Stakeholder canvasses establishment of Maritime Affairs Ministry to address industry’s challenges
Babajide Okeowo
Otunba Folarin Coker has called on the Federal Government to expeditiously establish a Ministry of Maritime Affairs to expeditiously address the challenges facing the maritime sector in Nigeria.
Coker, a major stakeholder in the country and the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (PCC), disclosed that this has become necessary due to the myriad of challenges confronting the maritime sector in Nigeria.
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He made this call while chairing a Town Hall Meeting with maritime stakeholders organised by Prime Maritime Project, at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, recently.
Some of the challenges he believes that the establishment of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs would address include the challenges with the Cabotage regime, non-disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF), forex difficulty for shippers, and poor incentives for indigenous operators, among others.
“We need a new maritime agenda and more attention from the Presidency on this sector which has potential to exceed the conservative N7 trillion projection when you take cognisance of using water for dams, irrigation, drinkable water, among others.”
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Also speaking at the occasion, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso decried the persistent appointment of non-professionals to hold key leadership positions in the sector, a development he described as an anomaly, he promised that if elected, only maritime professionals will be in charge of the sector.
He also noted that the existing port infrastructure that was originally designed for a population of fewer than 50 million people in the 1950s with less than 2 million cargo throughputs is still catering for over 200 million people in 2022.
