Agbakoba hinges sector growth on Maritime Action Plan, efficient institutions

Owing to a series of challenges clipping the growth of the maritime sector, Olisa Agbakoba, a maritime legal practitioner, has identified the need for a Maritime Action Plan (MAP) that will act as a catalyst to growing the potentials and opportunities in the maritime sector.

Agbakoba, who is also championing the course for stronger maritime institutions, is optimistic that if properly restructured in line with global best practices, the sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can overrun that of the oil and gas industry.

According to Agbakoba, the new framework which will correct several abnormalities that have plagued the sector in recent time will also entail the drawing up of an implementation plan around at least two core areas – the executive and legislative activities.

Briefing newsmen in Lagos recently, the maritime lawyer bemoaned the low impact of efforts to revamp the sector, describing them as ‘laws are just good on paper’ but lacked the necessary infrastructure to thrive on – hence the need for the MAP.

He explained that the new plan, set for launch soon, will effectively review the Maritime Operations Coordination Act of 1992, to stop crude oil theft and review the Ports and Harbour Bill so as to attract investors.

The MAP is also expected to review and draft the Cabotage Amendment Bill; enforce local content; review the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), as well as the necessary advocacy to highlight the Petroleum Industry Bill.

To Agbakoba, though the maritime sector is faced with a series of challenges, one of the most daunting has been the low participation of indigenous firms in the sector.

“The leakages in the rules which favour foreign enterprise should be critically assessed and blocked. Why is it easy to use foreign owned or registered vessel to execute contracts while the acquisition framework for such types of vessels by indigenous are constrained by tax, import duties, tariffs, concessions, interest rate on borrowed finance inflicted by national agencies, financial institutions,” he queried.

The legal luminary is proposing a redesign of the current maritime architecture, which specifically will lead to the unbundling of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to more dedicated, effective and specialised institutions.

These new institutions, for him, will be more efficient, productive and focused in carving out new opportunities as well as championing the growth of the maritime sector.

“NIMASA is evidently constrained in overseeing all the activities of the sector and as such can not do many things at the same time,” Agbakoba said, citing the case of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which he said had been poorly handled by the apex regulatory and promotional maritime agency.

Agbakoba, who queried NIMASA’s role as a lender of the fund, proposed the need for a specialised bank with an in-depth knowledge of maritime financing to handle the disbursement of the fund, adding that recent events surrounding the fund, have shown NIMASA lacks the capacity to act as a lender.

Also commenting on the CVFF, Jonathan Nicol, president, Shippers’ Association of Nigeria (SAN), Lagos State branch, said part of the reason for the non-disbursement of the fund can be easily tied to non-utlisation of previous disbursed funds.

ODINAKA MBONU