…As Ship Capt, Oyekan lauds Navy’s commitment towards fighting piracy***

Tired of keeping mute, the President, Nigeria Chamber of Shipping (NCS), Mr Andy Isichei bared his mind Monday, emphasizing that the intractable gridlock on ports’ access roads, particularly the Western ports was negatively devastating the economy.

Isichei indicated this in Lagos, frowning on the Ports system inefficiency, and adding that the constant gridlock on ports access roads was also constituting serious danger to public infrastructure, having already turned vital bridges to parking lots.

He blamed the gridlock on port roads to many cargoes being designated for Western ports, coupled with the inability of the water channels or outer ports to accommodate bigger vessels.

Isichei said that freight limits, as regards maximum number of cargoes, contributed to the challenges facing the Eastern ports.

He equally posited that larger volume of cargoes would drive down costs; and called for constant dialogue amongst relevant stakeholders, noting that such would assist the Ministerial Committee on Ports to solve the challenges, as well as energise the economy of other ports.

He was particularly concerned with the state of investments which he noted were truly suffering.

He identified the port system as inefficient, saying it actually brought about congestion on both the sea and on the land.

Isichei concluded by urging the Federal Government to improve on road infrastructure, so as to stop the constant gridlock on ports roads. 

Meanwhile, a ship captain, Mr Bayo Oyekan on Monday stressed the need for stakeholders to support the Nigerian Navy towards effectively checkmating the incidences of piracy on the nation’s waters.

The Nigerian Navy inaugurated four ships and two helicopters to fight piracy on the Gulf of Guinea on Thursday.

Oyekan who made the appeal in Lagos, also frowned on the lukewarm attitude of other agencies that were supposed to support the Navy in curbing piracy, saying they were actually fuelling it, thereby making a menace of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

He commended the efforts of the Nigerian Navy for inaugurating four ships and two helicopters to fight piracy on the Gulf of Guinea on Thursday.

“With the renewed efforts of the Navy at curbing sea robbery on the Nigerian waters many of the surcharges and the rating of Nigeria as a risky zone by shippers will be removed and the country will be free from insurance surcharge on shipments.

“With the support of the other agencies whose scope it is to provide security and safety on the waters to the Navy, checking the menace that has been a nightmare to importers and shippers will be sustained.

“Let there be collaboration in logistics support from agencies like the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, the Nigeria Shippers Council and even the Nigeria Ports Authority to this course,’’ he said.

According to him, the international shipping community and other bodies like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are looking at Nigeria to take the lead in controlling crime in the Gulf of Guinea where Nigeria and other maritime countries in the sub-region share boundaries on the waters.

He said that the danger in the zone had made shipment to Nigeria costlier than shipment to other countries like Ghana which were less risky to shipment.