A maritime lawyer; Osuala Nwagbara has said that the future of the maritime industry lies in the hands of the private sector even as he stressed that local ship owners should be empowered to own and manage vessels to boost the economy of the country.
Nwagbara made this known while fielding questions from journalists at a one day sensitization workshop on "sustaining import and export business through awareness of rules and procedures" in Lagos yesterday.
A maritime lawyer; Osuala Nwagbara has said that the future of the maritime industry lies in the hands of the private sector even as he stressed that local ship owners should be empowered to own and manage vessels to boost the economy of the country.
Nwagbara made this known while fielding questions from journalists at a one day sensitization workshop on "sustaining import and export business through awareness of rules and procedures" in Lagos yesterday.
The lawyer who is the chairman Board of Trustee for Centre for Transparency in Maritime Practice said that resuscitating the Nigerian National Shipping Lines (NNSL) is unnecessary describing government ventures as no man's business.
He noted that Indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) should be encouraged through the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) to acquire vessels in order to compete favourably with their foreigner counterparts.
According to him, the executive directors at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) presently working with the current director general of the agency are eager to ensure the disbursement of the fund.
The maritime lawyer affirmed that the maritime regulatory agency is aggressive to streamline the procedures to be adopted in disbursing the funds to private local ship owners.
He stressed that NIMASA has been distracted with piracy cases since 2012, calling on stakeholders to encourage the agency through supportive measures to curb piracy.
He said that doing business in the nation's seaports is expensive because of insufficient tonnage to put foreign vessel owners into competition, adding that foreign vessels owner dictate the pace in the country's shipping sector.
Nwagbara however added that the private sector needs to be encouraged to acquire vessels in order to compete with the foreigners, saying that neighbouring countries in West Africa have deliberate policies that encourage the indigenous ship owners.
He said that empowerment of local ship owners will make the rate of doing business in the ports to crash.
"NNSL has come and gone, government is a bad businessman, I think that the future of the maritime industry lies in the hands of the private sector should be empowered to own enough vessels, manage them well and then make the best out of it"
"I don't support resuscitating the NNSL, because it will go the way government businesses go in the country".
He said that the enlightenment programme is aimed at putting importers in Nigeria in the right frame of mind in doing business at the ports.
He also stressed that the workshop is to encourage the importers to follow the right procedures.
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