By Kenneth Jukpor
Worried by the low patronage of seaports in the Eastern part of the country, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has created a committee saddled with the onus of studying the viability and challenges of seaports in the Eastern region.
The Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr. Hassan Bello revealed this at the 2ndedition of Nigerian Maritime Technical Summit organized by the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) in Lagos.
The Shippers’ Council boss who said this while delivering a paper with the title, “Nigerian Transport Policy: Maritime Dimensions”, lamented that despite the Federal Government’s efforts to divert traffic at the Lagos ports to the East, most port operators preferred to route their cargoes through the Lagos ports.
Bello stressed that effective use of ports in other parts of the country would dissipate the traffic congestion at Lagos ports; even as he assured port stakeholders that the Council had plans to make Eastern ports viable as well as the Inland Dry Ports.
However, the Shippers’ Council boss noted that the realization of multimodal transportation and integration of all transport infrastructure to the ports wouldn’t be possible without private sector involvement.
“I know we have huge deficit in transport infrastructure but I also see that there is an opportunity; the way forward is public private partnership so that the risks can be apportioned and shared. Like the dry ports that we have, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is promoting Truck Transit Park, modern infrastructure driven by technology”
He explained that this development would enhance efficiency in the nation’s transport sector and consequently boost the nation’s economy.
“We must have inclusiveness, employment content of our infrastructure, more people will be employed and there will be export and Nigeria will diversify her economic growth. We have to have linkage with the hinterland and that is the beauty of it, goods supposed to go to and from the hinterland before they get to the people”
In his welcome address, the President of AMES, Engr. Charles Uwadia said that the maritime industry is standing on a tripod namely; the political i.e the policy, the technical dimension and funding, adding that without any of these in the right measure, the industry will falter.
While commending the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for his presence at the last summit which held in 2016 and for his audacious steps in reforming the maritime sector through committees set up after the previous conference, Uwadia noted that the event recorded was a huge success.
He mentioned the committees set up after the first edition of the summit in 2016 to include the committee on national fleet, the rejigging of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), revamping of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, saying that an interim Management Committee was set up to look at revamping the Academy.
“Presently, there is a committee in place to look into the ship registry to bring the standard of the registry to the international best practice and we know that you will all agree with me that this will attract shipping investors from other parts of the world when these things are implemented”, he said.
The AMES President noted that the association had been encouraged by Minister’s unusual enthusiasm to turn the industry around for the better even as he assured the Minister that members of AMES would continue to work with the government and her agencies as they aspire to make full use of their vast experience and resources in making the sector accomplish its full potentials.
On his part, Engr. Emmanuel Ilori, an executive member of AMES admonished the Federal Government to take a cue from the aviation sector by establishing an agency to be known as ‘Accidents Investigation Bureau (AIB)’ to provide in-depth study and statistics of accidents in the nation’s maritime domain.
Engr. Ilori made this recommendation during his paper on ‘Nigerian Maritime Industry: Technical Regulatory Development and Sustainability’ and the opinion was endorsed by the various stakeholders at the conference and adopted as one of the recommendations from the summit.
Ilori also lamented that there was a dearth in the experienced marine engineers and surveyors, noting that the veteran operators were aging and there was no succession plan.
