For Nigeria to make headway in the global maritime industry, the country must be able to formulate a maritime policy through which it can maximise its potential in the sector.
The observation was made by the Chief Executive Officer of Marine Platforms, Mr. Taofik Adegbite.
Adegbite also urged the Presidency to create a policy and strategy integration unit to coordinate and monitor government policies, their implementation and sustainability.
Adegbite, while addressing select journalists at the Victoria Island corporate headquarters of the maritime firm, said the 2016 budget had not made proper provisions for the sector.
According to the shipping magnate, the maritime policy which should be formulated by the Federal Government should be made to work with the country’s current cabotage law which he said had been in existence since 2002.
He opined that putting in place such a policy would enable Nigeria to plan, harness her potential and generate more revenue, especially in the face of the dwindling price of oil globally.
Adegbite said, “There ought to be a maritime policy that will spring from cabotage; this will answer questions like; ‘Where do we want to be? What do we want to achieve? Should we have a critical mass like the Philippines where people are being trained to be seafarers?’ All over the world, Filipinos and Poles are all known as seafarers.
“Do we want to become a maritime hub in West Africa where there are a lot of container vessels which traverse the West African coast to Angola and back? Is it going to be a repair or maintenance hub for the vessels and boats? Are we going to stimulate the fishing trawlers so that we can harvest the fishes and the aquatic wealth in our water areas?
“Until we articulate a maritime policy on what we want to achieve, we still have a long way to go. It is not the budget that matters because it is not going to address anything; it is a maritime policy that we need.
“The caboatge law has been sleeping. It has been there since 2002. There is a need for a policy that will stimulate or wake up that law.”
To make this and other policies of the government a reality, Adegbite, whose company is the first African firm to have a vessel built for it in Norway, advised the Presidency to create a special unit which would be essentially made up of core professionals and not politicians where government policies would be harmonised and their implementation and sustainability monitored and coordinated.
This, he insisted, was the only way the government would ensure the eradication of superfluous policies which most of the time ran in conflict with the overall interest of the populace and the achievement of a long-term goal.
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