A maritime practitioner, Ms Chinweoke Okpalaji, has urged the Federal Government to appoint professionals to manage the affairs of the maritime parastatals.
Okpalaji, Head, Maritime Business in Hypos Nigeria Ltd, made the plea in an interview with newsmen in Lagos last Friday.
She noted that government had shown remarkable interest in the maritime industry but that it should be driven by professionals.
Okpalaji said that only people with deep knowledge of the maritime industry would make the difference as it was done in the oil and gas industry.
She bemoaned the absence of representatives of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) at the just-concluded African Maritime Conference organised by African Ship Owners’ Association in Lagos.
Okpalaji explained that as the apex maritime agency, NIMASA should have had a prominent presence at the event.
She said that indigenous ship owners in the industry faced challenges while seeking for funds, especially with banks that demanded that they have to contracts in place to qualify for loans to acquire vessels.
Also, in the week under review, the African Ship Owners Association decided to evolve a policy to drive the maritime industry and address maritime domain security.
The association’s President, Mr Temisan Omatseye, said the basic necessity was for Africa to increase its fleet through improved trade opportunities.
He said it was important for Africa to do cargo audit; to understand the enormous capital flight it was suffering, and push for indigenous operations to get their businesses back.
Omatseye said this was to ensure massive creation of jobs for African youths who had resorted to seeking better living standards in the Western world.
Also at the conference, the AU Coordinator for the 2050 AIM-Strategy Taskforce, Mr Samuel Kame-Domguia, urged Africans to be committed to the AUs agenda to drive and grow Africa’s maritime industry.
Kame-Domguia urged Africans to work toward achieving the objectives of the Cabotage, as practitioners looked forward to financial support from the African Development Bank (ADB).
During the week, dockworkers at the Five Star Logistics Terminal, Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos, suspended work following the death of one of them.
The late dockworker, Mr Pius Ifah, died at about 1 a.m. when heavy-duty pipes rolled off from the stacking points and killed him instantly.
The incident brought to two, casualties recorded in the same terminal in 11 days.