Mr Lucky Amiwero
Mr Lucky Amiwero
Right from when it was NMA, up to now that it has metamorphosed to NIMASA; we don’t know what they have used all the funds that have accrued to them for. So I believe strongly that we don’t need a special fund; what have they done with all the money. You don’t need any lifeline because you have National Automotive Council levy that has been collected over the years, we have not seen what they used that money for. So creating a maritime bank what is the bank coming to do when you have a maritime fund which is a fund to build capacity, have they built it? Let us start from there first, what are you building a maritime bank for, how do you sustain the bank? What will you bring into the bank, what are the resources of the bank, what is the funding of the bank? The creation of such an institution is to make money for some people, let us use what we have to get what we want. It is not just to create an institution that will not work. We don’t need a lifeline or a bank; there is an instrument on ground already that we are supposed to use for the benefit of the maritime industry. All freight that are going out of this country and coming in is being surcharged by NIMASA and who contribute this freight ,they are the importers and if the importers are contributing this freight, those money should be used for the benefit of the maritime industry .
Mr. Michael Emiko [A Consultant]
A maritime bank will be the best for the industry in the sense that as a banking rule and a banking principle, there are checks and balances whereby those that are in charge of the capital in the maritime bank will be able to monitor who are the beneficiaries and how this money is being expended for the benefit of the maritime sector as against giving out a lifeline in the industry. Having a maritime bank, with trustworthy people that can administer the policies of banking then I think things will actually improve in the maritime sector.
Yinusa Tijani (Banker) If the purpose is to help stakeholders in the industry, then establishing a maritime bank should be better. It is expected to give out loans to people to elevate the sector and also improve the welfare of the people that make up the sector. The ship owner, freight forwarders, clearing agent, and other young entrepreneurs who what go into maritime activities will benefit from it. If the minister of transport wishes to come with the bank he should consult the minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank for a proper scrutiny on how the maritime bank will operate. I think that a life line is meant for some set of individuals, it is not everyone that can benefit from it .With the bank, unemployment in the country will drop and also there will be provision of loans to stakeholders on businesses that will propel the industry to the next level.
Mr. Fie Kehinde [Seafarer]
If the minister of Transport is thinking of setting up a maritime bank, he should give it a re- think because such idea is not a child’s play .What is the purpose of the bank? Why not use NIMASA for that purpose. The minster is in the right position to come up with other alternatives that will encourage stakeholders in the industry rather than thinking of a maritime bank. And as for the life line, who are the people that such offer will encourage? The government should pump money into the sector.
Dr. Alex Okwuashi (Registrar, CIS)
The issue of running a bank is not a child’s play, for any bank to be approved there is what we call the desired reserved ratio, and just like you have seen other banks some billions of Naira is expected to be in the custody of CBN to justify that such a bank can take off. If we want to start a maritime bank, who are going to be the shareholders, is it government or the individuals? Individuals that have not been able to muster themselves to put money together and buy one single ship, are they the people that will be the shareholders of the bank? The issue is not the banks, we have enough banks, every bank can develop what we call the maritime desk, they can pull resources together to form the maritime desk, it is not until you have one generic institution called bank before you can make it in the industry. Bank is a place where they keep money, shipping does not require keeping money, you bring it out and finance issues and provide facilities so that the industry will move forward. If government should set it up now you will see some individuals jostling to be directors of such a bank so that the earnings from the maritime sector, from customs and so on will be coming to them. We don’t want that kind of thing, I am not an advocate of a maritime bank because we don’t need it, we have the bank of industry which funds small scale industries, instead of creating a maritime bank they should go and create a maritime desk at the bank of industry and this will be enough to do what we want to do. Let them give the money to the existing banks as a leverage to create a maritime desk instead of creating a new one.
Mr. Austen Osunmah (CEO, Indexplus Marketing Solutions Ltd.)
Looking at the two options critically I don’t think I will recommend any particular one, if you approve for a maritime bank, that means every other sector will also begin to ask for a bank, as rich as the oil and gas sector is, we don’t have anything called the energy bank. I know we have the Bank of Industry which extends to every other sector of the economy, if it is well positioned, why I am a bit wary about giving an intervention fund or a lifeline is because it sounds like a free thing or a national cake where people collect it and begin to divert it into other things. So what I think should happen is something midway between a maritime bank and an intervention fund, and this is where the Central Bank of Nigeria will come in and set aside some funds as a form of intervention for the sector, why I say so is because the sector is a very big employer of labour. So let about three or four banks which are known to be very active in the maritime sector come together and you push this fund to them for the investors in the sector who actually desire it and need it at a control rate, the interest rate should be so minimal and next to zero, and they should be given a kind of holiday, and it should be monitored so that it will not be given to just anybody that carries briefcases around the port.
Barrister Chinedu Ogbonna (PRO, PTML Custom command)
It is important for us to have a maritime bank, why I say so is that if you go to Cotonou port for instance, no matter how you are well connected as a Nigerian you can not clear a pin out of their port if you are not an indigene. But if you come to Nigeria here, the reverse is the case, if you check the real people that are making money in our maritime sector they are foreigners and expatriates because they have the resources and the money to engage in big time clearing and this is leading to capital flight, but if we have a maritime bank that is positioned well, it will ensure that the local practitioners are enhanced, even if you make up an intervention fund it will still go to these expatriates. We must financially empower the indigenous practitioners, if we have a maritime bank, most of our indigenous operators would not have been partially closed down as a result of debts.
Eugene Nweke (national president, NAGAFF)
The issue of maritime bank is a noble innovation coming from the government and I will say that it is very timely in the sense that during the economic meltdown, we were expecting that our government will be sensitive enough to bail out the stakeholders from the distress, but nobody thought about this but rather attention was focused more on revenue generation without having recourse to the multiplier effect on the larger public. Today, you will agree with me that so many cargoes have been auctioned as a result of the importer and the agent not having adequate fund. We believe that with this maritime bank it will not only address the issue of ship building and export, but the issue of importation and the clearance off goods, because there have been so many disputes about undue delay at the port because the importer can not lay hands on any funds, so to me it’s a welcomed idea.
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