NIMASA set to re-launch the nNational Shipping Line in six months time

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Monday said that it was working assiduously to establish a viable National Shipping line in the country through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi who made this known in a welcome address he rendered at a one day National workshop on PPP Strategy for Infrastructural Development and Modernization in the Nigerian Maritime Sector held in Lagos stated that the National Shipping Line when operational would address the problems of sea time training being experienced by the Nigerian cadets being churned out on a yearly basis by the various Maritime institutes spread across the nation.
Akpobolokemi who observed that having put the machinery in motion towards actualizing the Nigeria Maritime University as well as a ship yard in Nigeria, noted that together with the private sector, the National carrier would be back on stream in six months time.
According to him,” we are also working on an initiative to establish a viable National Shipping Line through PPP. So in the next six months, working with the private sector, we want our shipping line back. As we have put our maritime University and the ship yard in motion, the next in line of our action will be our National carrier”.
“Infact, when we are talking about sea time training, if we have a National Carrier, it solves that problem. Those in Japan, those in US or whatever will consider their cadets before you and right now, we are investing a lot in sea time training whereas one third of that investment will train them locally in addition to wealth creation”, he said.
He noted that lack of the National Shipping Line was a source of capital flight describing it as ungainful and a very big setback to Nigeria’s dream of becoming the hub of the West and Central Africa even as he hinted that having secured the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan on the project, NIMASA was now poised to making the dream of having a National Carrier a reality.
He however expressed his dissatisfaction with the shipping sector that tends to champion the course of the foreign operators in the coastal trade despite the presence of the Local Content Act as well as the Cabotage Act regretting that the trend was not good for the economy.
The Director General highlighted that the full participation of the indigenous Nigerians in the Coastal Trade was one of the panacea towards a great nation and wealth creation.
He therefore called on the Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association (NISA) to ensure they put pressure on the agency so as to put them on the heels of delivering on its promise of establishing the National Carrier as well as in other areas that would further reposition the industry.
Also speaking, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Alhaji Aminu Dikko described the workshop as apt as it would further enhance government’s drive to open up its borders for a robust private sector participation in the critical areas of the economy.
Dikko whose message was delivered at the workshop by Mr. Chiedu Ndubuisi who represented him stated that ICRC which was set up to harness the opportunity inherent in the private sector and to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive was happy to be part of drive towards an infrastructural viable and modernized Nigerian Maritime sector.
Oh his part, the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar described the workshop as first of its kind in the drive for a better maritime sector adding that the federal government actually encourage Public Private Partnership in the development of the Nigerian ports even as he said that most government agencies now execute their projects through PPP arrangement.
The Minister who was represented at the occasion by Mr. Okwua Eta urged the participants at the workshop to critically examine the challenge of funding in the area of infrastructural development and come out with a clear cut direction with the aim of harnessing the inherent potentials in the sector.
He noted that government would continue to create an enabling environment for a robust public private partnership in the country having identified it as an alternative to government monopoly of infrastructure development in the country promising that the outcome of workshop would be taken seriously by the government.
The workshop which was jointly put together by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) featured several paper presentations, panel discussions as well as question and answer sessions.