The Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (NPCC) has assured that a detailed road map on how to reposition Nigeria's maritime industry will be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by September 2015.
At a stakeholders roundtable which held in Lagos yesterday on 'Setting Maritime Agenda for the Attainment of Vision 20:20' Chairman of NPCC; Otunba Kunle Folarin said that key stakeholders have been drawn from the 40 sub-sectors of the maritime industry to come up with an agenda for the Federal Government.
The Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (NPCC) has assured that a detailed road map on how to reposition Nigeria's maritime industry will be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by September 2015.
At a stakeholders roundtable which held in Lagos yesterday on 'Setting Maritime Agenda for the Attainment of Vision 20:20' Chairman of NPCC; Otunba Kunle Folarin said that key stakeholders have been drawn from the 40 sub-sectors of the maritime industry to come up with an agenda for the Federal Government.
The NPPC chairman warned that it would be wrong for President Buhari to kick start a policy for the maritime sector without first of all knowing the mindset of the operators and what they desire for the sector.
He lamented that in the past two decades, the maritime sector have suffered a great setback, especially in operational modes and infrastructures in the port industry in particular.
The NPCC had recently set up a steering committee comprising of maritime egg heads with diverse wealth of experience to chart a way forward for the industry.
Members of the committee were drawn from; port administration, Shipping, Maritime Law, Economics, maritime training, Academia, public service, maritime media, marine engineering, maritime regulation, maritime navigation, freight forwarding, among others.
Speaking further, Otunba Folarin said that "the industry knows what it wants, what is competitive and what Nigeria should be doing, we are giving a roadmap, we are the pathfinders, we are the professionals that can tell government what we need, so the choice of delegate is deliberate"
"We want to give government a roadmap that will deliver, we don't want to wait until government comes and starts to act in a vacuum" he said.
Continuing, Otunba Folarin said that, "there must be a reference, a document that will guide the industry; you cannot create a policy without knowing what the stakeholders want. We have over 500 years of experience in the maritime in the delegates".
He assured that the essence of the roundtable is to reposition Nigeria's maritime sector within the region, noting that Nigeria has the largest coastline and economic and maritime potentials but it has not been able to achieve desired results.
He assured that the recommendation of the roundtable will not go the way of past meetings and conferences which were not acted upon by previous administrations. According to him, the road map will not go through any intermediary; it is going directly to the Government, adding that “whoever represents government in Nigeria today will get it”.
"We are working in a fast track, and a steering committee midwifed the process you are seeing today,they submitted four detailed reports which are going to be considered. It is going to be submitted on a fast track and I believe in the next two months it will be on Mr. President's table"
"I am an incurable optimist, we are not putting 500 years on the table only for it to go and gather dust on the shelves somewhere" Otunba assured.
He also said that an implementation committee has been set up to monitor the outcome of the recommendation and ensure that it is implemented.
Some of the stakeholders sighted byShipping Position Daily at the event yesterday include: Nigerian Shipowners represented by their president, Capt Niyi Labinjo, maritime lawyers; Emeka Akabogu and Osuala Nwagbara, terminal operators; Capt Joshua Oyewunmi, Capt Bashir Muhammed, Engineer Greg Ogbeifun, Mr. Felix Ovude and Professor Bamidele Badejo.
Others are; Publisher of Shipping Position Daily; Mr Sesan Onileimo, President of NAGAFF, Chief Eugene Nweke, his ANLCA counterpart; Prince Olayiwola Shittu, President of Stevedores, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola , Managing Director of Murphy Shipping, Alhaji Adigun Abayomi among others.
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