The organizing committee of the Nigerian Maritime Expo (NIMAREX) has called on indigenous players in the maritime industry to take advantage of the 2014 edition of the programme by displaying their potentials.
Chairman of NIMAREX, Barrister Margaret Orakwusi made the call on Monday while addressing journalist on the arrangements and the road map to the 2014 edition of the expo.
Orakwusi said that a gap has been observed in the number of indigenous operators in the maritime sector and this has given room to dominance of International Oil Companies. “The expo is a call to Nigerians to come out and invest in the sector, to partake in the shipment of our cargo, to own vessels, NIMAREX is crucial in trying to drive the economy”.
“Maritime has always been seen as a closed shop, and this is what the expo is all about; to showcase the sector to investors, if you don’t showcase your opportunities, then investors will not come in” she stressed.
While giving a scorecard of the previous editions of the expo, Orakwusi said that a substantial growth has been witnessed in the indigenous groups, even as she said that NIMAREX has been used to midwife the partnership between foreign firms and the indigenous operators.
“A lot of investors have been invited, you also need to understand that hitherto, the industry was a closed shop, but now people have been invited to look at the rich opportunities”, she added.
“What makes this year unique is that we are looking at our achievement in 100years, take stock and chat a road map into the future, decisions reached at the event will then be transferred to government for implementation”.
She lamented that over the years, Nigeria has been depending on importation from other countries, and that a large chunk of its cargo is being lifted by foreigners.
Orakwusi gave an insight into the 2014 edition and revealed that already, Former Nigerian Head of State, Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida has agreed to chair the event, while the President of the African Union (AU) will co-chair the event.
Apart from this, Orakwusi said that the event will witness the display of the first indigenous war ship; NNS ANDONI, which was built by the Nigerian Navy.
The Nigerian Navy, represented on the committee by Commodore P.A Onaji also affirmed the support of the navy for NIMAREX 2014, saying that its first indigenous war ship will be on display.
“The Nigerian navy is strongly behind NIMAREX, we have started a process of being self sufficient in ship building, we built NNS Andoni, the first indigenous war ship, and efforts is still going on to build more” he assured.
-@Shippingposition.com.ng
© comfort for Royal Times of Nigeria Newspaper, 2014. |
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