Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi is lamenting that Nigerian investors who are expected to acquire 60 per cent equity in the proposed national carrier have shunned the project. For this reason, he said the proposed dream of floating a new national fleet is almost dead.
This bombshell comes more than one year after the Minster inaugurated a committee for the shipping line and Nigeria and Singapore reached an agreement to establish a private sector driven national carrier.
According to the Minister, the committee which he constituted to firm-up a proposal for the establishment of the shipping firm has tuned in its report.
He confirmed that, the committee had recommended that ownership of the shipping line should be in the ratio of 40 per cent for foreign investors and 60 per cent for Nigerians.
In an interview he granted Daily Trust last week, the Minister acknowledged that the private sector can not muster funds for the required 60 per cent equity.
He disclosed that, even though the Ministry now has foreign investors, no Nigerian investors have shown interests.
According to him, “the committee turned in their report and recommended we get a foreign investor to also invest in the national carrier. The law says 40 per cent equity for the foreign investor and 60 per cent equity holding for Nigerian investors. We got the foreign investor from Singapore but up till today, we haven’t any Nigerian investor”.
“We are nearly stuck; let’s put it that way. I came up with the idea when I became the minister, everyone was excited about it. We went to Singapore; we got the foreign investor but no local investor yet”.
He lamented that what Nigerian ship owners and other anticipated investors probably had in mind was that they would have access to government funds which they can plough back as equity in the shipping line.
“As we speak, I’m still looking for the Nigerian investor. What they largely want us to do is take Federal Government money and invest in it and I don’t want to. The one we had before, the Nigerian National Shipping Line, died. That’s where we are on the National Carrier. It’s a bit difficult for us”, he added.
Amaechi confirmed that, even though there are foreign investors and proprietors of the proposed national carrier are assured of regular cargo, Nigerian investors are no where to be found. “The owners of the National Carrier will carry all the government cargo be it import or export. So there is a market for the investors but Nigerian private sector is not investing in it”, he lamented.
He however declared that government would not participate in the funding of the shipping line, saying that from experience such investments have always gone down the drain.
He asked: Do you know how much we lost in Nigerian Airways? Do you know how much we lost in the Nigerian National Shipping Line? All those funds went to private individuals. So I will not buy the idea of using government funds to set up a shipping line. This government is not even supporting that it should invest in businesses. Let the private sector invest in the businesses and we will provide the enabling environment”, he concluded.
Discussion about this post