The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has assured Stakeholders of the Federal Government’s resolve to reposition the maritime sector for greater efficiency and competitiveness.

The Minister who stated this during the celebration of the 2016 World Maritime Day with the theme “Shipping, Indispensable to the World” held in Lagos also acknowledged the fact that the maritime industry in Nigeria is faced with myriad of challenges bothering on; non-competitiveness, low level of investment, absence of requisite funding, low implementation and enforcement of existing laws amongst others.

Notwithstanding, he assured that government is bringing up a robust strategy that will address the challenges hindering the growth of the sector.

“As part of a comprehensive action to address these challenges and ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness of the shipping industry, a number of measures are being put in place, including the privatization of the nation’s ports, while various regulatory Agencies are being repositioned for effective service delivery”, the Minister said.

Hon. Amaechi also said that the Transport Sector Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly are receiving legislative consideration and it is hoped that the expeditious passage of the bills would give effect to the proposed reform aimed at strengthening the relevant maritime Agencies for effective performance.

The Minister informed the gathering that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a robust maritime security plan and assured stakeholders that this will bring to an end all forms of illegalities on the nation’s waterways.

While discussing the paper presented by Captain Adamu Biu on “Growth and Development of Shipping Industry in Nigeria: Creating Enabling Environment”, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside stated that the Agency has already began the process of repositioning the Agency through its Medium Term Strategic Growth Plan built around the Management’s vision of Reforming, Restructuring and Repositioning the Agency towards the growth and development of the maritime sector.

According to Dr. Peterside, “there must be a long term strategy on our policy framework and its implementation. NIMASA as an Agency has already drawn up its own Medium Term Policy to engender higher efficiency and productivity”.

He also noted that the dearth of human capital in the maritime industry is a global phenomenon. He assured stakeholders that NIMASA was committed to building the requisite manpower through adequate trainings and thanked the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) for accepting to provide 100 sea time berths for cadets of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Oron, in a phased programme.

The NIMASA DG also said that in achieving a competitive maritime sector, security is a very key factor and as such the Agency has revisited its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Navy and other relevant Agencies to ensure safety and security in the maritime domain.

Serving and former chief executives of several government agencies attended the World Maritime Day event.