The Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN has pleged to exploit legal opportunities in the Cabotage Act for the development of shipping in the country.
Newly elected president of the body, Mkgoerge Onyung who made the pledge after the election of the association that took place Thursday in Lagos, said there are lots of opportunities yet untapped in the Cabotage Act and that his priority would be to work at bringing benefits to SOAN members legally through the Act.
Onyung assured members of SOAN that the new executive under his leadership will continue to work with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, all government agencies in the sector and the International Oil Companies, IOCs, to ensure the development of the industry.
On the planned suspension of waiver to foreign ship owners by NIMASA, the SOAN boss said while they are in support of the policy, they will be watching closely to see how things turn out.
“There are areas in the Cabotage Act that can be exploited for the benefit of the industry and we are going to work at making it a reality.
“They are taking an in-depth look at the Cabotage Act and I believe that going forward, the Act will really be made to work and it is a good thing that we just have to sit down and go back to the drawing board and see which areas we can fine tune for the benefit of the maritime industry.
“The cessation of weaver will boost indigenous shipping because any law that is made is abused by some people, so I believe that this weaver cessation is something that is well thought of and of course, NIMASA having been the authorized agency to deal with, it has gone about it very well. You know it is a new thing that has come and we will work with it and see how it goes,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Greg Ogeifun, the immediate past president of SOAN, who pledged his support for the new executive, told the new executive to continue to work for the development of the industry.
