By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
The Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Adewale Adeniyi has emphasised the imperativeness of the construction of vessels locally to boosting international trade and the maritime industry.
Adeniyi stressed that vessels are sine qua none to effective and efficient international trade, just as he called for support from Nigerians for home built vessels rather than waiting for the foreign vessels.
The Customs boss, who made the assertion at the Annual Finance Conference organised by the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) in conjunction with the NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML) in Lagos,on Thursday 22nd of August 2024, said vessel construction needed to be given necessary supports in the country.
Represented at the occasion by the Comptroller Dera Nnadi, Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Tincan Island command Dera Nnadi, the CGC explained that the Customs introduced barge operations to ease movement of cargoes in a little way which later because a large investment in the maritime industry.
According to him, in order to support and sustain such move, construction of smaller and local vessels needed to be encouraged especially now that the President Bola Tinubu has given the needed support.
He said, “We should look inwards particularly at this time we are experiencing scares resources, Mr. President is encouraging us to look inwards and encourage home grown technology to move forward.
“We need to appreciate locally constructed vessels. We don’t need to wait until we build bigger vessels before we can exercise our expertise. We can’t wait until we have bigger forces to construct bigger vessels, we can start with smaller ones, the lower hanging fruits,” the CGC said.
