Experts Lament Foreign Dominance of Nigeria’s Shipping Sector

ABIOLA Seun

Stakeholders in the nation’s maritime sector have bemoaned the total dominance of foreign shipping companies in the lifting of all project cargoes in Nigeria.

Speaking at the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) Annual Workshop and Dinner with the theme: “The Nigerian Maritime Industry: Galvanising stakeholders Engagement for Sustainable Growth” held in Lagos on Tuesday night, the former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Adebayo Sarumi said non lifting of the crude contravenes the Nigeria’s shipping policy that reserves the shipping of all such cargoes for indigenous shipping companies.

He said, “Whatever cargo coming into this country must be carried by Nigerians. I have seen the challenge beyond offshore oil support services. Nigerian ship owners also have their roles to play in the carriage of cargo all over the whole place.

He called on the shipping operators to assiduously fight for their right to access the cargoes set aside for lifting by indigenous shipping companies.

“One point that still remains is that shipowners need to fight for their rights beyond the issue of oil and gas as well as oil exploration support services.

“Even if we have to start with non-vessel owning common carriers, we should insist on carrying most of our project cargo; we should not leave the business to the supplier to go and look for his countries’ shipping services to bring our cargo to us,” Sarumi said.

According to him, shipping business is capital intensive, considering the immense ship owners’ activities in the maritime industry.

He advised the association’s executive members to think of the possibility of diversification, saying that there was no reason for Nigerians not to trade within the North and Central Africa region.

The Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside who delivered a lecture on: “Effective Policy Implementation; A Panacea for Sustainable Participation and Growth of Nigerian Maritime Sector promised that the agency will begin the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) in the first quarter of 2019.

He noted that the disbursement of Cargo Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) would crash the interest rate to single digit interest rate.

According to him, the effective utilisation of the CVFF will also create more jobs in the country.

Peterside said CVFF would be disbursed before the first quarter of 2019, saying the agency would continue to publish the maritime forecasts to enable ship owners to understand the direction of the industry with the available statistics

“NIMASA is working on manpower audit to train Nigerians to attain the level of manpower required in the country and also looking at shipyards by supporting them to equip their vessels to provide jobs for Nigerian youths.

“Singapore had established a policy framework on International Maritime Centre 2030 which it intends to be the centre for connectivity and also the hub of innovation and latent in the world.

“Also United Kingdom is number one in ship financing and maritime insurance while China wants to dominate trade in the maritime and has done that through a maritime policy called 21st Century Silk Road

“There was the National Shipping Policy between 1987 and 2003 on cargo sharing rate of 40-40-20 which gave right for NIMASA.

“There is also the Cabotage 2003 policy which enables indigenous operators to dominate coastal trade by building and manning of ships, port reform policy and others,’’ Peterside said.

He noted that poor implementation of policies and lack of enforcement would lead to failure of numerous policies in Nigeria.

In his address, the SOAN President, Mr. Greg Ogbeifun, said since the inauguration of the association in 2014, it had become an enabler of maritime discourse within and outside Nigeria.

Ogbeifun said that the association had been invited by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) to lead a private sector delegation to the Commonwealth Business Forum in Malta.

He said SOAN president was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of CWEIC, saying the association had been able to increase government’s interest and participation in global maritime opportunities such as Nigerian Maritime Autumn Event.

According to him, SOAN has several engagements with relevant maritime managing directors as well as stakeholders with a view to facilitate the streamlining of government policies direction to actualise maritime potential.