Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigeria Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), says the agency is working towards a
time when foreign-owned vessels will not be allowed to trade on Nigerian
waters.
Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Dakuku said current
cabotage waivers will be phased out within the next five years.
“We have rolled out a five-year cabotage waiver cessation
plan. That means that in the next five years, there are a number of waivers we
would no longer grant,” he told Channels TV.
“So we expect that most vessels that would be trading within
our waters will be built in Nigeria, we already have shipbuilding yards. Most
vessels will be flagged Nigeria and most vessels must be owned by Nigerians, we
are not going to allow foreign-owned vessels at some point.”
Speaking further, he said the federal government has made
plans to have a national fleet which would be private-sector driven.
“The direction of the world is that the private sector
people are in a better position to run businesses. As a country, as a reason of
national pride, creating employment, reasons for security consideration and
other economic reasons, we pushed for the creation of a national fleet.
“The honourable minister’s dream, which has the president’s
endorsement, is that let it be private-sector driven, the country might just
have minimal equity in the national fleet. We have that plan and we have set up
a team led by the executive secretary of the Shippers Council. We believe that
when it comes to fruition, we will have a shipping line that will fly the
national flag.”
Dakuku urged Nigerians to maximise opportunities in the
maritime sector.
“We need to train our people so that they would be able to
take advantage of the opportunities when there will be a complete cessation of
waivers. Nigeria can export seafarers to other countries. In the next three
years, we should be able to have 5000 seafarers with international
certification.”
Dakuku, who was the former commissioner of works in Rivers,
said the seafarers would result in billions of foreign remittances for Nigeria.
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