The Managing Partner, Indo Marine Nigeria Limited, Engr. Emeraku Ijioma has identified the attitude of talking less about the important position occupied by the maritime industry in the country by the maritime professionals as the bane of the industry.
Engr. Emeraku who was speaking with newsmen recently in Lagos said that the Aviation industry doesn’t contribute up to one-tenth to the Nigerian economy as much as the maritime industry do yet much attention was being paid to the sector by the government attributing the development to serious advocacy embarked by the stakeholders in the Aviation sector.
Emeraku who is also a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Centre for Marine Surveyors Nigeria further stated that the Cetnre for Marine Surveyors Nigeria aimed at achieving what was happening in the Aviation industry adding that most of the news in the past weeks was about developments in the Aviation industry.
According to him,” And you see the kind of advocacy they undertake, influencing the decisions of government. Aviation industry does not contribute up to one-tenth to the Nigerian economy as much as the maritime industry does and yet we talk less and that is the bane of the industry.
“We want a situation where we should be able to have a forum to make the government of Nigeria appreciate that 90% of Nigeria’s income comes from the sea and it is all of us who are in this industry that are responsible for that. Development in the industry is at the lowest ebb, so, we want a situation where marine surveyors can help grow the industry”.
Speaking on the activities of the Centre, he added that depending on one’s area of specialization, the centre encouraged individuals to do what they were good in doing within the industry saying that that was what they were trying to develop within the Marine surveying sector of the maritime industry.
To the maritime journalists he said,” The kind of co-operation we are trying to develop with the Maritime Correspondents’ Organization of Nigeria (MARCON) is a very good one because it is going to help us in attaining the set objectives of the Centre and I want to believe that those of you who are in the press owe not just the Centre but the industry a great deal.
“You can run us down by just this pen and paper you people carry. You can also uplift us by the same pen and paper you also carry but if you believe in the objectives of the Centre, I want to believe that you will use the same paper to make sure that the objectives of the Centre are achieved for the sake of all us children and children unborn”.
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