…Says shipping development sixth on agency’s agenda
The Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT of the Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners’ Association, NISA, Chief Isaac Jolapamo has said that the creation of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA has left shipping development in Nigeria worse than it used to be.
Jolapamo who made this submission in his goodwill message at the Breakfast Meeting organized by the Maritime Reporters’Association of Nigeria, MARAN in Lagos, recently, stated that shipping development which should have been the topmost priority of NIMASA was now number six on the agenda of the agency.
His words, “Today, the creation of NIMASA has left shipping development in Nigeria worse than it used to be. Most ship owners of the past don’t even have anything to show. If they didn’t go and buy the dockyard, which monies were intended to repair old vessels that Nigerians have, they called it ship repair and subsidy and then, there was going to be the issue of double Hull and what have you.
“If we didn’t have the lawyers take over how NIMASA was formed, because today, what NIMASA should be doing, the shipping development should mainly be on top but if you see what NIMASA is doing, shipping development is number six and with everything, the ship is in the centre if you are going to develop maritime and until you perfect the centre, before every other area can come into it.”
He maintained that the ship should occupy a central position if the maritime sector in Nigeria was going to be developed even as he insisted that until the centre (ship) is perfected, every other area would not fall into place. “Nigeria should strive to own vessels, ships that will carry your cargo. Unfortunately, instead of us going forward, we are going backwards.
On the training of seafarers, the NISA chieftain acknowledged that although Nigeria through NIMASA was training seafarers, it was not training them the way other people do hence the nation was not getting result.
Speaking on the theme of the Breakfast Meeting which is “Rehabilitation of Tin Can Island Port: Proffering Workable Solutions”, Jolapamo observed that although Nigeria had ports, the deplorable state of those ports and lack of proper attention to those ports for many years running by the government was what prompted the breakfast meeting.
“We will continue to drum, although people like us are old now and we are tired but there are new blood that are coming in, taking over from us.We also pray that MARAN continues the fight”, he said.
Photo: Chief Isaac Jolapamo, Chairman, Board of Trustees, NISA.
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