Vincent Toritseju
Lagos — Following the commencement of operations of the Dangote’s Refinery, a group of Nigerian ship owners and operators have come together to form a shipping company called NISA Ocean Transport to participate in the nation’s coastal trade.
Speaking on the development, a former president of the Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association, NISA, Isaac Jolapamo said that this is the second shipping company local operators are setting up to ensure that Nigerians are not denied their rights.
Jolapamo also said that the objective to form this mega local shipping firm is for local operators to pull resources together for the prosperity of all.
He explained that with the Dangote’s Refinery in operations, Nigerian local shipping sector cannot be left out of the businesses that will fall out of the refinery.
The former Manager of the shipping operations at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC also said that the same cabal that held the local shipping businesses down are the same people that are currently harassing Dangote’s Refinery.
He also blamed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA for living up to its bidding noting that issue of waivers being granted to foreigners also helped to kill the interest of local ship owners in Nigeria.
Jolapamo stated that NIMASA at the moment must ensure that jobs were made available for Nigerian ship owners so that the local shipping industry can noting that the multiplying effect will grow the economy as well.
He said: “We are not limited to just one group. There is another group that the association is speaking with. We had one before, we have recently established another one which is called NISAN ocean transport.
“The objective is to come together so that we can have a common and technical joint partner that we can rely on to start acquiring vessels ones we
“Like the movement of Dangote crude is supposed to be a Cabotage thing, most of the movement of these crude and even the foreign leg is supposed to be taken over by Nigerians and it is better done as a collective body than as individual.
“You can see what is happening now, why the shipping arm was not made to thrive in Nigeria with all the muscles and investment that Dangote has, you can see that they were almost going to rubbish him.
“It is not that we are not competent to run vessels but is a deliberate thing to frustrate Nigerians out of shipping business and it was worst off after the Cabotage.
“It was after the Cabotage law came into being that every focus was centred on Nigerians that wanted to take what belongs to them and because we are not as strong as the Dangote Group, they just overran some of us that were in the front of the war.
“We are being vindicated now by what is happening and we believe that if we make a push now, we can call their names out because we know those involved including their foreign sponsors.
When do we expect Nigerian shipping company to commence and how many Nigerians local ship owners and operators are involved and how many foreigners are involved?
“It behooves on NIMASA and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy to ensure that jobs were made available for Nigerians in the shipping industry, we are waiting upon them
“Both NIMASA and the Ministry are supposed to look for cargo for us to take, the Greeks are the ones running the shipping arms of the NNPC as we speak, a practice that will always work against the interest of Nigerians.
“It is not proper for foreigners to run our shipping business but that is the way it works. How many Nigerians are left to run the place? These are the hard facts. The people spearheading these things are not Nigerians, Nigerians are just giving them the backing because of what they are getting out of it.
Before the cabotage I had about 10 vessels, then the Cabotage wiped out from 25 to nil The same thing to virtually every other ship owner in Nigeria.
We said we are waiting for the minister and the NIMASA. That is their basic job, NNPC would fight that you cannot have it. It has been like that for ages. Things have changed, you now have foreigners whose fathers are late, but their children are still running vessels in the NNPC.
Some of us who have the history can come out and talk openly and even mention names.”
