ABUJA: Nigerian ship owners and their Greek counterparts have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the supply of 40 vessels into the Nigerian Cabotage trade.
The MoU signed between the Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA) and the Greek shipowners in Abuja recently was witnessed by the Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Ambassador Lawrence Ayodele Ayodeji, the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Mohammed Bashi, and the director-general of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Ziakede Akpobolokemi, among many members of the NISA.
Two NISA members (Capt Lawrence Akinpelumi and Eze Collins Egwuatu) joined the association’s president, Capt. Dada Labinjo, to sign on behalf of the association while three Greek shipowners, Mr Constantine Kokkos, Mr Panagiotis Papandopoulus and Mr Dimitris Nomikos also signed on behalf of their country’s shipowners.
Speaking on the historic MoU, the president of the NISA, Labinjo said that the essence of the partnership was to develop Nigeria’s cabotage trade and create jobs for Nigerians.He said that the ships, which will be acquired within a period of two years, would be of various classes and tonnage and that the vessels would eventually belong to the Nigerian shipowners after two years of operation.
“The NISA is providing a platform for younger and unborn generations and I wish the ships will grow from 40 to 60 and to 100. A total of 600 vessels are operating on oil and gas and only 10 per cent of this number belong to Nigerians as I speak,” Labinjo said.
The NISA boss further explained that one of the major challenges inhibiting the cabotage regime in Nigeria is government’s lack of political will to fully implement the Cabotage Act, pointing out that waiver clauses provided by the Act have been severely abused. He said that in countries where the cabotage is practised, there is a price to pay, which he identified as tonnage, in line with the job to be done.
“Whenever a country introduces cabotage, it wants to secure the domestic trade and there is nobody in the world except for Nigerians that will allow its domestic trade to be carried out by foreigners as we have done in the last 12 years and that is why today it is quite pathetic,” Labinjo said.
He stressed that if the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration can ensure that the cabotage is well enforced, it will bring wealth for the Nigerian maritime industry and economy as a whole.While noting that the Nigerian maritime laws are excellent enough to discourage foreign participation in the cabotage regime, Labinjo added that implementing the policies should be a pivotal objective of an agency like the NIMASA.
He added that the Cabotage Act is a clear provision that Nigerians alone are supposed to perform domestic trade in Nigerian waters. He added that Nigeria can indeed generate N3 to N7 trillion from the maritime sector. The NISA boss also urged the federal government to protect domestic operators, adding that this is necessary for cabotage trade to thrive in Nigeria.
“Nigeria can make a disposable income of N7 trillion annually from maritime, even the oil and gas sector does not make that much when compared,” he said.
He maintained that the maritime sector can substitute the oil and gas sector by providing over five million jobs, stressing further that people compare wrongly what maritime generate against the aviation sector.
Speaking on behalf of the Greek shipowners, the leader of the Greece delegation, Kokkos, called on both parties involved in the partnership to cooperate in order to meet the dynamism of maritime and shipping business.
“Greece is a country that always loves to cooperate with the people of Nigeria, most especially as it affects shipping. This is one of our tasks and I believe that Nigeria’s maritime sector is important for the economy and we have to cooperate.
