Council Urges Review Of Maritime Laws

The Chairman, Ports Consultative Council (PCC), Chief Kunle Folarin, has urged  the Federal Government to review obsolete maritime laws to move the industry forward.

Speaking at the Maritime Excellence Awards organised by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos, Folarin said that “government must build a maritime industry that can be ranked among the best globally”.

“Legal instruments such as the shipping policy, Cabotage Act, National Inland Waterways Authority Act, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act, and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Act, should be reviewed”, he said.

He said that in the pre and immediate colonial era, the maritime sector had been the anchor and arrow head as done in other sectors, saying that “industries have bank of industry, estate and building also have their own banks.

Mr Boleja Akinola, President of MARAN said Nigerian ship owners were complaining much louder than ever before despite almost a decade of the cobotage regime.

According to him, a good chunk of the vessels owned by local operators are sitting idle in the outer bar with no jobs to do.

He said that many Nigerian ship owners were laying off their staff, adding that those that were not laying  off their staff were not paying salaries as at when due.

“The only concrete change that one has seen in the sector in ten years is the concession of terminal operation at the seaports which has induced efficiency into port operation in the country.