The Nigerian Merchant Navy Officer and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has called on the federal government to give the same attention it has given to the nation’s aviation sector to the maritime sector in Nigeria.
The National President of the association, Engr. Matthew Alalade who made this call in a chat with newsmen in Lagos recently stated that the aviation sector in Nigeria was receiving more attention from the federal government than the maritime was doing even as he said that the neglect may not be far from the kind of people the maritime sector gets as Ministers over time.
Alalade further blamed the backwardness of the maritime sector on the inability of the Ministers both past and present to seek stakeholders input in most of their planning using the case of the planned refloating of the national carrier where the seafarers unions were not carried along as an example.
According to him,” Aviation sector is receiving more attention from the federal government than the maritime is receiving. Now they are floating Nigeria Air, what have they done for the maritime sector in the past few years since the demise of the Nigeria National Shipping Line? They are not giving us a facelift in the maritime sector. So, let the federal government give us a facelift.
“It has to do with the priority of the Minister who is in charge, the Minister promised us at the inception of his administration that within six months, that they will be going to Singapore to partner with investor to bring back national carrier. You see, when they are doing these things, they are not carrying the unions along, we the seafarers are the ones affected but they are not carrying us along and I believe that is why they are failing. Go to aviation sector, when they want to do anything, they carry the unions along but in maritime sector, it is the opposite, they relegate the relevant unions to the background.
“So, I call on the Minister to always carry the unions and the professionals in the industry along not only the ship owners, carry us along so that we can advise on how it will go”.
He further called on the federal government to procure more vessels for the nation’s seafarers that are being churned out adding that a national carrier could be re-established on Public Private Partnership model.
“We do not want the government to control it wholly, let the private sector control it and give returns to the federal government so that our teeming youths can have a training ground”, he added.
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