Indigenous Ship Owners Bemoan Non–Enforcement Of Cabotage Act

The Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) says it has no expectation for 2013 until the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act 2003 (Cabotage Act) is enforced by the Federal Government.
The Act specifies among others that indigenous participation in the maritime sector must be enhanced and Nigerians allowed to participate fully in it.

The Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) says it has no expectation for 2013 until the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act 2003 (Cabotage Act) is enforced by the Federal Government.
The Act specifies among others that indigenous participation in the maritime sector must be enhanced and Nigerians allowed to participate fully in it.
ISAN General Secretary, Capt. Niyi Labinjo told the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that government should ensure proper compliance with Nigerian Content Act and encourage the association to participate in the cabotage regime.
He enjoined government to implement the cabotage law to the letter and give indigenous shipping companies the opportunity to participate in transporting crude oil.
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“We will continue to press the government. We’ll continue to make our views known about the need for proper compliance with cabotage; about the need for proper compliance with the Nigerian Content Act.
“Those things which are important for us to do our business, we will continue to press further.
“If I have a government that is insisting that this year out of the 2.5 million barrels of oil that Nigeria exports, 1.5 million barrels would be carried by Nigerian and they say ISAN take this 1.5 million barrels, go and carry it, we will gladly go to the bank; the bank will give us money and we will do it.
“So if you now say what is our expectation then we will now say this year we will struggle to carry the one million the government has given to us and hopefully by next year, we will do 1.5 million barrels. That is the expectation.
“That is what has happened in the case of Brazil. Their government insists that you must use local content and the government approves about 700 agencies which were issuing certificate of compliance on local content.
“So if you are producing this locally and it is being used by the oil and gas sector, someone will intend to continue to do it.
Labinjo recalled that about five years ago, government trained 200 cadets under the National Seafarers Development Programme, but expressed regret that since there was not enough shipping companies to work with, the cadets had been rendered jobless.
He advised government to provide enough funds for the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa Ibom, to enable the academy to produce skilful cadets for the nation.