Follow Us on Google
By Steve Agbota
Experts and maritime industry stakeholders have expressed concerns that the increasing dominance of Nigeria’s shipping sector by foreign-owned companies is hindering the growth of local content development in the country.
The stakeholders lamented that foreign dominance has sidelined indigenous operators, relegating them to the margins and diminishing their role in their own country’s shipping sector.
Speaking at a summit last week in Lagos, the stakeholders said that many indigenous companies are being pushed out of the market by foreign firms, which are taking advantage of the lack of effective regulations and policies to dominate the sector.
However, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) Dr. Muda Yusuf, called for a review of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Act to protect indigenous investors in the maritime sector.
According to him, the NIPC Act, enacted in 2005, gives foreign investors unlimited access to all sectors of the economy, hence the need for it to be urgently revisited.
“I’m not advocating the displacement of foreign investors in the sector, there is a need for a deliberate policy action to support and elevate the level of indigenous participation in the maritime sector ecosystem.
“We cannot afford to be spectators in the sector. We have local capacity in clearing and forwarding, cargo handling, terminal operations, haulage, warehousing and many more. The unfolding scenario is that most of these jobs are being taking away from indigenous players in the sector. Indigenous investors need policy support to curb their growing exclusion in the sector, ” he said.
Yusuf cited the United States of America as an example, which has implemented protectionist policies to safeguard indigenous jobs, and suggested that Nigeria should follow suit.
He also lamented that the Cabotage Act, enacted in 2003, to develop the local shipping industry, has not been effectively implemented.
He called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to step up efforts to implement the law and disburse the Cabotage fund to indigenous shipping companies.
He also recommended replicating the Local Content law of the oil and gas sector in the maritime sector, which he said has had a significant impact on indigenous capacity in the oil and gas sector.
