Experts hinge maritime growth on effective security, full indigenous participation

Rising security concerns on the waterways and poor involvement of indigenous operators in the nation’s shipping business are the reasons for low development, participants at the 2014 edition of Nigeria Maritime Expo (NIMAREX), who took turns to appraise the industry, have said .

To the participants, Nigeria’s maritime industry would make no headway without adequate security in the waterways as well as improved indigenous participation in shipping to enable competitiveness between Nigerian and foreign players.

“Nigeria must tackle the underlying factors such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and other environmental issues that give rise to piracy and criminality at sea,” said NIMAREX 2014 participants in a 22–point communiqué that was made available to BusinessDay.

The stakeholders, who posited that the current efforts by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Navy to tackle the menace of piracy and other criminalities at sea through constant surveillance of the water domain is positively yielding results, also believed that there is need to strengthen the enforcement powers of the agencies to enable Nigeria adopt strict deterrent measures against piracy as done in Cameroun.

To achieve this, they suggested that there should be structured synergy that would enable relevant security agencies to work as a team rather than merely assisting one another through Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). They added that banks that involve in receiving ransoms on behalf of kidnappers should be identified and duly sanctioned.

According to the communiqué, lack of equipment and technology required to strictly deal with the security challenges; lack of political will to tackle the problem head-on and lack of powers to prosecute arrested suspects are the reasons for worrisome state of insecurity in the nation’s maritime domain.

Participants further urged the government to demonstrate the needed political will that would help in developing the shipping industry.

This, they said, should start with the full implementation of the recommendations of the ‘Presidential Committee on the Review of the Outcome of the Maritime Sector Retreat’ as an imperative measure to develop its shipping sector.

With the theme, ‘100 Years of Maritime Development in Nigeria’, 2014 NIMAREX communiqué also believed that government needs to fast-track the development of the nation’s shipping sector by promptly granting operators especially indigenous ship owners leave to enjoy subsidy and duty exemptions as applied to the aviation sector.

“Nigeria needs to improve indigenous participation in shipping to engender competitiveness, earn foreign exchange, create employment and accelerate development of her national defence and security system. In doing this, Nigeria needs to develop novel policy and plan to guide maritime practice,” the communiqué further stated.

Continuing, the communiqué noted that Nigeria needs to strengthen its shipping policies and developmental initiatives by encouraging critical legislative actions capable of protecting indigenous operators. Also, there is need for periodic review of the National Shipping Policy, the Cabotage Act, the Local Content Act, the Petroleum Industry Bill, the Ports and Harbour Bill etc.

On funding to boost indigenous capacity, the communiqué stated that the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF) that has accumulated millions of dollars needs to be disbursed, while other funding support mechanisms should be implemented to hasten equipment and tonnage development within the maritime industry.

The participants, however, called on all those concerned–NIMASA, banks and the Federal Ministry of Transport, to ensure that CVFF is disbursed to the already selected beneficiaries without further delay. They also suggested that there is need for urgent establishment of strategic bailout fund for the maritime transport sector so as to ease the challenges of funding.

“Nigeria needs to adopt protectionist policies for indigenous ship owners in order to boost indigenous capacity development. More shipping companies should be accorded national carrier status, and there is need to pay greater attention to ship building and repairs,” NIMAREX 2014 posited.

“There is urgent need to close the manpower gap created by the demise of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL). The Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) should be structured to emphasise sea-time training which has been a challenge for Nigerian trained Cadets. Also, training of seafarers should go hand in hand with building shipping capacity to create employment for them so as to avoid training of potential pirates,” the participants added.

In building capacity, the participants noted that NIMASA needs to collaborate with Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, as well as the Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos, to build capacity by sponsoring cadets in these institutions to undergo foreign training. “To curtail the proliferation of certificate racketeering among seafarers in Nigeria, NIMASA should live up to its mandate of regulating and standardising Seafarers’ Certificates,” the communiqué said.

Uzoamaka Anagor