High investment profile hinged on improved maritime security

Worried by the rising security challenges in the nation’s maritime sector, Peter Ebigbo, a clinical psychologist, has urged all the maritime sector administrators to come up with a policy that will reflect global trends in maritime security in order to strengthen foreign investors’ confidence in Nigeria.

He said that though Nigerian shipping sector, which drives about 95 percent of the economy, is undergoing series of reforms, there is also need to adopt global port security best practices to suit Nigeria’s security challenges.

In curbing the security challenge in the nation’s maritime sector, he noted that the country needs to open up its economy and create employment for the youths. “This is germane in the effort to salvage and combat robbery and associated crimes in the nation’s maritime domain,” he said.

Nigeria, according to him, needs to further harness the potentials of the shipping sector to be at par with maritime nations of Philippines and Singapore by looking up to countries like Malaysia, Brazil and India as a model of economic advancement.

“We appreciate the desire of government through NIMASA to fast-track the development of large pool of Nigerian seafarers by the year 2015 to meet local demand and contribute to the manpower needs of the international shipping community, but Nigeria needs to achieve global maritime standards that will shape the future of the maritime industry,” he affirmed, adding, however, that there is need for everybody to join efforts to enable the country reach its fundamental goal.