As Nigeria celebrates her 60th Independence Anniversary today, the Shippers’ Association Lagos State has bemoan the woes of the maritime sector in Nigeria adding that with over N33 trillion debt, there is nothing to rejoice about.
The President of the association, Rev. Dr. Jonathan Nicol who stated this in a statement in Lagos said that the maritime sector in Nigeria had never been challenged as much as it is these days saying that the government was trying to help out with efforts of the Nigerian Shippers Council and the Nigerian Ports Authority under the watch of the Minister of Transportation.
Nicol observed that although roads were under reconstruction and bridges linked to the Apapa ports were under re-construction by government the ongoing work was making the Apapa gridlock unbearable.
He said, “Cost of doing business is on the high side. Ease of doing business is non-existent. The regulators are now being regulated by stakeholders, which shows a red signal.
“Concessioners are not given free hand to manage their terminals even though the ports are concessioned, empty Containers everywhere within our domestic corridors.
“The global Corona-virus pandemic sacked the entire business environment. This affected industry and commerce for several months. The sudden increase in pump price escalated. High volume of cost of power generation within the manufacturing sector is a burden. Cost went sky high.
“The many unsolvable problems in the maritime sector make it look as if the federal government is not doing enough. No Covid palliatives for the maritime sector. Interest rate from banks is high and not encouraging. BVN regime is scaring business investors as banks are not patronized as usual. Corruption is endemic in the maritime environments despite the presence of security agencies.
“We are seriously at a cross road at the maritime sector instead of stabilising infrastructure, we are concessioning our institutions, like the Nigeria Customs Service to private investors without the input of major stakeholders.”
He therefore warned that if this trend continues unchecked, Nigerian shippers might migrate to other climes within the West Africa sub-region.
“The National Transport Commission and Ports and Harbour Bills are still in abeyance. The sector did not achieve much in 2020”, he added.
Nicol however opined that in all, there were few individuals who were resolute, fighting relentlessly to bring the new port order into being even as he advised that the federal government should apply political will to cleanse the sector of numerous government agencies at the ports.
Photo: The President, Shippers’ Association Lagos (SALS), Rev. Dr. Jonathan Nicol.
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