FG not serious in ending classification of Nigerian ports as a high risk zone—Omatseye
Former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr Temisan Omatseye, has revealed that happenstances at Nigerian seaports upon all the crusade on ease of doing business show that cost of doing business is still rising.
Speaking at the 3rd Annual Conference tagged: “A Day with Nigeria Maritime Students 2018,’’ organised by Platforms Communications in Lagos, he disclosed that the Federal Government may be losing an estimated $300 million yearly from offshore berthing of ships due to insecurity and high cost of insurance.
He said the observed cargo diversion to neighblouring ports stemmed from the classification of Nigerian waterways as a high risk zone and the attendant high insurance premium.
It would be recalled that last month, some crew members of a foreign vessel were kidnapped and taken hostage. So, the foreign vessels who must call Nigeria must be heavily insured and this impacts on the cost of cargoes.
Omatseye averred that currently, foreign ship owners have taken over all the maritime businesses in the country, while the indigenous ship-owners” are left with nothing”.
While stressing that Nigerian shippers should be allowed to take charge of their goods as soon as they arrive the country because this is what is applicable all over the world, the former DG of NIMASA decried that “All the foreign ship owners will not allow Nigerians to get near vessels as soon as they arrive the country, in spite of being the landlord of the ports.
“We want the government to assist Nigerian ship owners to be in charge because by so doing, they will create more employment for teeming youth.
“Nigeria will soon be competing with its foreign counterparts with the recent equipment government has provided for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is presently having multiplier effect on its operations,” former NIMASA boss noted.
