Stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector have listed areas of expected concentration for government in the maritime sector of 2018.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune exclusively, a Senior Lecturer at the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology in Lagos, Captain Fola Ojutalayo explained that the Federal Government needs to focus on port reform, shipping and maritime security in the New Year.
According to him, “In 2018, government needs to look into our port reform. As I have always said, our ports need to be user friendly. Our ports need to be customer friendly in order to attract investment into our country, so that it will have ripple effect of job creation in our economy.
“The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have to collaborate on the port reform process. Both agencies need to synergise with every other agency that is involved in port policy implementation. Agencies like the Police, Immigrations, Quarantine, Navy, and so on should be collaborated with to make Nigerians reap the benefits of the port reform.
“Another aspect government needs to focus on in 2018 is the area of operational investment in shipping. Inasmuch as we need a lot of capital to invest in the acquisition of ships, which is a major asset in shipping, it is becoming very common now in Nigeria that a lot of people who are coming into shipping don’t know much about the industry.
“We need to have regulatory framework that will enhance technical management of shipping in Nigeria so that we can achieve optimum efficiency. Not to have a lot of people invest in shipping and at the end of the day, the whole thing will go down the drain, or even create complications for the maritime industry. I think NIMASA should look into that.
“For maritime security, government needs to evolve policies that are friendly enough, and not policies that will further create bottlenecks in the industry.”
When reminded that Nigeria has signed a three-year agreement with an Israeli firm to fight maritime crimes, Ojutalayo explained that the Federal Government needs to be more open in that regard.
“Recently, the Minister of Transportation was summoned by the National Assembly and was asked questions concerning this Israeli contract. The minister denied that there was anything like that. But the same minister was quoted in the newspapers saying there was a three-year agreement with an unnamed Israeli firm.
“Government needs an open discussion on the issue of maritime security. There is nothing wrong in synergising with advanced partners in the area of maritime security. Such synergy could be on technology transfer or technical partnership. It needs to be open so that stakeholders can contribute to it,” Ojutalayo stated.
Also in a separate chat with Nigerian Tribune, National President of Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporter’s Coalition, Chief Patrick Osita Chukwu stated that the seaport access roads should be made a priority in 2018, and every other thing will fall into place.
In his words, “Government needs to repair the seaport access road, and you will see that everything will fall into place. The bad state of the roads are the major cause of the problems we have at the ports. I am talking from a freight forwarding perspective.
“It is because the roads are bad that containers spend more than expected time inside the ports. It is because of the bad state of the roads that cargo owners are forced to pay more in demurrages on their cargoes that are trapped inside the ports.
“It is because of the bad state of the ports access roads, which has resulted in huge demurrage payments, that has forced some importers to take their cargoes to neighbouring ports. So if the roads are fixed, and there is a seamless movement of cargoes out of the ports, you will see that demurrage payments will be reduced to the barest minimum, and the cost of clearing cargoes at Nigerian two busiest ports, Apapa and Tin-Can ports will become reduced.”
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