For Nigeria to drive local and foreign investments into the nation’s maritime sector, the Federal Government must declare the country a maritime nation, the NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML), has said.
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday at the annual conference of the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) organised in partnership with NSML, Hambali Yusuf, fleet manager of NSML, said the Federal Government also needs to grant waivers and tax concessions to investors in the sector.
Yusuf, who spoke on a penal session themed, ‘International Acceptance of Nigeria’s Maritime Colleges Certifications,’ said the nation’s shipping sector is losing qualified manpower to other nations due to issues of certifications, standards, and tax policy.
He said that tax concessions would help private firms to cushion the effect of monies invested in training and building manpower for the maritime sector, which is capital intensive.
Yusuf also bemoaned a situation where only Nigerian seafarers pay tax globally, which compels many Nigerian seamen to prefer working abroad rather than working for shipping firms that are based in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is losing qualified seafarers to foreign nations due to the nation’s tax laws while other nations such as India give seafarers an exception to income tax. In India, if you are not in the country for seven months, you would not pay any tax. But, in Nigeria even if you are not around for a whole year, you are still going to pay income tax and pension,” he explained.
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Yusuf also said that pensions for Nigerian seamen are deducted in dollars but remitted to them in naira.
He also pointed out the need for auditing of Nigeria’s maritime institutions by other flag states to approve the employability of Nigerian-trained seamen.
Earlier, Abdulkadir Ahmed, managing director of NSML, who was the keynote speaker, said the company has been partnering with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to train and offer sea-time opportunities to Nigerian cadets that graduated on the platform of Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
According to him, over 107 Nigerians have successfully completed their training under the Maritime Centre of Excellence (MCoE) while 44 of them have received permanent employment.
Ahmed said the NLNG Bonny terminal has recently been certified as an eco-port by the Port Environmental Review System (PERS), as the only port in Sub-saharan Africa that complied with the requirements of leading environmental management practices.
He noted that this was made possible by the proactive nature of the NSML Terminal management team.
“We have been investing in continuous training, upskilling, and development of our employees to enhance their capacity and ensure they are not only up to date but also ready to adopt and adapt to the changing technological landscape in the global shipping sector,” he added.
