A marine engineer, Engr. Commodore Uba Ajala (rtd.) has called for government’s involvement in the ship scrapping business as it holds a lot of economic potential for the country.
Speaking at the just concluded 5th Annual Conference/ Annual General Meeting of the Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture (MENA) Division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Lagos Tuesday, Commodore Ajala pointed out that the government’s involvement was an imperative at least for the job it was going to provide for the teeming masses of this country.
While decrying the absence of scrap yard in the country, he however called for the establishment of the scrap yards in the country adding that countries like India and China were making billions of solar in scrapping business alone.
While dismissing the people seen breaking some sunken ships on the nation’s waterways as metal hunters, Ajala who is also the Managing Director of the Delta Marine Shipping Co. Ltd described that as not qualifying as ship scrapping.
According to him,” Ship scrapping is a more technologically based process whereby when you are breaking vessel, first you mud survey the ship, that was why I said that for a proper ship scrap yard, you must have the contamination chamber. What of if the ship carried some toxic cargo before, you can’t just carry the thing and put inside your waters, you must decontaminate that area, until you have decontaminated it before anybody can go in.
” Ship scrapping is a sophisticated industry and the government mud come in even if for nothing, at least for that job it is going to provide for the teeming masses. It is so sad that you find yourself with all these long water stretch, go to Eleko beach, how many kilometers in length? And no good building is existing there that you can say I want to take my family, there is a five star hotel facing the Eleko beach, why? Insecurity”.
He therefore called for government intervention adding that the operators can do nothing except the government does it.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of MENA, Engr. Charles Otuonye regretted that in terms of ship building, Nigeria had not surpassed what was done on the past by her forefathers who assembled wooden materials in form of canoes and boats as a means of transportation and trade across the coast which he said was the origin of ship building/shipping in Nigeria.
“Consequently, one may ponder to ask what is the challenge in maritime industry of Nigeria. How come that South Korea, Singapore, China and Japan are ship manufacturing nations today? With many ship building/construction yards established around their coasts which have created millions of employment opportunities for their youths. How did we miss it? What did other ship building nations do that we cannot do? Is there any hope? We believe that where there is a will there must be a way. We hope there is a will, the way may be available in the next one, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 years etc. However, the choice is ours as a nation”, he said.
While maintaining that the nation’s many years of experience in shipping was enough to have triggered off sustainable economic development in Nigeria’s maritime industry to an enviable height, Engr. Otuonye averred that the present economic recession in the country was an ample opportunity or a blessing for her to get ship building/ shipping industry developed through sustainable maritime policies.
The Conference/AGM which has “Accelerating the growth of Nigeria’s non-oil sector in a period of economic challenges-The Maritime Perspective”, as its theme was attended by the Director -General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside as well as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello who were both represented at the event.
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