Following the 10% maritime growth forecast announced by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for 2019/2020, stakeholders in the maritime sector including shippers and ship owners have condemned the projection, describing it as unrealistic.
A frontline member of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) Capt Deji Abegunde in an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos on Wednesday criticized the NIMASA boss, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, saying that he was deceiving operators by the projection.
Peterside had stated on Tuesday that as part of the expected growth for 2019, in terms of offshore support vessels and the local oil and gas industry, there would be an increase in activities because of oil development that would require services of shipowners and their vessels.
According to him, more indigenous players would now be participating in the sector because of engagement with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ministry of Finance and Customs, this is because there would be special fund for acquisition of assets.
CaptAbegunde however based his argument on the fact that indigenous shipowners no longer own ships and many are out of the business.
He alleged that Peterside since assuming office has neglected the indigenous practitioners and that he failed to empower them to thrive.
He said "Who are the shipowners and how many ship owners do we still have in Nigeria today, like what I said when Dakuku was taking over the agency, I told you the first thing he needs to do is make the waterways conducive but he didn't do it, he is just there to make noise and political talks, this is how 2019 would go, Dakuku cannot do anything"
"How many ship owners are still operating in Nigeria, already, Brawal Shipping is gone, they owned Ndoni River in those days, do we have any indigenous shipping company owning a cargo vessel today, the tanker owners who are Nigerians are not surviving"
"How many ship owners has Dakuku empowered since he came onboard as DG, how many Master Mariners has he empowered? If they are predicting 10% increase, they should be able to tell us the position of Nigerian shipowners today"
He condemned the NIMASA boss for failing to disburse the much touted Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) to deserving ship owners.
Peterside had informed stakeholders at the Tuesday gathering that the much talked about Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) is not adequate to address the huge demand for maritime assets. He said NIMASA is looking at other ship financing models.
Also speaking on the NIMASA forecast, Trustee of the Shippers Association Lagos State, Rev. Nicodemus Odollo said the 10% growth forecast by NIMASA is not realisable because Nigerian Ports lacked the infrastructure to handle the projected growth.
Rev Odollo called for the development of port infrastructures, repair of port access roads and the need for NIMASA to address the insecurity and piracy on Nigerian territorial waters in order to attract investors.
According to him, Nigeria is having enough tonnage already, but that due to poor facilities, the cargoes are diverted to neighboring ports.
He queried that "Where are the opportunities, and in what area are we as shippers going to derive from the forecast?
"In terms of tonnage, Nigeria has good tonnage, but we are losing it to other African countries because we don't have enough infrastructure to handle the tonnage coming into the country"
"NIMASA is not going to build the infrastructure, they should be more concerned about the security aspect, they should focus all their efforts on controlling piracy, if they can do this, more shippers may decide to back to Nigerian ports when they discover the ports are safe"
"Right now we don't have infrastructure to handle the perceived 10% growth NIMASA is forecasting, new ports and terminals are not being developed, the ones that we have are I'll equipped, the road network is still very bad, the whole Lagos road network is littered with trucks and defecations, if we have more cargoes coming in, it means we are in trouble"
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