By Chinyere Aruogu
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chinuike Amaechi has reiterated that government was prepared to reposition the Maritime sector for profitability. Amaechi therefore assured stakeholders of the Federal Government’s resolve under President Muhammadu Buhari, to reposition the maritime sector for greater efficiency and competitiveness.
The Minister who made the remarks on Thursday, November 3, during the celebration of the 2016 World Maritime Day with the theme “Shipping, Indispensable to the World” held in Lagos also acknowledged that the maritime industry in Nigeria was faced with myriad of challenges bothering on non-competitiveness, low level of investment, absence of requisite funding, low implementation and enforcement of existing laws, amongst others.
Regardless, he assured that the government is bringing up a robust strategy that will address the challenges that may hinder the growth of the sector.
“As part of a comprehensive action to address these challenges and ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness of the shipping industry, a number of measures are being put in place, including the privatisation of the nation’s ports, while various regulatory agencies are being repositioned for effective service delivery,” Amaechi said.
Amaechi also said that the Transport Sector Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly are receiving legislative consideration, hoping that the expeditious passage of the bills would give effect to the proposed reform aimed at strengthening the relevant maritime agencies for effective performance.
He told the gathering that President Buhari has approved a robust maritime security plan,assuring stakeholders that this will bring to an end all forms of illegalities on the nation’s waterways.
Evaluating the paper by Captain Adamu Biu on “Growth and Development of Shipping Industry in Nigeria: Creating Enabling Environment”, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside said the agency has already began the process of repositioning through its Medium Term Strategic Growth Plan built around the Management’s vision of Reforming, Restructuring and Repositioning towards growth and development of the maritime sector.
“There must be a long term strategy on our policy framework and its implementation. NIMASA as an agency has already drawn up its own Medium Term Policy to engender higher efficiency and productivity,” Peterside said.
Peterside who noted that the dearth of human in the maritime industry is a global phenomenon however assured stakeholders that NIMASA was committed to building the requisite manpower through adequate training, and thanked the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) for accepting to provide 100 sea time berths for cadets of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in a phased programme.
The NIMASA DG also said in achieving a competitive maritime sector, security is a very key factor and as such the agency has revisited its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Navy and other relevant agencies to ensure safety and security in the maritime domain.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), Sabiu Zakari; Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) Hassan Bello; Chief Adebayo Sarumi among several other industry stakeholders attended the event, according to Lami Tumaka, Head, Corporate Communications of NIMASA.