Nigeria is losing at least N3 billion annually as a result of low activities in the ship chandelling business, according to Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Nigerian Licensed Ship Chandlers Association, Dr. Emeka Enebeli.
Enebeli stated this in Lagos, maintaining that the legislation guiding ship chandelling profession had been comatose. He mnaintained that the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Section 24, which regulates ship chandelling, had not been ammended since 1968 to reflect the latest trends in the business.
Though he lauded the enactment of the Local Content Act, he expressed regret that the National Content Monitoring Board was yet to understand the dynamics of local content in ship chandelling operations.
“These subsidiary legislations are comatose and eventually allowing the profession to lay prostrate. Whereas these legislations are supposed to regulate and compel all practitioners on issues regarding ship chandelling activities vis-à-vis creating jobs,” Enebeli said.