By
Okey Ibeke
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| Dr Dakuku Peterside - DG NIMASA |
Nor-Shipping is an international shipping and maritime event that takes place in Oslo, Norway every two years since 1965. Here, maritime, ocean and business meet to connect, build relationships, discover opportunities and tackle challenges. It is one of the leading international shipping events and an important meeting place for the shipping industry. For participants from all over the world that attended this year’s edition, it was quite a rewarding and spectacular experience. It brought together who’s who of leading figures from shipping, ocean industries, politics, business, finance and more.
According to the organizers, Nor-Shipping 2019 was the most successful ever with a record 50,000 participants from all over the world attending the official events between 3 and 7June –an increase of 34% over the 2017 figures.
A total number of 300 high-level speakers participated across more than 220 conferences and events, delivering valuable knowledge on subjects as varied as cyber security, collaboration, de-carbonization, green financing, alternative fuels, renewables, digitalization, gender equality and evolving ocean regulations, port development, amongst other key issues.
This year’s edition of the Conference also attracted a broad range of global leaders, from a diverse array of business, political, academic and regulatory backgrounds who delivered valuable takeaways right across the board.
The conference afforded the distinguished participants and global visionaries the opportunity to celebrate successes, outline challenges, and steer a course for the development of the industry, sharing their thoughts on some of today’s and tomorrow’s most pressing issues.
The speakers covered the most crucial areas for maritime and ocean businesses. From cyber risk and security, through to evolving maritime regulations, innovative digital technology, changing market and geopolitical drivers, new energy demands, and, crucially, enabling sustainability, both commercially and environmentally.
These elite speakers and contributors included Admiral Michael Rogers, Norway’s former director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Nobel Laureate (Economics) prize winner Paul M. Romer, IMO Secretary General, Kitack Lim, Ann-Christian Andersen, Technip FMC’s Chief Digital Officer, Geir Haoy, CEO Kongsberg, DNV GL’s Remi Eriksen, Lise Kingo, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, amongst others.
Among the audience were His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, international government officials, delegates from the UN, Ambassadors, top CEO`s and maritime professionals.
Nigeria featured prominently in Nor Shipping 2019 with a strong team led by the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, and NIMASA Board Chairman, Gen. Jonathan Garba (rtd). The governor of Cross River State, Prof Ben Ayade, President of Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Dr. MK George Onyung, NIMASA officials and prominent Nigerian maritime players were also at the event.
Nigeria’s Day At The Conference
Nigeria’s day at the conference was quite remarkable; remarkable in the sense that ordinarily, it would have been a disastrous outing for the delegates and Nigeria, but for the ingenuity, courage, and the never-say-die Nigerian spirit of Dakuku Peterside, the Director-General of NIMASA.
A few hours before Nigeria could take the centre-stage, the news filtered in that India had placed a red alert on Nigeria, banning seafarers of Indian origin from working in various coastal states in the Gulf of Guinea, which includes Nigeria, Ghana and other West African countries. The circular containing the ban by the government signed by its Director of Shipping, Capt. Anish Joseph said armed robbery attacks in the Gulf of Guinea were becoming more violent, with a greater tendency to attack, hijack and rob vessels as well as kidnap crew. The circular drummed up what it called the rise in crime rate at the Gulf of Guinea.
At first, the news was being hushed around; then, it blew into the open, and all eyes were on Nigeria. But Dakuku Peterside, was undaunted as he mounted the rostrum. With perfect aplomb, the erudite NIMASA DG took on the whole world first, defusing the tension created by the news from India, and then selling Nigeria’s maritime sector and the entire economy to the world. By the time he was done, it was applause for Nigeria. Instead of ending the day with head bowed, Nigerians stood tall and walked away with pride.
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The NIMASA DG started off with the news making the rounds concerning the insecurity of Nigeria’s waters and the Gulf of Guinea. He debunked the claim that Nigerian waters were unsafe, and condemned the exaggeration of the true situation at the Gulf of Guinea. He then told his audience the giant strides Nigeria had taken to combat piracy and criminality in her waters and the Gulf of Guinea which are yielding positive results.
Peterside said Nigeria had recorded remarkable success in tackling insecurity along its own stretch of the Gulf of Guinea due to robust investment in intelligence and maritime security assets, as well as the commitment of Nigerian authorities to ending the threats, and this has led to more investments in the fight against maritime crime.
