Establishment of National Fleet Will Raise Shipping Sector Contribution to GDP, Says Hassan Bello

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*National fleet will support FG’s economic diversification effort
*Calls for more participation of women in shipping

Establishment of a national fleet in the shipping industry remains the only assurance to boost the contribution of the sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello has said.
Speaking on the occasion of this year’s Seafarers Day celebration in Lagos, Bello stressed the need for the federal government to accelerate action on the establishment of a national fleet for the interest of the national economy.
He said national fleet implementation will change the current poor contribution of 0.05 per cent from the shipping sector to GDP.
He also said that having a national fleet will preserve the outflow of foreign exchange in the area of carriage of Nigerian cargoes and lead to the development of the maritime industry.
According to him, Nigeria spent about $9 billion as freight on wet and dry cargo about five years ago.
He added that having a national fleet will equally support the federal government’s economic diversification agenda as it will create room for various ancillary services with massive employment for Nigerians.
He told newsmen, “Some of the benefits Nigeria will derive from a national fleet will be to stem and preserve the outflow of foreign exchange for the carriage of the nation’s cargos. Enhance the development of the Nigerian maritime industry with significant contribution to the GDP. At present, shipping contributes a paltry 0.05 per cent to GDP. In other countries such as Greece, it is 3.6 per cent and the United Kingdom 0.2 per cent.”
“In the international carriage of goods, Nigeria does not have a single ship, so all what we have been doing is slave for foreign ships. About $9 billion and rising is what we pay, not for Nigerian ships but ships elsewhere. Imagine what the earnings of freight will do, if these are Nigerian ships? When we talk of Nigerian ships, we are also talking about our Nigerian banks, insurance companies, mariners, seafarers, surveyors and our seamen. All these are not gaining because we don’t have ships. So the issue is not actually whether women are going to be employed but on what ships. We need to have those ships before women are employed.
“The national fleet issue is also important to us. We ought to have Nigerians owning and operating ships, we have lost a lot of money on freight to foreign companies, billions of dollars, if we are the ones having that, the billions we earn in freight will at least have effect on our economic growth, employment and open up ancillary services. We are talking about ship yards, ship repair yards; we are also talking about our flag administration, nautical colleges, having trained seafarers to do that.
“The national fleet is three-year so that we can have it in Nigeria, but to do that, there are so many so laws and policies that you have to review that is what the fleet is doing, there are also incentives we have to offer private sector. Don’t forget that the national fleet is private sector led, government will not put a kobo, but the government will have to look at laws, policies that militate against investment especially in that sector. We are talking about tax holidays and relaxing of certain procedures, and overall conducive atmosphere for that investment to thrive”.
The NSC chief executive also called for more participation of women in seafaring, adding that only two percent of world seafarers were women.
Bello said “the reason for the low percentage of women in seafaring is understandable. It ranges from the harsh working environment in the sea to issues such as sexual harassment, gender discrimination and inappropriate comments. Section 17 of the Nigeria constitution states that every citizen should have equal right before the law, despite this catalytic provision, it has not been easy for women to fight gender discrimination”.