The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, on Monday said that the amendment of the Cabotage Act would check revenue leakages in the sector.
Tambuwal made this known at a public hearing on the amendment of the Cabotage Act, 2003 organised by the Joint Committee on Marine Transport and Justice.
The bill seeks to amend the act to broaden the scope of its interpretation for the purpose of effective implementation.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, on Monday said that the amendment of the Cabotage Act would check revenue leakages in the sector.
Tambuwal made this known at a public hearing on the amendment of the Cabotage Act, 2003 organised by the Joint Committee on Marine Transport and Justice.
The bill seeks to amend the act to broaden the scope of its interpretation for the purpose of effective implementation.
Represented by the Chief Whip of the house, Rep. Ishaka Bawa, Tambuwal said that the amendment of the act would also enhance maritime security and create employment opportunities for Nigerians.
“By capturing these operations, we will not only expand the employment opportunities for our people, enhance maritime security but also capture a lot of national leakages.
“ The highlight of the amendment is a bid to expand the jurisdiction of cabotage to cover all the marine activities of our coastline, particularly oil and gas operation,’’ he said.
He noted that the sector was one of the sectors used to perpetuate fraudulent activities.
The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Idris Umar, expressed optimism that that the amendment would impact positively on the revenue accruable into the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
Represented by Mr Nebolisa Emodi, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Umar said that the amendment was intended to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition capacity to Nigerian operators in the domestic coastal shipping.
Mr Patrick Akpobolokemi, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Security Agency (NIMASA), said that key provision of the act should be reviewed for easy implementation.
He said that if the sector was well organised, it would create employment opportunity for the youths and urged the house to effect the necessary changes required to enhance the operations of the sector.
Mr Isaac Jolapomo, the President, Indigenous Ship Owners Association (ISA), said that the act had been ineffective due to poor implementation.
Jolapomo advocated N200 million penalties and forfeiture of ship, five year- jail term instead of the current N10 million for offenders.
He said that the existing temporary importation regime should be abolished and a maritime bank established.
Rep. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (PDP-Enugu), the Chairman of the committee, said that the amendment was at the instance of Nigerians in order to allowed them participate more in domestic shipping trade.
“This hearing is part of our conclusive approach to legislation to obtain stakeholder's input and expert opinion,’’ he said.
Other stakeholders at the hearing were; Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Nigerian Navy, among others.
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