Indigenous shipowners have accused foreign shipping firms for breaching of cabotage law, calling on the federal government to clamp down on these foreign vessels operating in the nation’s coastal water illegally.
The group also said the exclusion of Nigerian shipowners has cost the country billions of dollars as Nigerian own vessels are left out to play a role in the lifting of crude, saying, foreign vessels remain a key player in the conveyance of this product.
This was disclosed at the weekend when chairman of the Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), Chief Issac Jolapamo, inaugurated 6-man reconciliation committee, on the crisis rocking the first local shipowners’ association in Nigeria.
The 6-man reconciliation committee has the mandate of bringing back its aggrieved members and others who exited the embattled association in the past.
The committee members include; Emmanuel Ilorin, Akin Akinyemi, Adewale Ishola, Paul Omolodun, Edmund Martins, and an outsider; Olayiwola Shittu who is the former president of the Association Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents.
However, the group at the event, said the continuous undermining of the Cabotage Act 2003, which forbids foreign vessels from operating within the Nigeria coastal water, has been an issue, calling on the federal government to clamp down on these illegal practices.
Speaking, Jolapamo said, shipowners have lost out in the present government, saying, there is need to hold an election before the end of the year in order to constitute new executives that would move the association forward.
“We must not allow NISA to die. There is a need to chart a new way forward. The main issue is how to bring back the association to take its pride of place in the maritime industry. We need to reposition NISA before the next government comes into power,” he said.
He said NISA members were the foremost contributors in the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) but the government has excluded shipowners from benefiting from the proceed of the fund.
He said NISA needs to form a strong force to be able to take its pride of place in the shipping industry.
“We got the Cabotage Act to be passed into law. We also got the past governments to give recognition to NISA or even when it was ISAN and I believe we can still do it again,” Jolapamo added.
On his part, Emmanuel Ilorin, a member of the association, said, a house that is divided cannot stand, adding that, the challenges facing the association is enormous, which it cannot deal with unless the association reconciles with the aggrieved members.
He called for reconciliation before going for election in order to put an end to the actions of people who are undermining the association.
Adewale Ishola, another member, who called on members to rally around the BOT to save NISA from crumbling, said the association needs to go for reconciliation.
He pointed out that ship owners need to push for the change of Nigeria’s trade policy from Free on Board to Cost, Insurance, and Freight in order to improve the opportunities available for Nigerian ship owners to participate in the crude oil lifting business.
“We are not doing things right. We should have been carrying our cargoes and not foreigners but we can only be heard if we form a strong force,” Ishola said.
Sonny Omatseye, chairman of the NISA Steering Committee, gave the report of the committee, and also suggested the need for the association to hold an election.
