The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, has urged journalists to set realistic agenda for the newly-created ministry.
Oyetola said this on Tuesday at the 25th-anniversary celebration of the League of Maritime Editors in Lagos.
The minister, who was represented at the event by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Olujimi Oyetomi, stated that there were challenges confronting the new ministry that had yet to crystalise, hence, the need to be guided in setting expectations.
He said, “We are collectively witnessing the progress which we are seeing today in the sector even though we are just starting. It is on the earlier mentioned basis that I challenge your league to be patriotic, and realistic when setting the agenda not just for those of us at the policymaking level, but also for the agencies, noting the ever-present challenges to a sector that has not taken the front stage of attention in the past. We are all trying to bring them up to be at par with developments in many of the frontline maritime and blue economy nations of the world.”
He added that the new Customs Act would allow examination of the contributions of the marine and blue economic sector, to trace commercial development and growth of the nation’s economy.
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, in his comments also, highlighted the benefits of the new Customs Act.
Adeniyi, who was represented by the Comptroller of Tincan Island Port, Dera Nnadi, said, “The recent enactment of the Customs Act brings a renewed focus on trade facilitation, particularly in the maritime sector.”
Calling for the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, the President of the League of Maritime Editors, Timothy Okorocha, said, “We urge President Tinubu to provide the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and his ministry with the needed impetus to bring to an end the unending rat race on the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund established since 2003.
He said the CVFF was aimed at jumpstarting a new lease of life for capacity development of the country’s indigenous shipowner and to enable Nigeria participate meaningfully in the seaborne trade, especially within the proposed commencement of the implementation policy of the blue economy.
In his paper presentation, a lecturer from the Nigeria Maritime University, Dr Charles Okorefe, also calls for the disbursement of CVFF.
He said, “We have been talking endlessly. The President talked about the deployment of CVFF. For how many years are we going to be talking about the disbursement of CVFF? What is the purpose of CVFF? It is meant to assist indigenous operators, and shipowners to acquire new vessels and other players. How can we grow when these things are not put in place?
“So, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has a lot of work to do. The parastatals under that ministry have to be put on their toes, to be able to key into the vision of this blue economy concept. There is a lot on offer. The more we put our hands together by bringing together those who can drive the vision of this ministry, the better it will be.”
