Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, a renowned maritime lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has urged the federal government to put massive efforts towards resolving the numerous problems which has resulted to exorbitant port and maritime charges in the nation.
Dr. Olisa made this call at a press conference last week, even as he advocated for speedily review of maritime policies and prompt passage into law of all bills pending before the national assembly to develop the nation’s maritime sector.
“Law is crtical to any reform or transformation process. There are also a raft of Bills before the National Assembly such as the PIB, the Ports & Harbour Bill, the Bill establishing the Economic Regulator (shipping sector), and the Maritime Zones Bill etc. waiting to be passed.” He said.
Representing Dr. Olisa at the conference, the Managing Partner of Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), Mrs. Priscilla Ogwemoh, posited that Nigeria’s maritime sector could be optimally harnessed to generate over N7 trillion annually for the nation.
However, she stressed that in order to realize the economic potentials inherent in the nation’s maritime, there was need for an overhaul of policy, institutional, regulatory as well as legal framework.
Dr. Olisa also decried that several agencies were involved in supervising the maritime sector leading to multiplicity of policy, operational guidelines, taxation etc. Hence, she called for the re-introduction of the Maritime Coordination Board as the highest organ for strategy formulation, policy harmonization and implementation with regards to maritime.
He noted that there were factors impeding the efficient implementation of Cabotage and opined that the roles of key actors and state of institutional, regulatory and legal frameworks have been responsible for the challenges facing the Cabotage Act.
“We would like the Cabotage Act to be reviewed in a way that can lead to higher revenue generation. We are losing a lot of revenue due to the non-implementation of the Caboatge Law as a result of foreign vessels doing business on our waters.” He added.
