue to the government’s coffers.

He said the feedback from the concession agreement showed that the reforms spurred an increase in ship and cargo throughput as foreign lines renewed their confidence in Nigeria’s port operations; there were improvements in Turn-Around-Times (TAT) and generally speaking the ports witnessed an improved business environment.

Ajanah who is Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways noted that if we want to improve productivity and competitiveness at Nigeria’s ports and realise the vision to reposition Nigeria, the 2006 Ports Concession Agreement must be reviewed forensically by the Sector’s regulatory bodies, namely the Nigerian Ports Authority and Nigerian Shippers’ Council.

However according to Ajanah, there are some challenges that resulted in Nigeria losing ships to neighbouring ports. One of the major problems is that the Guaranteed Minimum Tonnage (GMT), a core objective of the Concession Agreement, is not being met.

He said: “The Guaranteed Minimum Tonnage (GMT) policy has virtually run aground. Under the GMT policy, terminal operators are obliged to guarantee minimum tonnage, handle and achieve 90 per cent of forecast or projected volume or as contained in their technical proposals. Failure to achieve this would result in payment penalties.”

The House in its resolution called for an investigation by the House Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways into the Agreement and the current status of the Guaranteed Minimum Tonnage Policy.