Corlins Walter

A maritime operator in the Eastern Ports, Kingsley Iheanacho, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to either upgrade the Maritime Academy, Oron in Akwa-Ibom state to a university, or establish a university, for the maritime sector.

Mr. Iheanacho, who spoke to the press in Port Harcourt said there is a dearth of technical and managerial manpower in the maritime industry, and that a conscious effort must be made by government and other stakeholders to address the problem.

He said, “There is no reason why Nigeria should not have a Maritime University or even upgrade the Maritime Academy Oron to a university status that can offer courses in diverse areas of study for the interested individuals and corporate organisations”.

Apart from the need to establish a maritime university, he said there was need for adequate funding to finance facilities and infrastructures, adding that, the Organised Private Sector (OPS) should equally show support to the project.

Iheanacho, who is also the General Manager of one of the Concessionaires and terminal operators in Calabar Port; the ECM terminals Calabar, further explained that some of the challenges facing the Private Terminal Operators include dilapidated and unserviceable infrastructure like roads and electricity.

He said that many of the terminals in the country are battling with increased occurrence of accidents and damage of infrastructure and reduction in cargo volume due to poor state of access and linkage roads.

Electricity and access to public power supply, he said, has been one of the major problems affecting terminal operators, despite the provision of same in the concession agreement.

Consequently, he said the terminal has incurred huge loses on overhead and running expenses in terms of alternative sources of power generation.

Another area of problem to private port operators is inadequate upgrade of terminal facilities to cope with advancement in technology. He suggested that attention should be paid on changing ship technology on Nigerian ports, like cargo handling features and requirement as well as ship type specialization and equipment among others.

The ECM terminal boss noted that since ship technology changes, there was the need for the terminal receiving such ship to upgrade its facilities and retain staff accordingly.

Iheanacho also made case for government to address all areas in the ports which would enhance efficient handling of operations as well as have multiplier effect to the economy.

The areas he pointed out for further concessioning include the towage services (Pilot Cutter, mooring boats and tugboats) and maintenance dredging, lighthouse, licensing of pilots.