In an interview with newsmen, the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Emmanuel Jime, said the powers were necessary to protect stakeholders in the sector from errant operators.
He said that the Council had to resort to the partnership with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, that has these powers under the law in order to drive compliance to rules in the maritime domain which he described as “very very sensitive”. Jime stated: “You cannot regulate unless you are able to sanction for wrong doing; and so the FCCPC is a body that has overall protections for consumers; they also have the ability, not only to arrest, to prosecute, but to sanction.