Establishment of national fleet on course –Hassan Bello.

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello, has given an assurance that the Federal govenment is still passionate with its desire to reflect a national carrier.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi last year disclosed that goverment was desirous of floating another national carrier that will replace the defunct NNSL and NUL.

However, stakeholders seemed to have lost faith in the pronouncement due to seeming inactivity of government on the matter.

However Bello allayed the fear of the stakeholders when he disclosed, that, activities were ongoing to establish a sustainable national fleet.

He added that the committee set up to midwife the establishment of the project was working on other components relating to the industries that would support it.

The NSC boss said, “On the national carrier, people think it is just to go and buy ships or to have a national fleet is to go and pluck them somewhere, our national fleet implementation committee has been working very hard.

“We want to create a sustainable national fleet, we want to create a national fleet that will work, not the one that will just come and go, so we are thinking of other industries that will support it.

“We are talking about ship repair, ship yard, we are also talking about cleaning up with NIMASA, cleaning up the national registry, we are talking about reforms in the Nautical College at Oron, all these are what will support the national fleet.

“You don’t just bring one ship and say this is national fleet, without supporting collateral industry to support the national fleet,” he said.

Speaking on the National Transport Commission (NTC) bill, Bello said it was one of the major reform bills in the sector, which would encourage private sector participation in the industry.

“The various reform bills in the transport industry will make for greater participation in the private sector, it will free transport from bureaucracy and allow transport to make a profound impact on the national economy.

“So, the national transport commission is supposed to regulate interest; it is an economic regulator, a multi-sector that will guide the entrance and exit.

“It improves competition, it will safe-guard standard and also look over the pricing. Now if we look at all these things, it is what Nigerian Shippers Council has been doing.

“One thing about this bill is that it has the total support of the Minister of Transportation, it has more importantly total support of stakeholders in the industry,” the executive secretary concluded.