Business
Stakeholders Urge FG To Regulate Shipping Firms

Some maritime stakehold
ers on Monday in Lagos urged the Federal Government to regulate the activities of shipping companies in order to check capital flight.
The stakeholders, in separate interviews with newsmen, said that most shipping companies were extorting Nigerian shippers. Mr Alex Allison, a spokesman of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), said that shippers were at the mercy of the shipping companies.
“There are some loopholes in the system that these companies are leveraging on to extort money from importers. “A situation where shippers incurred demurrage caused by deliberate induced delays by the shipping companies should be rejected as such encourages capital flight,’’ Allison said.
A maritime lawyer, Mr Osuala Nwagbara, suggested that there should be a stop to capital flight. “The legal circle is awash with cases bordering on sharp practices of multinationals, especially those in the maritime sector, Nwagbara said. According to him, every investor is in business to make profit and it will be anti-trade for polices to be made at the expense of others.He called on the Federal Government to re-examine the port concession policy in order to create room for improvement.
The president of NCMDLCA, Mr Lucky Amiwero, said that the high cost of clearing cargoes in the ports could be traced to open-ended policies with shippers at the receiving end. Mr Stanley Ezenga, the Spokesman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), called for proper monitoring of the activities of shipping companies to prevent shippers from being extorted.
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Blue Economy: Minister Seeks Lifeline In Blue Bond Amid Budget Squeeze

Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy is seeking new funding to implement its ambitious 10-year policy, with officials acknowledging that public funding is insufficient for the scale of transformation envisioned.
Adegboyega Oyetola, said finance is the “lever that will attract long-term and progressive capital critical” and determine whether the ministry’s goals take off.
“Resources we currently receive from the national budget are grossly inadequate compared to the enormous responsibility before the ministry and sector,” he warned.
He described public funding not as charity but as “seed capital” that would unlock private investment adding that without it, Nigeria risks falling behind its neighbours while billions of naira continue to leak abroad through freight payments on foreign vessels.
He said “We have N24.6 trillion in pension assets, with 5 percent set aside for sustainability, including blue and green bonds,” he told stakeholders. “Each time green bonds have been issued, they have been oversubscribed. The money is there. The question is, how do you then get this money?”
The NGX reckons that once incorporated into the national budget, the Debt Management Office could issue the bonds, attracting both domestic pension funds and international investors.
Yet even as officials push for creative financing, Oloruntola stressed that the first step remains legislative.
“Even the most innovative financial tools and private investments require a solid public funding base to thrive.
It would be noted that with government funding inadequate, the ministry and capital market operators see bonds as alternative financing.
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