Ahead of the expected arrival of Africa's 5th largest floating dockyard in 2017 built by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) the Nigerian Ship Owners Association (SOAN) has criticised the agency, saying that it is not part of its responsibility to create dockyards.
President of SOAN, Engr Greg Ogbeifun stated last week that what NIMASA needed to do was create the right environment for private individuals to build ship yards and operate dry docking facilities.
He advised NIMASA that, as soon as its Modular Floating Dock arrives in Nigeria, it should be handed over to private individuals to operate.
"NIMASA should see what they can do to encourage existing or new ship yards, we are waiting for the arrival of the floating dock, this should be a turning point in the industry but I don't think you are planning to operate it yourself because you are not set up to do that"
But you can get establishments that are already in that business to operate it and create the much needed capacity in that sector of our industry.
The availability of ship repair yards are in Nigeria is confronted with obsolete facilities, poor maintenance and lack of funding”, he argued.
According to Ogbeifun 80 percent of vessels leave Nigeria to seek dry docking facilities in other countries. He said that by so doing, Nigeria is losing in terms of job creation, capital flight, skill transfer.
Director General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside had disclosed that the type of modular floating dockyard that NIMASA is building in the Netherlands and Romania will boost ship repair capacity, even as he added that, it also has the potential to transform Nigeria’s maritime industry, generate wealth and create employment.
Dr. Peterside said currently over 90% of vessels operating in Nigeria carry out their dry docking overseas fretting away the much needed foreign exchange at great cost to the country
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