.From left: Deputy Governor of Lagos, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Member Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Tolu Odebiyi, Permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani and the Representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Tanko Yakubu Pani during the 2020 World Maritime Day Celebration in Lagos last week.
Stakeholders in the maritime industry have given Nigeria knocks over last week’s celebration of the World Maritime Day, along with global players.
Nigeria had joined the global world last Thursday to celebrate the world maritime day, with the theme “Sustainable Shipping for Sustainable Future”, but some stakeholders have claimed that the country has nothing to celebrate owing to the myriads of challenges bedeviling her maritime sector.
X-raying the theme of the celebration, former chairman of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, in a telephone chat with our correspondent, said Nigeria is far from thinking of the future and that Nigeria has remained where it is for failing to do what other nations have done.
Ogbeifun lamented that the failure of the government to review the tax laws and policies has made the working environment unbearable, while accusing the government of failing to help shipowners survive the devastating effect of the COVID 19 pandemic which, according to him, has led to financial distress for shipowners who took loans from financial institutions.
“We are not thinking of the future; that’s the summary, all the pointers are there, despite all the intentions and desires to establish the global maritime fleet whether private, public, or public- private partnership, it has not succeeded, and the simple reasons it has not succeed is because Nigeria as a nation finds it difficult to do what other successful global nations have done and what is that- review our tax laws and tax policies to make the environment more conducive for the establishment. This is what other nations have done and we have refused to do that, despite all the presentations by the various committees set up to look at the possibility of looking at re-establishing global fleet for the country, up till now as a nation we have not been able to get into the global trade, with our import and export carried by foreign ships, so we cannot say we have moved forward in that direction”, he lamented.
“Now let’s come to coastal shipping, the devastating effect of COVID19 and also the crash in oil price has led to the drastic reduction of Cabotage vessels participation in the upstream side of the oil and gas industry which is the major chatterer of Cabotage vessels in our waters. So today because of the reduced activities in that sector, a lot of ships that were trading in the Cabotage regime are all laid-off, contracts canceled leading to loss of jobs in that sector, a lot of ship owners acquired these ships with financial institution’s facilities, so a lot of the owners are in desperate distress, because of the financial burden.
“So what does that portend, it portends backwardness, we are going backward, whereas we have a percentage of Cabotage vessel that were active and operating now dealt with. But what did other nations do, under the same situation they found themselves, what they did was to gather their ship owners and say- we can’t let you go under, because it has a major consequence, because if they go under it will be difficult to get them back, so they asked them what are your problems, number one- a lot of the ship owners have to take bank loans to acquire vessels and they are not able to pay for those facilities they acquired. So the government engaged the financial institutions and then gave palliatives because if you don’t want ship owners to go under they have to continue to trade, that’s how we are going to help them and keep them in business, before they allowed the chatterers to offload those vessels, they engaged with them asking them what are the consequences; what can we do to cushion the effect, not just on the owner of the vessel but to keep that sector alive, so that when we all come out of these challenging period, the shipping sector is still able to operate. But here nothing, so what are we celebrating, so what are we celebrating in this country”, he questioned.
On his part, a Master Mariner; Capt Adewale Ishola noted that when it comes to sustainable shipping, Nigeria is not there yet, but he stated that relevant agencies in the maritime sector are putting in their best to ensure that Nigeria does well as a maritime nation.
“Every country has its own problem and our ability to face is what matters and I think the relevant agencies are putting in their best with the available resources they have, we may not be there yet, but we are on the path to the right place”
Speaking also to our correspondent, a specialist in maritime security and the Secretary General – Merchant Seafarers Association of Nigeria (MSAN); Capt. Alfred Oniye, also alleged that the country has nothing to celebrate about owing to the insecurity on our waterways, while stating that the country situation is getting worse day after day.
“We are far behind; we are not there, the situation is getting worse every day and we are far behind, security is zero, shipping is zero; so what are we celebrating”, he asked.
Reacting as well, the President of Nigeria Association of Masters Mariners (NAMM) Capt. Tajudeen Alao sounded a bit optimistic, that the country has performed above average and as such has every reason to celebrate, while urging the various maritime agencies to put in more efforts that will lead to improvement of the sector.
“Nigeria is trying; we have domesticated all our conventions, we just need to put more efforts in the enforcement, it’s an on-going business, if you cut the grass one day and you stop cutting after a while, the grass will grow again, so also the improvement of the environment its ongoing thing, so it’s an ongoing thing; NIMASA is trying, we cannot get 100% but we are above average”, he said.
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