The Lagos State Coordinator of NISA, Captain Taiwo Akinpelumi, has accused the Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi of contributing to the factionlisation among ship owners, when he insisted that all ship owners must come under one umbrella called the Ship owners Forum.
Captain Akinpelumi, made the allegations last week in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos.
He lamented that fractionalization of its members and the lingering feud has eroded the capacity of ship owners to get patronages for their ships.
According to him, as business men, ship owners have the right to invest where they want and not the government telling them where to associate.
According to him, it was when the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi attempted to force shipowners to come under one umbrella to give room to the creation of ship owners forum that the splinter got strengthened .
"What makes you to be a ship owner is your money; if you are able to buy ship you are a ship owner. But unfortunately we have this scenario where the authorities want to decree to ship owners as business people or investors, how they have to go and it is not possible"
"For instance the honorable minister was forcing the ship owners to come together under one umbrella, I think that was what gave birth to ship owners’ forum", he disclosed.
According to him, "You cannot decree that businessmen should come together, it has to be at their own convenient, and the government is not to decree. Again we have discussed about the little internal squabbles and all that, if somebody belongs to an association and decided to go his or her way, you cannot force that person not to go" he said.
Capt Akinpelumi reiterated that what should be of uppermost concern to ship owners is to see that the industry is growing and that ship owners are getting jobs and not the issue of fractionalization.
In a veiled reference to the factionalisation in NISA and the emergence of new ship owners associations, he acknowledged that individuals are free to join any association that can protect their interests, because the constitution of Nigeria allows for freedom to association.
“We should not use our energies on fractionalization and all that. What is important is to know that the industry is moving forward and ship owners are doing well, getting jobs and all that”, he stressed.
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