The Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi has said that he shifted attention from the Maritime sector to the rail sector because of a lack of unity and purpose among maritime sector practitioners.
Rotimi Amaechi disclosed this at the weekend during the official flag-off of the National Wreck Removal exercise in Lagos waters by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
According to the Honourable Minister of Transportation, “I want to congratulate NIMASA because it was the DG’s idea that we remove wrecks. My job was to get the cabinet’s approval, which I did. I am very delighted to be here to flag off the wreck removal exercise because this will improve the safe navigation of vessels on our waters.
“I have heard the NIMASA DG saying that I am giving the Rail sector more attention than the Maritime sector. Maybe people have forgotten that when I first arrived, I kicked against the collection of huge charges from vessels by a private firm at an anchorage, but the maritime sector joined the private firm to fight against me.
“This firm will charge a ship $2,500 Dollars for the first day in its anchorage, and ask the ship to wait for 30 days so that other ships can arrive. While waiting, the ships pay N1,500 Dollars per day from the second day to the next 30 days. I kicked against these arbitrary charges, but the maritime industry players joined the firm to fight against me. Do you people really expect me to stay in such a sector?
“Maritime industry players wrote a petition against me to the Presidency that I own the Deep Blue project contract. I asked Mr President, how much is Deep Blue project? It is $195million Dollars. Lagos-Ibadan rail contract is N2bn Dollars, so which one should interest me more? $195million Dollars or $2bn Dollars?
“I was fighting these arbitrary charges because it is the ordinary Nigerians that will pay for the huge charges this private firm is collecting from ships to stay in its anchorage. I told Mr President that it is either I am sacked as a minister or that private firm contract is terminated. Today, the rest is history.
“Look at the maritime sector, how many practitioners there are united. It is only in the Nigerian maritime sector that we have ship-owners that don’t own ships. If I have to deal with ship-owners that don’t own ships, why won’t I focus on the rail where all the coaches, tracks and wagons belong to the government because I am part of the government?
“When I first came as Minister, the first place I focused on was the maritime sector. I took some operators to Singapore because the Cabotage Act says for vessel acquisition, Nigerians should own 60 percent stake while the remaining 40 percent stake should be owned by a foreign investor. I praise the National Assembly for passing this law because they wanted to encourage indigenous ownership of ships. When we got to Singapore, the foreign investor said his 40 percent funding is ready, till today, we are still looking for the 60 percent indigenous stake.
“If I have my ways, I will push that the Cabotage Act be amended because it is due to the 60-40 percent ownership structure that has ensured that we don’t have any Nigerian flagged ships.
“Maritime sector has a lot of problems. I am the first Minister to fight against these problems without being removed after my first term as minister.
“Like I told Mr President, the entire budget of the maritime sector is maybe N700bn. Let’s break it down, NPA is maybe N400bn. NIMASA is N100bn, the rest agencies have N200bn, everything in total comes to N700bn. Lagos-Ibadan rail alone as of today is N1trillion. So should I bother my head where they will chop it off or focus on where the poor masses will benefit from?”
Earlier in his speech, the NIMASA DG said that the successful removal of wrecks and derelicts would restore confidence in Nigerian waters, and eliminate obstacles to smooth, safe, and profitable navigation. He thanked the Minister for pushing the wreck removal idea through the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
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