Maritime and aviation industry experts have argued that considering the paucity of fund and poor coordination in the first and failed launch of national carriers in both air and shipping during the ending tenure, the second term of President Muhammadu Buhari may not see the delivery of any of the two key targets.
Starting with the planned but failed new shipping carrier pioneered by the Minister of Transportation, Barr Rotimi Amaechi, it would be recalled that the Minister had during the first year of the government assured that he has concluded plans to partner with some foreign entities to refloat the new national shipping line.
However, after some endless wait for the realization, the same minister announced change of plan in the floating of the shipping line, saying it will be a private sector driven scheme with indigenous shippers.
This did not fly because local shippers had been running an endless battle with the government over the withholding of both The Maritime Fund (TMF) and Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) which are statutory support funds for the development of indigenous maritime industry domiciled under the purview of NIMASA.
At this juncture, the Minister stopped saying anything on new national shipping, thus marking the loss of the scheme in the radar of the current administration.
On the Nigeria Air unveiled by the Minister of State for Aviation, Capt. Hadi Sirika during the London Air Show mid last year, the way and manner it crashed without one known or seen air craft worried industry analysts.
However, at the height of the confusion, whereas Sirika assured Nigerians that the scheme will bounce back and that international investors are lining up, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed spilled the beans by revealing to Nigerians at a press interview at MMIA, Lagos that the Nigeria Air collapsed because all the initial investors who showed interested suddenly developed cold feet and flew away.
Experts say the major challenge of the current government is its inability to open up the economy so as to create more jobs and from the opened economy, free up funds and raise the appetite of real deep pocket investors both local and foreign.
They said if the government continues to hold tight the economy without freeing funds and opening up several locked sectors, paucity of fund will continue in the new term which will further frustrate every meaningful business case of both interested foreign investors and ailing local business entities.
According to them, nothing much may be achieved as investors’ confidence continues to drop due to observable body language of the administration.
