The Transport Minister, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi’s statement recently in Ghana that Nigeria is not liquid now to fund the Regional Maritime Bank has attracted a lot of comments from maritime stakeholders, but the factional president of Nigerian Shipowners Association(NISA), Capt. Dada Labinjo came in the open to pass his comment said to be the views of the group. He spoke with MMS Plus. Enjoy it!
You were saying that Nigeria has money for the maritime bank!
What I was trying to say is that Cabotage Vessel Finance Funds (CVFF), which was created by section 42 of the Cabotage Act, which presently by virtue of section 43 is contracted by NIMASA and commercial banks.
Why don’t we use that money as seed money to establish a maritime bank, which is basically a commercial bank too, but specialized in nature. I have heard the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi talking about where it is now, the commercial bank to the Bank of Industry, which is a specialized bank for manufacturing. There is a Bank of Agriculture, also specialized bank. There is also a Bank of Infrastructure and mortgage bank. These are all specialized banks. What we don’t have is maritime bank and since the money is available, it is a contribution, it can equally be used as seed money to establish a maritime bank. And others will now join because one we create a maritime bank, people from all over the world will buy shares in it. Thereafter, you have a huge money in it that you can now use for whatever purpose. It is not the Federal Government money, so we are not asking for anything from the government. The government money is already tied to many things, so nobody is asking the government to create money to establish the bank. Let them use the money that is already created by Section 42, 43 and 44 of the Cabotage Act. We are not asking them for anything; we are only asking them for the approval. The maritime bank in so many countries, if you look at their shareholding, you will be shocked. You can have a country that has no maritime business at all investing in a maritime bank. You will have organisations that have nothing to do with maritime being part of the maritime bank. People are always looking for where they want to invest their money. Hearing what he said in Ghana that government has no money, nobody is asking him to bring money. We are not interested. Let them use the one being generated by NIMASA for the funding of the bank.
Another thing Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) is claiming for is for them to make public the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Nigeria signed with the Pacific International Shipping Line (PIL) of Singapore. We have five reasons why we want them to make it public. One, Amaechi that led the delegation, did it on behalf of the Nigerian government. The implementation committee chairman, Hassan Bello and all the members of the committee are all public servants. The representative of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is a public servant. The money used for the trip is tax payers’ money. So, there is a lot of interest by tax payers in the transaction that they have gone to do. So they should not wait for us to read from MMS Plus what is in the MoU. They should make it public, it is not a secret. They have been back now for one month, they should have published it in the dailies so that all of us can read it. So that if we are going to make any contribution, our contributions will be informed. I have learnt two things that you stated that are the content of the MoU. One, you said PIL insisted that they must give them contract from Federal, States and Local governments. Two, you said they are giving us vessels on bare-boat charter. I have a lot of comments to make but I cannot do so now until I read the full position. These are the two things that you can ascribe to NISA to have said. The five reasons are: Tax payers’ money was used, he led government delegation, public servants were involved, what they are doing is of massive public interest. In that case, they did not go for secret meeting on our behalf.
From the Nigerian Private Sector, we have not seen any commitment for the 60 percent Nigerians?
That is why we need to wait to see the full MoU details because if you say 40 to 60 percent, what do they represent? 40 percent of what and 60 percent of what? They have not defined that. May be, it is being defined in the MoU. We need to know whether it is going to be public quoted company or private, everything will have to be in the open. That is why we are calling on them to publish it or call a ministerial meeting of all stakeholders and we come and talk. When you say that you are a public servant you are saying that I am your servant; not your leader, whatever you direct me I will do. You cannot say ‘I have made up my mind, there is nothing all of you can do.’
So, I emphasize that on the issue of maritime bank, we don’t need Nigeria’s money at all. Let them use whatever that is in our Cabotage funds as seed money. If it is one billion or five billion naira let them use it as seed money. Instead of moving it to Bank of Industry, which he is planning to do, let him use it to establish the maritime bank, which will solely address maritime related needs. It is better than saddling the BOI with that responsibility again. Their hands are full.
Is NISA talking about this same Regional Maritime Bank or another maritime bank?
It is that same regional maritime bank because Nigeria will not have enough market for the bank while other countries may not have the money. They don’t have the market, either, we have the market and money so they should do it in Nigeria. It is that same regional maritime bank which will cater for the 24 member countries of Maritime Organisations of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) that we are talking about.
Again, I thought that you were going to ask me about making Nigeria a maritime hub. You don’t make maritime hub by mouth, which is what they do every time. A country becomes a maritime hub by virtue of services. In the whole of Europe, the maritime hub is in Rotterdam, when Holland is 3 million in population. France is 29 million; Portugal is about 10million; Spain is about that too. London is about 15 to 20 million population. But look at that small country! That is the country that is a maritime hub in Europe. In Asia, Singapore is maritime hub, and it is one of the smallest of the countries in population. So, maritime hub is about services. It is not done by fiat. There are requirement for a maritime hub. There is the Search and Rescue, there is the reception which is port. All the approaches to the port must be good, all the linking roads must be good. There must be railway, airline, etc. all these must be functional. If you like build hundred seaports, if your services are bad nobody will come there.
