The Federal Government has said that it has set up a committee in the Ministry of Transport to start the process of establishing a national carrier for the country.
Also, the Federal Government has disclosed that it would review the concession agreement with the concessionaires of the nation’s ports adding that this would come into effect after the ongoing with the concessionaires.
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the African Maritime Conference with the theme:” Financing the African Fleet”, organized by the African Ship owners in Lagos on Wednesday however said that the national carrier would not be established the way Nigerians wanted him to establish it.
According to him,” I know Nigeria very well as a public officer, I know that if you let public fund out to go to the public and private hands, it will not return to you. For example, we left under former President Jonathan a sum of N300 billion for the Aviation industry, the money had disappeared, there is no aircraft, nobody had returned any money, somebody had even gone to invest that money somewhere else. I can assure you, it will not be the same with our industry.
“When I saw the availability of resources for such establishment or assisting Nigerians to own vessels, I said that we will not assist Nigerians to own new vessel. Nigerians who want to own new vessels should go and own new vessels, we shall establish vessels that Nigerians will own, we will hold it on their behalf, when we hold it on their behalf, public funds will not be spent the way it was spent in the Aviation industry.
“We will establish the national carrier, we will review, after talking with the concessionaires, we will review the concession agreement because we must ask ourselves questions, why has our seaports remained the same way it was when it was established”.
The Minister therefore urged all those who want to participate in assisting the federal Government to establish the national carrier to engage the committee saying that he would by the end of the day (Wednesday) extend the time frame allotted to the committee for it to turn in its report in March as requested by the committee.
“Our target is that by May, we will see something on ground in the neighbourhood of the national carrier but with my discussions with this AU (African Union) people, it will not take off in May because it appears more complex than we already know.
“I am going to partner with you, whether it is Nigerian Ship owners or African ship owners to move this sector forward. I am ready to dedicate a day or two in a month to sit with either your representatives or by select people and interface and we will review the issues and my job will be to implement”, he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President, African Ship owners Association, Mr. Temisan Omatseye stated that the ship owners were not asking the government to give them money but that what was already a law should be implemented.
Omatseye added that if the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other government agencies that involved in import and export hand engaged the services of the Nigerian ship owners as stipulated by the law, ship owners would not be in the kind of debt crisis that they found themselves currently and that those dollars leaving the shores of the country with the foreigners would be coming back to Nigeria and the ship owners would use same in servicing their debts.
“What we are saying quite clearly is that the law states that for any vessel to operate on the Nigerian waters, he must have a license issued by the Minister of Transport and that license is very specific, you can only move from A to B. Now the question we asking, how many of the tankers operating on the Nigerian waters have this license by the Minister? Not one license has ever been issued. So, on what basis are all these foreign tankers operating in Nigeria?
“So, we are trying to say no, Hon. Minister take your position, take a position whereby you state clearly that anyone operating a vessel in Nigeria without license, lift up your anchor and leave the Nigerian waters or you will be arrested, so that the market can be open for other Nigerian ship owners.
“Also, the issue of STS (ship to ship) operation, why should we be moving cargo from Lome to Nigeria when the cargo is destined for Nigeria? Why should the mother vessel be stopping at Lome? Our position is let that mother vessel from NNPC move to Lagos anchorage so that Nigerian flagged vessels will have opportunity to lift these cargoes and bring them into ports”, Omatesye who is a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said.
Highlights of the event are goodwill messages from eminent personalities both within and outside the country, paper presentations, technical sessions and lots of other side attractions.
Meanwhile, the conference which is slated for three days continues today and tomorrow at Eko Hotels and Suits, Victoria Island, Lagos.
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