Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   NIMASA raises hope of ship owners, to revive national shipping line

NIMASA raises hope of ship owners, to revive national shipping line

By on February 28, 2016

The long time cry of indigenous ship owners in the country for revival of the national shipping line may soon be heeded going by the soothing words of Acting Director -General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Haruna Jauro.
According to the Acting DG, all hands are on deck to see to the quick resuscitation of the moribund shipping line.

Jauro disclosed this when House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, led by Hon. Bago Mohammed Umaru paid a working visit to NIMASA headquarters in Lagos. He expressed the readiness of the agency and the Federal Government to  revitalise the national shipping carrier as soon as possible  without further delay.
The liquidation of Nigeria’s national carrier; the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) since 1995 has denied indigenous ship owners and the country at large huge opportunities in the area of revenue generation.

For Instance, a top official in Nigerian Indigenous Ship owners Association, NISA said “Nigeria is losing N2 trillion annually from shipping business. From fisheries, because we are not protecting our waters, other nations are taking our fish away and we are instead importing fish, we are losing about $2 billion that is about N300 billion. Then we are also losing the entire insurance of that amount, because if these ships are working, they will be insured. So our insurance companies also lose N16.5 billion. In terms of employment, Nigeria is losing five million jobs” .
Refloating the line therefore  will help improve the economy and indeed the nation especially now that the economy is not too sound said

Maritime stakeholders .
Jauro  also listed among others the challenges besetting the agency to include manpower development and morale; platform for effective operations; funding need for intervention; equipment for charting SAR, pollution response e.t.c; non-compliance of shipping companies; falsifying of document to evade revenue; certificate forgery and sea time training for seafarers.
He noted that the nation’s International Ship and Port Facility Security, ISPS Code ( a set of measures to enhance the security of ships and port facilities) implementation and compliance level was now above 80 per cent.
He also reiterated his commitments to the development and safety of the maritime sector.

 

[ThisDay]