Nigeria’s former Minister of Interior and Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho has called on Nigerian banks to be more supportive of Nigerian indigenous investors, especially in the shipping business.
Iheanacho who is also a frontline master mariner in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week lamented that indigenous investors and ship owners are currently having troubles with raising funds for long term projects.
Nigeria’s former Minister of Interior and Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho has called on Nigerian banks to be more supportive of Nigerian indigenous investors, especially in the shipping business.
Iheanacho who is also a frontline master mariner in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week lamented that indigenous investors and ship owners are currently having troubles with raising funds for long term projects.
He said that investors in shipping trade do not have access to borrow money at very cheap rates and for long periods.
“We have difficulties raising finance for long life projects, the Nigerian banks is set up to take care of people who want to trade, you go there, borrow money and bring it back in three years, but if you are talking about buying a ship, you must be able to get finance at reasonable levels and with a pay back of about 10 years, we cannot borrow at very cheap rates and for long periods”, he lamented.
“The banks are trying; the major problem that I see with Nigerian banks is that they do not have the necessary expertise in the house to fully evaluate all the variables and the risks that pertain to maritime investment proposals”.
“I think the necessary policies and provisions ought to be made so that specific funds for investment in shipping will be provided for people” he said.
The Integrated Oil and Gas boss boasted that he was among the first stakeholders that fought for indigenous operators to own ships and work onboard ships in Nigeria, “this is what I spend the whole of my life doing and I want people to remember that all the time”.
“We are the ones who pointed out that the technologies involved in managing ships and manning them and taking them abroad was something that we have mastered for years, all we had to do was create the right policy environment so that people will not bring their foreign ships manned by foreigners and take away jobs from our people”.
He however lamented the level of insecurity in the country and on Nigerian waters, saying that the level of insecurity will impact on the volume of trade in the country.
He maintained that shipping is about international trade and Nigeria needs secure coastlines. “Every country needs secure borders, our coastline is our maritime border and we need to have it secured” he stressed.
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