NAFFAC Advises President Elect To Create Maritime Affairs Ministry

In a bid to get adequate attention, the National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC)  has called on president elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to carve out Ministry of Maritime Affairs from Transportation.

NAFFAC also clamoured for the establishment of a maritime bank under the incoming administration in furtherance to cater for the Industry needs .

President General of NAFFAC Prince Adeyinka Bakare told our correspondent that the maritime industry can only get the deserved attention when it stands separately from other modes of transportation.

Bakare in his congratulatory message to the President elect,  noted that Tinubu as a strategist has long , short and medium plans for Lagos state which snowballed to enormous achievements,  which according to him, might transcend to nation building under a new dispensation.

On like the aviation sector, the NAFFAC boss noted that the maritime industry is bedeviled with  flip flop government policies that are unfavourable for the stakeholders and operators adding that most players in the sector are out of business due to government  inconsistency with regard to her policies.

He affirmed, saying, “We want the president to remove maritime from transportation ministry completely. Let the president create a maritime ministry or appoint a special adviser on maritime so as to get full attention as part of ways to achieve th desired potentials about the Industry,”Adeyinka noted.

He also stressed the need for the new administration to review most of the acts establishing some of the agencies and parastatals from the maritime sector.

“Aside from that we are looking at a sector where the agencies are duplicating their functions because some of them are interwoven concurrently.

“I want to see a new Nigeria, a Nigeria of industrialised nation, a country with constant power supply, I want to see a Nigeria where each ministry and agencies know what to do.

“I want to see where the maritime industry continues to grow and become an industrial hub in Africa.”

He also frowned at the Council for the Regulation for Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to be supervisory ministry of transportation noting that the council should be governed by practitioners from the sector.

As part of agenda setting for the in- coming administration, Adeyinka also advocated for tenure enlongation for the council’s governing board executives from two to four years , saying that the board usually seat four times annually, which according to him has no positive impact for CRFFN regulatory activities.