A maritime expert, Hon. Chris Asoluka has taken a swipe at the Nigerian government for seemingly laying a weak foundation for the future growth of the nation’s maritime industry.
Asoluka who took a hard look at the nation’s maritime sector in a lecture titled,” Maritime Sector in Nigeria: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, at an event to mark the 3rd Year Anniversary of Primetime Reporters, Annual Lecture and Award giving ceremony at the Rockview Hotels, Apapa, Lagos on Thursday pointed out that,” “Our yesterday was better than our today in shipping development”, adding that it was quite difficult today to predict tomorrow’s shipping fortune with any factual accuracy.
He recalled that there was a time when Nigeria had both the cargo and the power of control as vessels especially, the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) was available regretting that the country once enjoyed a cargo sharing status but has sadly forfeited it.
He maintained that the nation’s maritime industry’s future did not lie in the availability of requisite laws even as he added that the country had all the right laws in place but lacked the political will to enforce them.
Asoluka who was the Chairman of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority however bemoaned the dearth of skilled hands that were capable of driving the sector saying that the experienced and the highly skilled persons like Master Mariners and the Marine Engineers were fast growing old without any corresponding effort for their replacements.
He disclosed that theme of his paper was to provoke the industry stakeholders to brainstorm and come up with more practical ways of restoring the lost glories of the sector.
On his part, the Chairman of the occasionand President, ship Owners’ Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Engr. Greg Ogbeifun advised the stakeholders not to stand aloof and allow governments make mistakes.
Ogbeifun added that the development of the Nigerian maritime industry should be seen as a collective responsibility where everybody particularly the stakeholders were liable, directly or indirectly while calling for constructive engagement with the government and its agencies.
While recalling that the dearth of skilled manpower in Nigeria began with the demise of NNSL, he however commended the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for taking the bull by the horn grow indigenous shipping as well as the requisite capacity development in the sector.
Picture 1: Hon. Chris Asoluka
Picture 2: Engr. Greg Ogbeifun
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