A maritime lawyer; Barrister Osuala Nwagbara has suggested that the Federal Government should adopt policies that will encourage crude oil freighting on Cost Insurance Freight (CIF), instead of Free On Board (FOB).
Nwagbara also suggested that the Buhari-led government should put in place stiffer shipping policies that will boost indigenous ship owners to favourably compete with foreign counterparts in line with international trade.
A maritime lawyer; Barrister Osuala Nwagbara has suggested that the Federal Government should adopt policies that will encourage crude oil freighting on Cost Insurance Freight (CIF), instead of Free On Board (FOB).
Nwagbara also suggested that the Buhari-led government should put in place stiffer shipping policies that will boost indigenous ship owners to favourably compete with foreign counterparts in line with international trade.
The maritime lawyer in a chat with Shipping Position Daily stressed the need for the Buhari government to put in place policy that will develop international shipping in Nigeria, stressing that it will help to create wealth in the country.
Nwagbara stated that with a shipping policy that can address issues bothering on foreign participation by the federal government, this will enable local participation.
"We spend minimum of dollars every year to freight our crude aboard thus we need to re order the way we do our trade on the oil frontier"
"We cannot be talking about FOB rather we should be trade our crude on CIF and generate all the FOREX here", he argued.
He added that "there is no way we can talk about national tonnage without talking about international shipping because shipping is also about international politics"
The maritime lawyer reiterated that shipping is the bedrock of any maritime nation, adding that “if Nigeria has well-maintained and up-to-date ships, many African countries and the rest of the world will be afraid of this country"
He maintained further that shipping and politics are intertwined, pointing out that most maritime nations of the world are either super power or close to it.
Nwagbara further advised that the federal government should put in place policies that can boost shipping development in the country and to also encourage indigenous operators.
"As we speak today, maritime ranks higher in terms of potentials to revenue and foreign exchange"
"Maritime sector ranks higher than oil and gas, but we need to get it right, we must develop human capacity and we need the ships that can go out there to lift the crude"
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