A maritime expert and a training facilitator in the Nigerian Navy; Captain Abel Ogah, (Rtd) has said that in other to move the maritime sector forward, there is need for the government to involve industry expert in the formulation of policies in the sector..
In an interview with Captain Ogah recently in Lagos, he told Shipping Position Daily, that one of the problems the sector is having is that there is no defined maritime policy guiding the mode of operations in the sector.
He also maintained that if there is a policy stipulating individual’s task, it will be easier to know who is supposed to be in the port and who is not.
He also said that if someone who is not qualified is given a role in the maritime sector, the person will create more confusion than doing it right.
According to him, “The complexity and the condition we are, arise in a policy guiding our mode of operation. There is no defined maritime policy that will guide our mode of operation in the maritime sector. If there is a policy stipulating individual’s task, it means that we know who is supposed to be in the port and who is not supposed to be in the port”.
Speaking further he pleaded with the government to involve experts in the maritime sector in policy formulation in the sector even as he said that for a policy to be properly implemented, there is need to carry along, the person involved to avoid implementing wrong policy for the person.
According to him, most government policies are always faulty when it comes to implementation because operators are not carried along when formulating such policies and therefore there challenges were not considered.
“When somebody is making policy for an operator and there is no involvement of the person who operates, there is likelihood of giving that person wrong policies. That is why most times the implementation of policies in our country is faulty. If I am formulating a policy for you without knowing your challenges and shortcomings the policy might not meet the standard you require. So if you want to formulate a policy in maritime you have to carry the people along. And that is what we are saying in master mariners that those who are in the industry will participate in the policy formulation. There is the theoretical knowledge of what you are doing and there is also the practical knowledge” Capt Ogah said.
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