Otunba Kunle Folarin (Chairman, Ports Consultative Council)
The 2017 budget is the platform for the performance of the economy in 2017. The maritime sector through the export policy will boost cargo operations in the ports and in addition, other policy directives on vehicles and rice which are to be handled at the ports. Recent approval for Nigerian companies to take part in the lifting of crude oil will also generate revenue for Nigerian shipping companies and preserve foreign exchange for the country. The federal government must declare and create a maritime economy. Maritime security must receive maximum attention with combat against piracy and armed robbery at sea. Maritime education to develop manpower for the sector should be given a priority. Also, the regulatory agencies should fulfill their mandate accordingly in 2017.
Owolabi Omotayo (Chairman, MWUN, Liverpool Unit)
My expectations are high for the maritime sector in 2017; I expect some flexible change in policies by the government in the areas of relaxing restrictions on some items which the country is still struggling to produce massively here.
I believe the only way to get out and never get into recession in the future is to start to massively produce most of our nationally needed consumable items here and also start the trend of exporting these items.
Secondly, I expect high investments on the security of our national maritime assets, deployment of hi-tech surveillance apparatus to properly monitor the waterways nationwide and transmit information to the relevant security agencies for sharing and swift responses. I expect the repairs and reconstruction of all port access roads in the country, provision of parking facilities for trailer trucks at the ports, high security network in the ports and seizure of substandard imported goods at the ports, among others. These are my high expectations from the Nigerian maritime sector 2017.
Lucky Ehis Amiwero (Chief Executive, Ehis Resources Ltd)
The maritime industry has not fared well in recent years, so we have nothing to look forward to in 2017, everything is in comatose, the shipping companies and terminal operators are increasing charges on their own, government is taking wrong decisions here and there and the maritime sector is in a very serious problem. We have almost 10,000 vehicles stuck at the borders, the Cabotage Law failures have not been addressed, nothing has been addressed in the maritime industry, and the scanners at the customs ports are all dead and not functioning properly.
All our cargoes have gone out to other countries, the auto policy is not working, they are supposed to review it, restructure it and re-jig it, the valuation system at the port is in trouble. So what are we expecting? Government should appoint experts into certain agencies in the sector to keep things moving.
Seun Olukanni (Nigerian Institute of Shipping)
Our major expectation now is that the Federal Government should ensure stability of the Naira against other currencies and make the Naira to appreciate, because this determines other aspect of the maritime business. Also looking at our expectation in the area of maritime education and maritime security, the security agencies currently are doing very well, we can only encourage the agencies to do more, we can encourage the agencies to do more by training and re-training their staff.
Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi [NARTO]
Firstly, we must give thanks to God almighty for the new year and for keeping us together to be among the living .My expectation for the industry now that the government is seriously putting attention to agriculture and mineral resources is to diversify the economy, I expect the economy team and the customs to come with a long term policy plan that will enable the ports to bounce back again .The government should focus on policies to boost export at this point without obstacles. Equally with the recent ban on vehicles from land borders, there is need for government to look inward to encourage duty payment on items to be slashed. Again the porous state of the ports must also be fixed for easy flow of vehicles in and out of the ports.
Sir Osita Patrick Chukwu {Coordinator SNFFIEC}
The most important thing to look out for is the sincerity on the part of government to encourage importers to patronise our ports, because our ports are the most competitive in the world. The issue some policies of maritime industry should look into; most especially the Nigerian Shippers Council transmuting to NTC is of essence. The government needs to draw closer to the practitioners on a monthly basis to get first-hand information about what is happening in the industry.2017 will be fruitful- all things been equal, because there is need for the government to encourage the terminal operators for them to reduce cost of doing business in our ports. Issues of electricity at the ports is paramount and there is need for government to provide electricity to enhance ports efficiency because these are some of the reason the concessionaires charge high.
Donatus Oforma {NAGAFF}
I must commend the Nigerian Shippers’ Council for the capacity building programme organised for freight forwarders and other key stakeholders and we want them to do more this year. Also, CRFFN must ensure to harmonise freight forwarding practice this year. The minister of Transportation should also ensure to fix the bad roads leading to the two sea ports in Lagos.
Emmanuel Akide [Deputy President, NCMDCLA]
We hope the sector will boom as it were in time past. The focal point for 2017 should be that the CRFFN should bring together all the relevant association in achieving a common goal in the sub sector. However, the crisis in CRFFN has lingered for so long, thus there is need for the minister to put a stop to it. However, policy of import and export must be looked into, to encourage both foreign and local investment
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