Maritime industry can generate N500b yearly, says Amaechi

The Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, on Monday said the maritime industry had the capacity to generate N500 billion revenue yearly for the nation, excluding customs revenue
Amaechi made the disclosure during a one-day Summit organised by Tell Magazine and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Lagos.
He said the shipping sub-sector was a major aspect of the maritime industry, adding that the sector remained crucial to the economy as the second revenue earner for government.
Amaechi said the petroleum industry, which had been the mainstay of the economy, depended largely on shipping, without which the product evacuation would be impossible.
He said shipping was the backbone of oil and gas productions and marketing.
He said: “Statistics has shown that over 80 per cent of global oil trade is transported by ships, while in the case of Nigeria, it is 100 per cent.
“The shipping sub-sector of the maritime industry is estimated to be worth over $3 billion annually.
“It is therefore expedient to stress that transport is demand-driven and government in its commitment to shipping, will consider growth and development of the industry,” the minister said.
Amaechi urged the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Hassan Bello, to organise a Stakeholders Forum before July to move the sector forward.
Amaechi said change was institutional, adding that government expected that the maritime sector would move forward and be vibrant.
He said: “I believe that there is no economy without transportation.
“Even before the introduction of technology, people transported goods from one place to another either by putting it on their heads or by bicycles.
“The kind of change we are expecting is how transport sector can generate more revenue for government.”
Amaechi said government was recording success in the railway sector, adding that before March, the railway project between Abuja and Kaduna would be test-run.
Amaechi said before the end of 2016, there would be normal operation of rail line between the South South and the South West.
He said that this would reduce traffic on the road.
The minister said the Federal Ministry of Transport was working with the National Inland Waterways Authority to move cargoes through Lagos to Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Lokoja and other seaports in the country.
He said there was the need for practical steps in formulating a holistic policy that would address a number of issues and difficulties facing the industry across the board, including ineffective laws.
Amaechi bemoaned poor infrastructure, human capacity challenges and lack of political will to engineer fundamental reforms.
Also speaking, an Assistant Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Nsebong Akpabio, urged maritime stakeholders to tap all the potential in the maritime industry.
Akpabio said there was the need to join hands with government to re-position the nation.
He urged stakeholders to do what should be done in the industry to put the country in proper shape.
“Within a short period, accident would be reduced on the roads and Nigeria would be an investment haven through the collective efforts of everybody,” Akpabio said.
The Chairman of the Summit and a former Minister of Information, Frank Nweke, said the summit was actually vital to the survival of the economy.
Nweke said the summit would assist stakeholders to improve more and make sure that the industry was diversified to create more jobs for our teeming youths.
In his address, Hassan Bello commended the minister for finding time to attend the summit.
Bello said the NSC had a synergy with the press and promised that the council would continue to have more sensitisation with critical stakeholders in the maritime industry.
NAN.