Shipowners Charged to Reunite, Bring Back National Fleet

By ZION Olalekan |

Indigenous shipowners association in Nigeria have been charged to reunite themselves and speak with one voice in order to attract government attention and also bring back investors into the maritime sector.

Giving this charge in a chat with Nigeriamaritime360.com in Lagos, Continental President of Women in Maritime (WIMA) Africa, Barrister Jean Chiazor Anishere said that Nigeria ship owners are divided along various lines.

She said there are too many interests among the practitioners and this has caused them to speak in discordant tunes.

Already there are three factions of ship owner groups namely; Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) which is the foremost association headed by Capt Dada Labinjo, Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) headed by Eng. Greg Ogbeifun and a breakaway faction of NISA, headed by Alhaji Aminu Umar.

Anishere charged the Ship Owners Forum, another body headed by foremost trawler owner, Barr Margaret Orakwusi to use the platform to bring about the needed unification among shipowners.

Speaking, she said “The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi saw the disunity among these factions and set up the Shipowners’ forum chaired by Mrs Margaret Orakwusi.

“The Shipowners forum is to bring about the unity that is required among these three bodies. This forum was what led to setting up of the committee on national ship ownership for which the Nigerian government is anticipating supporting private stakeholders in setting up fleet ownership in Nigeria with the federal government giving them the wherewithal to enable them take it up.

“Going forward, I think the shipowners forum should be further coalesced into one association for the purpose of achieving that which I think is laudable for Nigeria to eventually go back into setting up a fleet”, she said.

Chronologically, she said the creation of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) has to do with the fallout of NISA which is the first shipowners association in Nigeria.

“Few years ago, certain members did not quite accept the election which led to the nomination of Capt Labinjo as the president of NISA, it’s rather very unfortunate and this led to the creation of SOAN. There was further fallout in NISA itself, whereby NISA created two arms, one led by Aminu and the other by Capt Labinjo.

“In all of these splinters, I do not see any benefit in it for our maritime sector because they are not united; the benefit would have been where there is unity and some kind of collaboration amongst these three which would have given them the strength that they need.

“We have had fleet before, it’s not as if this is the first time, we have had Nigerian National Shipping Lines, and this is like going back to it and correcting the flaws that we had in NNSL. So, the ship owners’ forum should give the seriousness required by any government to look into ship owners’ plight and set up another fleet for Nigeria” she said.