Minister of state for transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki stressing a point at the media parley today.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki today met with different stakeholders within the Maritime sector and dedicated a session of the event to meeting with members of the maritime media practitioners. Madam Minister said that it is part of her one week tour of the ports in Lagos in order to take stock of all the structures at the facilities within the maritime sector and also to meet the men and women within the sector.
It was a totally interactive session and in a bid to make the maximum use of the available short time, the session started briskly and immediately after the introduction of the media people, the minister herself as well as the members of her entourage. Varying questions were thrown at her on a wide range of issues and she tried to answer most of the questions.
Madam Minister with the presidents of the various maritime media associations.
On the first question that concerned the national transport bill, she hinted that she introduced the bill as a serving Senator, but that a few things are needed to be tweaked on the bill before the assent by the president to make the bill a law. On the Lekki deep sea port, she said that the president has given his blessings in the area of multimodal means of evacuating cargoes, she also hinted that the ports in Lagos shall be fixed, but that the how to do it is what is being considered because of the distruptive nature of the project, she added that the complaints raised about the terminal operators are also being looked into.
Madam Minister at the table with her entourage.
Senator Saraki also talked about the Carbotage Vessels Finance Fund and said that as a matter of imperative concern, the Fund shall be disbursed as soon as possible, she assured that the Three Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars in the Fund is still very intact and that as the government realises the need to have more Nigerians playing in the sector in order to create jobs and engender the multiplier effect needed to pull people out of poverty, the more important it becomes that the Fund gets disbursed. She also spoke on the issue of helping to further develope the Maritime media Practitioners as she says that she recognises the need for the training and retraining of Journalists in the sector. The director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Bashir Jamoh added that the agencies in the sector are desirous of helping to further develope the MARITIME media practitioners in Nigeria, but that the multiplicity of Maritime Media Associations pose real problem in trying to do this. He urged the media practitioners to come under one umbrella to make it easier for them to be able to reach out to the Journalist. Minister Saraki opined that the media practitioners may remain under their various Associations, but that they should have a kind of maritime media forum in order to get the kind of help that they seek.
Some members of the Maritime media covering the occassion.
The Minister was asked why she had not before now visited the port areas since she became a minister for about four years now and she said that the sector had not been placed under her purview. She also said that the seafarers programme is trying to borrow from the Philippino model as she noted that Nigeria has the potential to earn as much in terms of percentage income as the Philippines from the job of seafaring. She reiterated the saying that government has no business in business, but can always create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. A question was asked of the state of the Fifty Billion Naira floating dock, the minister said that modalities are being put in place to put the idle dock into use and on the issue of the membership of the International Maritime Organisation category C, she said that the government is going back to the drawing board in order to really address the reasons why we have been failing to win a place in the category rather than rush back into contesting to get into it hastily and then failing again. She added that it was import that she urged everyone in the sector to put his or her house in order so that the so much talked about potentials in job and wealth creation will be realised.
More picture of media men at the occassion.
At the end of the question and answer session, Minister Saraki said in an interview that her one week visit to Lagos is just the beginning and an attempt to forge better relationship with businesses. It was also an attempt to see how better the government can make businesses ready for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) she added. She worries that a lot of seafaring businesses have gone under and that there is a need to see how the trained personnel can be re-engaged as there are so many ways to engage them in the sector. She was asked about the building and rehabilitating of the various Ports and she noted that the largest amount of cargo to Africa comes to Nigeria and there is the need to get the knowledge about who can do the project management of the ports aside building or rehabilitating them and so careful considerations are being taken by the government before going into these projects.
For Advert Placement and and more information, please call us on 08027590195, 08035721540 it email us @ greatalternativenigltd@gmail.com