These investments made under Nigeria’s Deep Blue Project will see to the acquisition of two special mission aircraft, three helicopters and unmanned air vehicles. Others are two special mission vessels and 17 interceptor patrol crafts. This is in addition to the land assets which include 16 armoured vehicles and an intervention team of 340 highly trained personnel. The entire project also makes use of satellite technology that will monitor Nigeria’s exclusive economic zone and feed real time information to a command and control centre.
He asserted that the Nigerian portion of the Gulf has become relatively free of security threats, and is now relatively safe. This claim was corroborated by the Norwegian ambassador to Nigeria, Jens-Petter Kjemprud.
Mr. Kjemprud said Nigeria’s tackling of the security issue had been so impressive that for more than one year he had not had call for help from Norwegian seafarers plying the route. Already, Norway and Denmark have pledged their commitment to partner with Nigeria in organizing the Global Maritime Security Conference to be held in Abuja in October.
Peterside said security was only one area of improvement in the maritime component of the ease of doing business in Nigeria. He pointed at other interventions of government to include the building of a modern railway system to link all the ports to the hinterland, investment in truck transit parks, fixing of bad access roads and the reduction of the number of agencies at the ports.
The NIMASA DG took the opportunity to invite the entire maritime world to the global security summit Nigeria will host in October. The summit is aimed at bringing the world together to collaborate in developing a robust maritime security system to combat the security threats in the Gulf of Guinea. The global security summit will afford the international community a platform to develop actionable strategies to finally put an end to piracy and other security threats in the region.
That done, Dakuku Peterside then went ahead to showcase Nigeria’s vast investment opportunities and maritime potentials, urging the international community to tap into the huge business opportunities that exist in Nigeria. These investment opportunities, he said, are in ship building and repairs, fleet development, ship financing, port infrastructure development, maritime tourism, renewable energy, ferry services, seafarer training, research and development, offshore logistics for the country’s oil industry, block chain technology, and aquaculture etc.
Specifically, he told the world maritime community that opportunities abound in Nigeria in ship repair and maintenance services, tug operating services, Line handling vessels service, Dredging equipment services, mooring services, specialized piers for chemicals or gases, ICT components/spare parts, repair/maintenance and back-up systems, Cargo handling equipment leasing for empty container operations (handling/transfer), quay apron, transit shed and terminal operations, fire-fighting vessel services, communications patrol services leasing, and safety and inspection services in keeping with ISPS code.
Dakuku told his enthralled audience that Nigeria’s maritime industry holds a lot of promise for economic development. One of which is the gradual migration of Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration towards deep offshore, off the coast and in the coastal waters. This means an increase in the demand for more offshore support vessels (FPSOs), tankers and platforms. He said huge investments are required in developing these areas of the oil and gas industry.
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He also told them that there are huge investment opportunities in ship building to meet national and cabotage requirements, emphasizing that “dry docking remains a critical area of investment with over 3,500 vessels operating in Nigerian waters and largely being dry-docked outside the shores.”
He said Nigeria’s marine insurance subsector is one of the most under-developed compared to its peers, and a number of critical factors that have the potential to drive growth in the area, such as technology, mergers and acquisition, recapitalization to underwrite big transactions have been identified as game changers for investors in the industry. In addition, there are huge opportunities for intending investors as ship owners are called upon to consider establishing a Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club.
The NIMASA DG also talked about manpower and human capacity development which he said was crucial to the development of Nigeria’s maritime and shipping sector, stating that large opportunities exist in establishment, upgrading of facilities and management of maritime institutions.
“We need to train our young generation to develop cross disciplinary skills required in today’s world by providing professional development course focusing on advanced maritime technologies, cyber security, maritime and port management, supply chain management etc. There is need for a lot of investment in training and development of maritime professionals,” he declared.
He also talked about opportunities in haulage and storage services (warehousing), saying that Nigeria is striving to adapt to changes and develop in sync with shifts in the broader trade and logistics ecosystem. He explained that as ports are now much more than transit points, providing added value in such areas as the processing of products, financial breaks in free trade zones, specialized packing methods etc. investors are needed in these areas.
Similarly, opportunities also exist in supply chain logistics (transport of raw materials usually in bulk) which accounts for two thirds of shipping traffic, while distributing logistics (manufactured products usually transported in containers) account for the third. Haulage business provides a lot of opportunities and so do warehouses or distribution houses outside the ports, Dakuku intimated his audience.
