Merchant Navy, ship owners lament dearth of shipping development Nigeria as NISA plans ‘Ocean Line’
Merchant Navy, ship owners lament dearth of shipping development Nigeria as NISA plans 'Ocean Line'
Segun Oladipupo
The leadership of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association (NMNOWTSSA) has called on indigenous ship owners for collaboration for effective implementation of the Cabotage Law
The labour union leaders maintained that Nigerian seafarers have the capacity to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts if given level playing ground to do so.
At an award presentation ceremony to Otunba Sola Adewumi, President, Nigeria Ship Owners Association (NISA) in Lagos on Wednesday, the Secretary General of Merchant Navy, Comrade John Okpono Aleakhue enjoined the ship owners’ president to work with the union to harmonise the law in the country.
He lamented that 21 years after the law was made by the ILO and IMO, it is yet to take root in Nigeria..
Responding, the NISA boss also lamented that due to lack of capacity, most of the players in the shipping business have quit the business.
He averred that the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) is not the problem in the country but lack of opportunities for ship owners.
He added that if individuals could not benefit from the fund, the group already has the plan of floating a collective line which according to him, will be referred to as Ocean Line to promote local content and employment opportunities for Nigerians.
He stated that relevant authorities failed in their capabilities to promote shipping development in Nigeria and that ship owners have their own fair sharing in the pitfall to grow local capacity.
The NISA boss lamented that management of NIMASA failed to cooperate with ship owners under Bashir Jamoh’s administration as Director General.
He also expressed optimism that the new DG of NIMASA would work closely with ship owners adding that cabotage laws would provide jobs for Nigerians .
Adewumi said NISA was working behind the scene to ensure that shipping development in Nigeria stayed afloat rather than go into extinction.
The President called on ship owners irrespective of the various groups to speak with a single voice and discourage foreign dominance in the nation’s territorial waters.
“It is in unity that we can achieve this struggle which is long overdue, because as we speak, some ship owners are no longer in business because of the poor implementation of the cabotage laws “, Adewumi noted.
Highpoint of the meeting was the presentation of award to the President of NISA by top executives of the union.
Adewumi was among some of the recipients nominated for awards at the recently concluded 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Conference organised by the NMNOWTSSA
Adewumi won the Humanitarian Man of the Year, 2024 Award.
