Local shippers must be part of national carrier –NIMASA boss

Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ziakede Patrick Akpo¬bolokemi, has described lo¬cal shippers as invaluable stakeholders that will boost the establishment of a new national shipping line com¬ing soon.

Akpobolokemi stated this in a recent programme organised by the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA). According to him, the asso¬ciation will, any moment from now, be formally invited to be part of a committee that would midwife the establishment of a new national carrier.

He noted that Nigeria, as major oil producer needs to have a viable national shipping line, which will benefit the lo¬cal shippers and the nation at large.

The NIMASA boss regret¬ted that Nigeria remains the only member of the Organisa¬tion of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) without a national carrier and whose crude oil is sold free on board.

“The trend must be reversed within the shortest possible time. I thank the leadership of NISA for inviting the man¬agement of NIMASA for this dinner/interactive session. I think we need more of these informal meetings where we can freely discuss issues and brainstorm on things that are affecting the shipping industry in Nigeria.

“Now we all know the problems we are facing in the country; problems of cargo, funding and patronage. It is not easy doing things in Nigeria because of the level of bureau¬cracy, the various contacts that have to be made for things to move. But no matter how diffi¬cult things are, we must not be discouraged, just keep working and putting more effort to get to where we are going.

“This year, I made a promise to NISA and other stakeholders that we should get a national carrier comeback as quickly as possible. We have started the talks, the negotiations and the brainstorming.

“NISA is going to play a very critical role in this regard, therefore, the leadership of NISA should make themselves available for the meetings, the engagement that will make this thing happen because this is just about one of the countries in OPEC that we have this sad situation and we must correct it particularly this administration where we have a president that can listen to issues that con¬cerns maritime.”
Source: The Sun