Owolabi Omotayo (Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria)
Owolabi Omotayo (Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria)
It is not advisable because setting up another national carrier will go the same way that the national shipping line went, followed by the Nigerian Unity Line. The best thing is to encourage individuals to set up a shipping line that will be viable, they should assist the individuals who are conversant with the maritime sector to go and acquire new vessels; not second hand ones, so that they can favourably compete in the industry. I will not subscribe to government going to waste money again to set up another national shipping line, rather they should create a platform whereby indigenous shipping operators can acquire brand new vessels and not second hand ones.
Eugene Nweke (National President, NAGAFF)
It is not the issue of paper works, let them go ahead to implement it for us to see, how can we say we are a great maritime nation and we don’t have tangible number of vessels running the international waters? Yet we are making noise about it. The private sector who are supposed to handle it have failed, they were unable to do it, so if government will come by way of buy-over or buy-back, then there is no problem, they should show support and ensure that it works, it is not all about bringing in the money, but they should also supervise it and follow it up genuinely, when they do this, then we will compare and contrast. My own concern as a person is that; seeing is believing, so I don’t want to be listening to all the rhetoric.
Babatunde Samuel (Registrar, POTMAN)
The issue of national carrier is a good idea, however we must do it with a lot of caution, the first thing is to ask: what led to the liquidation of the national shipping line? We need a national carrier so that our seafarers will have a place to train, secondly it will also generate some revenue for the government, it promotes the image of government in terms of security and national cargoes, it is also a new experience as far as the shipping industry is concerned, all these are reasons why we must have it. The government has the funds, they can equally mobilize the human capacity required to do this thing, and they also have the right to ensure that it works out; using all necessary frameworks to make it happen. However they should make it in form of a public private partnership (PPP) in which the government will handle 60% and the private sector can handle 40%, and the government should also provide the legal frame work, so it is going to be a partnership thing and not to be singlehandedly funded by the government.
Ossai Uwaka (Business Man)
The government will be in a better position to kick- start this project, they can now hand it over to the private sector, but if government wants to come in, let them tell us where they want to come in, they should declare their involvement and they should tell us what their vision is, are they doing it to salvage a failed system? Which is very crucial, in doing this also let them look at our ship yard, look at Ajaokuta, there is nothing stopping us from manufacturing and producing vessels in this country, we have the resources; we did not just create the dockyard for servicing vessels.
Walter Ukaegbu (Maritime Journalist)
I don’t subscribe to government having a 100% share in another national carrier because this is what led to the demise of the former one, they may have 20% share while the rest will go to the private sector maybe with NIMASA also involved, but I don’t subscribe to them having it wholly. They should own some percentage and leave the greater part to the private sector, we should take a cue from other countries of the world that have their own national carriers, we should copy from them because there is nothing wrong in copying. But there is need for us to have a national carrier so that graduates from our maritime academies can have vessels to train on.
Olorogun Andrew Ugwi [ANCLA, PTML Chapter]
Privatizing would have been a good thing instead of government floating a national carrier but the truth is, in Nigeria we turn government property to self property. I can recall that we had a vessel before, but where is it today? Nigeria is ripe to own more than six ships that we can call our national carrier, but due to the fact that everyone is fighting for himself such cannot happen.
Capt. Thomas Kemewerigha [President, Merchant Navy]
Anything that is not of national interest should not carry the name ‘Nigeria’. Take a cue from National institutions like the Nigerian Airways and NITEL that were sold to individuals by the former president of the country; Olusegun Obasanjo. Malaysia started with one or two vessels while Nigeria had about 24 vessels, but today Malaysia have more than 160 vessels and we don’t have one .It is not getting the vessels that matters, but the mentality of Nigerians who manage the public property .
Mr. Emiko Michael [Maritime Consultant]
The issue of a national carrier should not come as it will be of selfish interest by some groups in the country, what we should look out for is to encourage those stakeholders who already are in the shipping business. NNSL made impact as at then, but it is not functional as at today, where can you find those vessels at the moment .The private hands will yield more profit compared to the government. The maritime sector has grown to the level whereby it should be a 50-50 affair between the government and the private sector. They should encourage private investment to grow and not to pump money unnecessarily into a project that will not last
Comrade Godwin Udoka [Dockworker]
If the government is interested in that area, then, it is welcomed but my fear is that the national carrier should be operated with caution. We all know that anything owned by the government is not taken seriously and it is only for some few who will profit from it. We can only advice the government to do the right thing at the right time. To me it is a welcome development if they are serious about it.
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