A former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, has urged the Federal Government toconsider the possibility of outright privatisation of the Nigerian seaports.
Shonekan, who was the Chairman of the 12th Maritime Seminar for Judges jointly organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NCS) and the National Judicial Institute (NJI), made the suggestion at the seminar in Abuja yesterday.
He said the possibility of outright privatization should be explored rather than concessioning which was built on Public Private Arrangement (PPP).
A former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, has urged the Federal Government toconsider the possibility of outright privatisation of the Nigerian seaports.
Shonekan, who was the Chairman of the 12th Maritime Seminar for Judges jointly organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NCS) and the National Judicial Institute (NJI), made the suggestion at the seminar in Abuja yesterday.
He said the possibility of outright privatization should be explored rather than concessioning which was built on Public Private Arrangement (PPP).
He said that there should be a law to facilitate outright privatization.
It would be recalled that 26 terminals in Nigerian ports were concessioned in 2006 to private operators.
Shonekan explained that the maritime industry occupied a pivotal position in the nation’s economy, adding that the economy was highly dependent on international trade with the statistics there to show.
He expressed the need to facilitate maritime laws for the nation to become one of the largest economies by year 2020.
According to him, for the nation to grow, we need to continue to use maritime laws as effective tools in our transformation process.
The former Head of State also said that piracy and other criminal activities were part of the major challenges confronting maritime activities in Africa and other parts of the world.
According to him, international piracy and criminal activities deterred shipping.
Using maritime law to curb, if not eliminate piracy, should rank high in the list of discussions at maritime seminar for judges, he said.
Shonekan also said that there should be discussions on why the cabotage law had been impeded.
He said that the seminar should also explore how the objectives of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development Act 2012 could be achieved.
The former Head of State said the maritime industry was capital intensive, saying that “little wonder that indigenous capability remain weak’’.
He also said capacity should be built in the legal profession on Alternative Dispute Resolutions.
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