The Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said that he had set a N500 billion target for all the government agencies under the Ministry of Transportation operating in the nation’s maritime sector.
Amaechi who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day Maritime Summit jointly organized by Tell Communications Limited and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) with the theme: “Exploring Opportunities in Nigeria’s Maritime Industry”, in Lagos on Monday stated that meeting the target was a panacea for which change could occur in the sector.
He observed that the set amount if realized in the current year would culminate in setting a higher target amount in the coming year adding that the Ministry cannot achieve the N500 billion target without a reform.
Amaechi who is the immediate past Governor of Rivers State maintained that should the agencies fail to realize the N500 billion target, he would not hesitate to ask President Buhari to allow him hire people who could deliver on the mandate saying he meant every bit of what he had said.
According to him,” I gave them N500 billion target and I know that they will be laughing in their mind that this man must be joking, you will see change in the sector. The only way you will not see change in the maritime sector is if they are not able to generate N500 billion. If we achieve it, we give ourselves next target because we can’t achieve the N500 billion without a reform.
“All those that used to collect money, I give example that Nigeria is like a mother with breast milk, everybody is sucking the breast milk without replenishing the woman so that the breast can continue to produce more breast milk. Now, the breast milk is finished, it is flat, so, Nigerian maritime sector must bring part of the nutrients we will use in replenishing that our mother and for me, my mandate for them is N500 billion, if they don’t achieve it, I will ask the President to allow me hire persons who can make me achieve it, bet me I will do it.
“But the truth is that that is my target, that if we can achieve N500 billion this year, then there will be reform in the sector and it means that whoever is not working to achieve it will be removed by the system itself and those who are working will be paid and as we continue to progress, people will see the change but the change will not be sharing of money or what Nigerians will call dashing of contracts. It will not be there, it will be the fact that everybody can access the reality of the maritime sector”.
On his part, the Chairman of the occasion and the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi described the event as stakeholders’ collaboration applauding the NSC and Tell Communications for bringing the stakeholders together to discuss on how to reposition the country so as to move from a mono-economy a diversified economy that could bring in expected revenues.
Represented by the Zonal Commanding Officers, RS2 Lagos State, Assistant Corps Marshal Nse Obong Akapbio, Mr. Oyeyemi added that with the coming into operation of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line in March 2016, about 70% of the trucks operating on the nation’s highway would have been removed which would in turn reduce the pressure Nigerians were facing on the road as well as reduce the number of accidents on the road as the roads would begin to last longer.
“By the year 2020, this country Nigeria is going to be one of the nations of the world that will have less road crashes because already we are going into strategic partnership with some reputable organizations like the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to ensure that every product being evacuated from the ports and are going out to the hinterland must meet up with the standard before they be on the road”, he said.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello described the Nigerian maritime sector as being stakeholder conscious adding that the council would work to provide synergy for stakeholders’ participation in the development of the industry.
Bello said, “The most important thing is we want to encourage the synergy between the pree and the maritime industry. We see members of the press as very important partners in the reformation we are going through the maritime sector. Nigerian Shippers’ Council will provide the synergy for our stakeholders’ participation because this industry is stakeholders conscious”.
Continuing, the President, Tell Communications Limited, Mr. Nosa Igiebor observed that the challenges the country was facing presently necessitated the need for the summit informing that the maritime industry was a critical sector of the economy that was capable of sustaining the country without oil.
Igiebor who was represented at the summit by Mr. Dejo Olawale recalled that Tell Magazine founded in 1991 had already championed the course of the socio-economic development of Nigeria maintained that,” We know that part of the problems we are having today as a nation and that we are where we are today is because we have rely on oil too much, now we want to look at the maritime, agriculture and others but today, we are talking about maritime”.
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