The President of Nigeria Institute of Shipping (NIS), Capt. Anthony Onoharigho has raised hope that the institute will renew its pursuit of the Chartered Institute of Shipping Bill which has been pending at the National Assembly, even as he called on well-meaning Nigerians who can help to achieve this.
Onoharigho stated this during the Institute’s 9th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held in Lagos over the weekend.
The charter bill is co-sponsored by the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS) and the Certified Institute of Shipping, Nigeria (CISN).
He revealed that Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo Agege was helping the institute to pursue the chatter bill.
He said the bill has been pending for close to 10 years at te the NASS and has gone up for second reading before legislatives issues came up and stopped it.
According to him, “we had taken the bill to second reading then when Omo Agege had problems, it stopped, but we will reopen that chapter and we are going to do our best and bring back to the senate”
“We will go back to him and see how we can get it back. As a matter of facts I revived it where it was abandoned eight years ago.
”I am going to take it to where I left it eight years ago to the senate and it won’t be a problem this time around” he said.
Onoharigho who was elected for another term, while reading out his achievements in the first tenure, informed that the institute acquired a befitting secretariat in a serene environment which has assisted in making some landmarks in recent times
While speaking on the lingering traffic congestion on roads leading into Lagos seaports, the NIS president said that there was the need to properly plan movement of articulated vehicles on the roads.
“Government should develop other ports; if cargoes are segregated, those going to Port Harcourt will go there; Lagos, Warri and Calabar will do same.
“We should not drop all cargoes in Lagos as this is part of what is causing the congestion.
“There is the need to make all ports that are not functioning to function again as the concentration of cargoes in Lagos is the major cause of the congestions,” he said.
On his part, Life Patron of NIS, Sir Caleb Okoye, called for urgent actions to decongest Nigerian ports and re-establish a national carrier for faster development of the shipping industry.
According to him, the country has not had a national carrier since the demise of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL).
He said that almost all the containers to and from Nigeria were carried by foreign shipping lines.
He also regretted approval of tank farms near the ports without due consideration for the road traffic implication to the ports.
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