By Steve Agbota
The immediate past Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), and the Chairman of the National Fleet Implementation Committee, Mr. Hassan Bello, has said that Nigeria can earn over $9.1 billion annually from freight through the shipping industry.
Bello stated this at the inauguration of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) executive council members in Lagos.
He called on the federal government and stakeholders in the maritime industry to increase their level of collaboration to achieve the enormous task of making Nigeria a force to reckon with in the global shipping space.
“We must work hard to achieve this enourmous task which would require government support too. However,i will advise SOAN not to wait for the government,” he advised.
Bello who also doubled as the Chairman of the inauguration Committee, pointed out the need for having an effective participation in international trade, maintaining that 90 per cent of international trade is done through the sea using various type of ships.
“We have been missing in action and that is the main challenge. We need to be unequivocal and deliberate in our efforts and that is why it is important for this association to see one of the efforts to take us out of the doldrums,” he urged.
According to him, Nigeria is faced with negative indices ranging from high inflation, unemployment, insecurity, energy crisis, declining manufacturing and export.
“Nigeria operates a mono economy that is only dependent on the export of a single commodity which is crude oil. The vagaries of international occurrences especially war determines how our economy fares and this goes to show that we do not have the economy in our hands. Today’s event is significant because it is an illumination to drive away the darkness that has engulfed us,” he added.
On his part, a former president of SOAN, Craig Ogbeifun, said the only way to tap into the global shipping industry is for shipowners to see themselves as an association of global trading shipowners.
He stated that the present administration has given maritime stakeholders the platform to take advantage of the global shipping opportunities, tasking shipowners to act as vanguard of engagement for stakeholders sensitisation and government strategic partners to break the jinx of foreign dominance.
“It is safe to say that the majority of shipowners in that space are Nigerian shipowners as opposed to those days when it was foreign dominated. This government has given us the platform to step out and why should we be happy that all the cargoes going out and coming in are carried by foreign shipowners. We must start talking about the global space,” he added.
The new president, SOAN, Sonny Eja, said SOAN plays a pivotal role in various sectors of the nation’s maritime industry, pointing out that over the years, SOAN has actively contributed to government policy formulation, facilitated sea farer development activities and fostered international partnerships in the maritime industry.
“As I assume the responsibility of the presidency, I am actually aware of the challenges and opportunities and our association stands at a critical juncture where the decisions will make today we shape the trajectory of our profession for years to come. We will equally focus more on policy advocacy constructively engaging the relevant agencies and parastatals as it affects the ship sectors and indigenous ship owners.
“Together, we must navigate the complexities of an evolving landscape, surmount the multifaceted issues bothering around shipping especially issues such as ship acquisition, access to cargoes and positioning SOAN to maximise shipping potentials in an era where the maritime sector is displacing oil and federal government priority as demonstrated by the creation of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy,” he noted