He emphasized that robust investment opportunities exists in marine support services, ship brokerage, port development and modernization, construction of new green-field ports, particularly deep sea ports. He stated that multiple opportunities for the development of deep-sea ports are available considering Nigeria’s vast coastline stretching over 853kms.
Dakuku extended invitation to the international gathering to invest in Nigeria’s Inland Container Depots and Multimodal Transport. He stated that inland container depots are needed in Nigeria because of the vastness and diversity of the country’s landscape and the resulting distance between some major commercial centres and the coastline. This has created the need to bridge the service gap occasioned by the lack of access to seaport services.
Hinterland connectivity & Multimodal Logistics was another area the NIMASA DG marketed at the event, telling his listeners that Nigeria was modernizing its rail corridors and connecting narrow gauges at the ports to speed up evacuation of goods. He told them that Nigeria needs investments in this area through public private partnership.
The NIMASA DG also took time to explain to the international community why Nigeria should be an investor’s destination in Africa. He explained that Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with over 200 million people. It is the biggest economy in Africa, with Lagos, its commercial capital, as the sixth largest economy in Africa. Nigeria maritime industry is the most active maritime sector in West and Central Africa with 65% – 70% of shipments headed to West and Central Africa ending up in Nigeria.
“We have more port complexes than any other country in Africa. We have six port complexes. And we have more terminals than any other country in Africa. And you can now understand when I say that Nigeria’s maritime is the most active in the West and Central Africa.”
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In addition, Nigeria has a coastline of 853 kilometers and exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. Nigeria also has the most navigable inland waterway in the world, spanning over an area of 10,000 kilometers, and one of the biggest delta regions in the world.
He proudly announced that Nigeria has a proven gas reserve of 112 trillion cubic feet –the biggest gas reserve in the world. It is also one of the world’s greatest oil producing nations, making Nigeria a strategic energy economy in the world.
Dakuku did not leave out Nigeria’s vibrant financial sector, stating that the country has one of the biggest financial services sector in Africa. He remarked that Nigerian banks are present in virtually every African country. “Our services sector is top match. So, if anybody is thinking about investment in Africa, which in any case is the current attractive economic frontier, basic instinct will tell you, that you think of Nigeria, and even more so, the maritime Services sector,” he said.
He also wooed ship owners to Nigeria’s ship registry, telling them that some incentives have been put in place to enable a foreigner to bring his vessel and register it with Nigeria’s shipping Registry. “We’re automating all vessel registration processes. You don’t have to come to Nigeria to register your vessel; you could register your vessel online, provide all the information needed and when the information is verified, you would be given provisional registration.” He told them that registering their ships in Nigeria comes with a lot of incentives such assuch as foreign vessels registered under Nigeria Ship Registry enjoying the benefits reserved for local vessels, including the plan to reserve preferential berthing spaces in Nigerian ports for locally registered vessels. Other incentives are tax exemptions, import duty reductions, and quick response to any challenge involving Nigerian registered vessels.
The NIMASA DG also told the audience about Nigeria’s efforts to build a national fleet/carrier, disclosing that imports generated by the federal, state and local governments will be reserved for the national carrier, as well as 50% of oil and gas cargoes and West Africa.
Adroitly, Dakuku ended his speech from where he started, identifying insecurity as a key challenge. However, he said Nigeria had put together a spectrum of maritime security strategy to deal with the challenges of maritime insecurity. Under this spectrum is a legal framework to fight piracy and other maritime crimes, saying that Nigeria’s legislature had passed an Anti-Piracy Bill which is awaiting presidential assent. He reiterated that Nigeria was also building up response capability under the deep blue sea project which is geared towards protection of maritime assets with Special Mission aircraft, special mission telecommunications gadgets, 17 interceptor special mission vessels and Command and Control Center, with a complement of armoured vehicles to patrol areas of adjoining littoral states, and a standing military force to deal with criminals and sea pirates.
In addition, he told them that Nigeria was working with its regional partners to strengthen regional maritime security system to fight piracy in the region. He also reiterated that as part of anti-piracy strategy, Nigeria was organizing a global conference on maritime security on Gulf of Guinea in October this year, and invited all to the event. By the time Dakuku left the stage, it was cheers and respect for Nigeria.
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