Stories by Enyeribe Anyanwu
The latest disclosure that the federal government has concluded plans to float a new national carrier to replace the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), may have sounded the death knell for the ISAN Shipping Line floated by indigenous shipping operators.
The ISAN Shipping Line which has been awaiting the necessary approvals by NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Transport for more two years now was floated by indigenous ship owners with the sole aim of having a chance to participate in the carriage of the nation’s crude.
According to Chief Isaac Jolapamo, chairman NISA, the ISAN Shipping Line had met all the conditions for approval but everything has been kept in the cooler at NIMASA since 2012.
“We have met every condition to be given national carrier status so that we can at least access vessels. We are still waiting for the almighty National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to pass those papers to the minister for his accent. Mind you, we registered the shipping line in 2008 and submitted all the papers since 2012 and we are still waiting,” the embittered ISAN Chairman told maritime journalists recently at the MARAN Press Centre in Lagos.
A fortnight ago, the director-general of the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Mr. Patrick ZiakedeAkpobolekemi disclosed to maritime stakeholders and participants at a National Workshop on PPP Strategy for Infrastructural Development and Modernization in the Nigerian Maritime Sector that the federal government will soon refloat the defunct NNSL. The DG said at the workshop which was organized by NIMASA in collaboration with Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), that the federal government has begun moves to refloat the national career under the public private sector cooperation arrangement.
“Working with the private sector, we want our national carrier back. We’ll pursue that. It can be done and it must be done,” he said. He observed that the defunct NNSL died because it was managed and controlled by government.
“The NNSL collapsed because government could not manage it. In the next six months, we’ll work seriously towards it,” Akpobolokemi said, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan wants the national carrier brought back during his regime. “There is no room for failure. We can’t afford to disappoint Nigerians,” he assured.
Alluding to the reason why a new national carrier had become imperative, he said that it was wrong for the nation’s crude to be transported only by non-Nigerians. He also said the new shipping line would afford young Nigerian cadets opportunity for sea time training.
Maritime analysts say with the government decision to float a national carrier under a PPP strategy, the dream of indigenous shipping operators to own a shipping line might have been effectively scuttled.
