Abuja – Twenty-seven years after Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) was liquidated, the Federal Government has again began to mull the establishment of another shipping line to harness advantages of a national shipping line in the maritime industry.

Daily Independent recalls that the Federal Government had in 1959 established Nigerian National Shipping Line, which was unfortunately liquidated in September 1995 due to its inability to compete with European lines despite huge investments.

However, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, the Minister of State for Transportation, on Tuesday called for the urgent need to hasten the plan to establish a national shipping line, stating that this will ensure maximum exploitation of the potential in Nigeria maritime industry.

The minister, who stated this in Abuja while delivering her address at the ongoing 16th international maritime seminar for judges organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, said it is a common knowledge that most of our maritime transportation are conducted by foreign ship owners, thereby limiting the economic benefits accruable to the nation and the sub-region in areas such as creation of jobs, freight and insurance earnings.

She further said: “It is in the above regard that the development of a national fleet becomes imperative.

The present administration is looking into ways of encouraging the establishment of a private sector- driven national shipping line to ensure maximum exploitation of the potential in our maritime industry.

“A ministerial committee has been working on this important initiative and I look forward to having their concrete recommendations for immediate implementation.”

The minister, who was represented by the director of procurement, Ministry of Transportation, Hussein Adamu, said the government is ready to implement various initiatives on the ease of doing business, including in the maritime sector in order to open up all the potential of the Nigerian business environment.

According to her, “May I reiterate the commitment of the Nigerian government towards the implementation of various initiatives on the ease of doing business, including in the maritime sector in order to open up all the potential of the Nigerian business environment.

“I am also pleased to state that following the recommendations of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s communiques, the government has geared up efforts to sanitise and foster global best practices in port operations and in this regard has developed a working document called the Nigerian Port Process Manual (NPPM) and constituted an Inter-Agency Task Team led by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council for its implementation.

“The NPPM reflects the internationally acceptable processes in port operations by spelling out a step-by-step processes and specific roles of government agencies and private operators at all levels in the port.

The process of ensuring the gazzetting of the process manual in order to give it the requisite regulatory teeth is ongoing.

That step will further complement the critical role of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as the port economic regulator in our jurisdiction.

“Government will continue to support the NSC in this role in order to ensure the smooth, effective and successful implementation of the mandate given to it.”