Collaboration key to achieving sustainable water transport – panelists

Date:

By Chiazo Ogbolu
Lagos, Dec. 10, 2020 Panelists at the Lagos International Maritime Week 2020 on Wednesday said that collaboration would be key to achieving sustainable water transport in Nigeria.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

The week was organised by Zoe Maritime Resources Ltd. with the theme: ”Sustainable Shipping in Africa for a Sustainable Planet”.

According to the panelists, stakeholders would need to do things differently to move water transport to the next level.

Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority, said that collaboration of stakeholders including state and federal governments would ensure robust development of water transport.

Emmanuel spoke on the topic: “Sustainable Shipping and Water Transportation in Nigeria”.

He said that boosting the industry would encourage investors who, he said, were developing cold feet about bringing vessels to LASWA due to operational cost and concerns about investment sustainability.

“LASWA is looking at innovative ways to boost the sector by engaging with local operators and ensuring that they meet standards that will be sustainable in 10 years’ time.

“LASWA will establish a waterway control room early next year to be able to respond to emergencies, create data, have a search and rescue unit and strategically position to encourage investment and sustainability,” he said.

Mr Greg Ogbeifun, Chairman, STARZS Investment Company Ltd., said that the operators in the shipping industry had ‘silos’ mentality.

”Everybody is in his shell; this will not help the industry,” he said.

According to Ogbeifun, having the political will, the right legislation and establishing a structure among stakeholders are key to achieving sustainable shipping.

“We should not attempt to reinvent the wheel, rather we should find out what has been done so far in areas of ship repairs, fleet acquisition, and discuss with different agencies on their initiatives to help in solving issues on ground.

“There is need for stronger collaboration between the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority and the Professional Association of Master Mariners and Engineers, who can help in the areas of training and counsel to ensure safety and standards ,” he said.

Col. Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, said that the way forward would be collaboration among stakeholders with a timeline to determine what should be done.

Ali, represented by Comptroller Musa Mba, spoke on “Maritime Transportation: Sustainable Shipping and Efficient Customs Clearance”.

He said that in line with the World Customs Organisation Sustainable Agenda, the NCS had implemented a number recommendations.

He said that the recommendations would sustain shipping and ensure efficient customs clearance.

Ali listed some of the recommendations as standardisation, simplification of goods declaration and transparency in customs operations.

He said that the others included e-submission of declaration for import, e-payment and e-release, automation and deployment of the Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System.

He noted that NCS had also provided trade facilitation tools to aid operations.

Ali listed the tools as dispute resolution committee, use of bank bond facilities for cargo, help desk and others.

The comptroller-general identified challenges facing trade facilitation to include poor access roads and non-availability of scanners.

Naija247news reports that the aim of the conference was to attract foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s maritime industry.

Naija247news
Naija247newshttps://www.naija247news.com/
Naija247news is an investigative news platform that tracks news on Nigerian Economy, Business, Politics, Financial and Africa and Global Economy.

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Access Holdings to pay N1.80 as final dividend to shareholder

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Access Holdings has revealed plans to...

Police gun down two notorious bandits in Benue

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Men of Operation Zenda, a Joint...

Army declares eight wanted in connection with the k!lling of its officers in Okuama

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Nigerian Army has declared eight...

Naira Appreciates Against Dollar at the NAFEM Window

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Naira’s euphoric appreciation against the...
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Discover more from Naija247news

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading