Martime stakeholders and participants at the Maritime Platform National Discourse held  in Lagos recently have set agenda for the Buhari-Ied federal government by designing a roadmap which would guarantee efficient development of the sector in the next 5 years.
The Maritime Platform National Discourse had its theme as, “Nigerian Maritime Sector In The Next Five Years: Deciding Where We Want To Be”.
In a ten-point communique which was released after the Discourse, maritime operators believed that it is high time the federal government showed real commitment to turn maritime potential into realities by supporting shipping development in the country.
According to the communique, stakeholders resolved that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in line with its monetary policy should in the next four months compel commercial banks to provide at least 10% lending regime for the maritime sector, as it is doing presently with agriculture and industry sectors. By so doing, maritime sector will have a guaranteed funding corridor to finance shipping development.
It stated that the federal government should in the next 3 years establish the much needed maritime bank to fund maritime projects and meet financial requirements of the sector, adding that in the next 5 years, no foreign vessel should be allowed to carry Nigerian crude oil because Nigeria has primordial advantage in domestic trade and
indigenous ship owners must be encouraged to grow their fleets through adequate funding and the disbursement of the CVFF to enable them acquire specialised crude-carrier vessels.
The communique reiterated that NIMASA should collaborate with NCDB, NNPC and PPMC to ensure cohesive enforcement of Cabotage Act by immediately stopping foreign vessels from carrying Nigerian refined petroleum product because Nigeria has about 373 Cabotage vessels which are qualified enough to carry the nation’s refined oil products.This is because according to current statistics, Nigeria consumes 1.8 billion metric tons of oil per month, which means that with only 8 vessels carrying 5000 metric tons each per day, indigenous shipowners currently have sufficient capacity to carry Nigerian refined petroleum products if given the jobs.
It further said maritime stakeholders should henceforth be consulted and fully engaged in all policy-formulation and implementation in the sector.
ment to avoid failure.
Integration of all stakeholders’ interest groups to create a platform for a stronger advocacy in order to get policy makers and approving authorities to understand and implement  our positions, adding that anks through their Research and Development (R&D) departments should design products for financing development of Inland water Transport
(IWT) sufficient to cause a change and repositioning of IWT in the next five years.
It stated that he Volume of Cargoes expected into Nigeria in the next five years will be so high such that the present seaports cannot accommodate them; hence, the Lekki
Deep Seaport; the Badagry Deep Seaports and other proposed Deep Seaports should be completed in the next five year;  and that in the next 5 years, the Single Window initiative by the Nigerian Customs Service should be fully integrated and operational such that human contact in cargo clearance would be completely eliminated through automation of all cargo
clearance processes and procedures. And by so doing, corruption will be drastically reduced if not eradicated in Nigeria cargo clearance system.
“All major Seaports in Nigeria should be connected by Rail transport system in the next 5 years to ensure easy evacuation of goods from the ports by rail. This is particularly important because the expected volume of cargoes into Nigeria by 2020 cannot be evacuated only by road without experiencing unprecedented congestions,” the communique stated.