By Uche Usim
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has advised the Transportation Ministry to look elsewhere for funds to set up its proposed National Shipping Line if it is interested in one but not dip its hands into government’s purse.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday at the opening of a two-day maritime stakeholders’ conference, Obasanjo explained that business entities set up and run as wholly government owned concerns have never yielded the desired results due to high-level graft and favoritism. He said involving the private sector in transparent privatisation programmes remains a sure way of running efficient systems and generating the needed revenue.
“Don’t set up a national carrier with government’s funds. Look at the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), look at NNPC and other wholly government-owned establishments, it’s a huge mess. NNSL had 24 ships and out of that figure, 19 were bought brand new during my administration as Head of State. Within 20 years, they disappeared. One of the new ships was sold for half a million dollars. “When MAN, Oron, later bought same for $2m and spent $1.5m to refit it. A week after I took over it was arrested for not being sea worthy. I learnt it needed $1 million to retrieve it. I told them to have it and it was released the second day.
“I’m disappointed by the poor maritime services in Nigeria. If I pour my heart out, you won’t like it. After all the investments we’ve reportedly made over the years, where are we today?
“When I was the President in 1999, I was concerned and I did what I did because history has it that most great nations made grew exponentially because of their maritime wealth. We’ve over 300km coastline. How can we maximise it as a country? Why have we underperformed? So the next two days should be a moment of telling ourselves the truth and find our bearing”, he said. Also speaking at the event, the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi said corruption played a prominent role in the stunted growth of the nation’s maritime industry.
He said the rot in the industry was partly fuelled by poor enforcement capabilities of relevant agencies.
“There are laws but no enforcement. There is no punishment. People do what they like and get away with it. But now, that will stop. All stakeholders must play by the rules”, he said.
Amaechi also revealed that he has secured the Presidential nod to ensure the sector operate the single window platform.
“This eliminates or reduces human interface because that’s what causes and sustains corruption. Who are you going to bribe, the computer? We are going to operate as other nations do. We can’t lag behind”, he stated.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Transportation, Hadi Sirika, said the conference aims at repositioning the maritime sector for it greater efficiency and revenue generation.
“It’s a shame that opportunities are not fully exploited despite the fact that Nigeria is a major player in West and Central Africa. We’ve a population of 600 million people. It’s twice that of the US and Continental Europe but our over reliance on oil has shadowed our investments in other areas like mining, agriculture etc. Now, we’re mockingly describe as the sleeping giant of Africa. This must change”, he said.