The Registrar of Certified Institute of Shipping (CIS), Dr Alex Okwuashi, has urged the Senate to reopen deliberation on the bill to charter the institute.
Okwuashi made the appeal in an interview in Lagos last week
He said that the institute and other stakeholders were very optimistic that the Senate would not abandon the bill.
“All efforts are being made by the institute to get the Senate to revisit the bill so that it could be passed into law.
“The strategic importance of maritime to the nation has made this bill very important.
The Registrar of Certified Institute of Shipping (CIS), Dr Alex Okwuashi, has urged the Senate to reopen deliberation on the bill to charter the institute.
Okwuashi made the appeal in an interview in Lagos last week
He said that the institute and other stakeholders were very optimistic that the Senate would not abandon the bill.
“All efforts are being made by the institute to get the Senate to revisit the bill so that it could be passed into law.
“The strategic importance of maritime to the nation has made this bill very important.
“The CISN Bill was originally gazetted in 2011 under the chairmanship of Hon. Okey Ude, the erstwhile chairman of the House Committee on Marine Transport, but was inexplicably dropped.
“It was slated to be chartered with the Cabotage Act in 2003 and in 2010.
“The bill was brought up again when the House Committee on Marine Transport reiterated the need for the institute to be chartered,’’ he said.
Okwuashi recalled that the bill was also dropped in Dec. 2010 when it was sent to the Senate for final passage because the legislative year had ended.
He called on all stakeholders, including the NPA, the NIMASA and the Ministry of Transport, to support the institute in its bid for professionalism.
“It is believed that if the institute is chartered, it will help to bring sanity in the way and manner shipping is done in Nigeria,” the rector said.
The Bill is being sponsored by the CIS, the Nigerian Institute of Shipping and other maritime stakeholders.
“The bill is a very large industry bill and also very strategic because Nigeria is a maritime nation,’’ he said.
The rector said that there was a need to coordinate the activities of the professionals in the industry so as to conform to international best practices.
“We want the activities of professionals to be coordinated. Right now, everyone is doing what he wants, nobody is coordinating.
“Shipping is not supposed to be an all comers’ affair as we have been witnessing, with nobody regulating the entry of persons into the profession,” NAN quotes the CIS rector as saying.
Okwuashi said that the CISN Bill, if passed into law would set standards and specify code of ethics for professionals.
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