There are well over eight hundred vessels operating on the nation’s Maritime domain but none is built in the Country.
This is because, it costs forty percent more expensive, to want to build a Ship in the Country compared to other Countries.
This was the submission of a Shipping Expert, Chief Greg Ogbeifun while chatting with newsmen in Lagos.
Chief Ogbeifun listed what he called, Government’s unfavorable policies and tax laws on Ship acquisition which discourage investments in Ship building, as some of the reasons, plan to establish a National Fleet by Nigerian Ship Operators has always remain a mirage.
He decried the lack of infrastructure for ship building in the Country, noting that the ones or two foreign companies which attempted to set up such facility in Nigeria complained bitterly about the forty percent extra high cost.
They blame it on lack of action by the National Fleet Implementation Committee, set up by the Government, some years ago while they also said that some incentives which Government’s policies put in place, such as zero import duty, tax holiday, vat concession and others were never made available.
Meanwhile, Chief Ogbeifun, who operates a Ship Repairs Yard in Rivers State, lamented the fact the Managements of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA charges twelve thousand dollars per a vessel which calls at his facility either for repairs or for other commercial purpose, a situation he said has driven away other Ship Owners from the facility.
Oroluwa Yemisi
