(NIGERIA) If the pending bills gathering dust at the National Assembly (NASS) can be attended to and thoroughly enforced, the country’s maritime sector is capable of generating for the government a whopping N7.0 trillion every year.
This is the assertion of the former President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, who is also a maritime lawyer.
He made this position known in a recent letter he dispatched to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, he titled, “Generation of Revenue from Non-Oil Sector of the Nigerian Economy”.
Agbakoba in the letter had called on the government to pay more attention to the maritime sector as it was capable of rescuing the national economy at this time of falling oil revenue.
To achieve this, stated the human rights activist, all that the government needed to do was to overhaul some of the frameworks guiding the sector.
In the letter which was his reaction to an earlier statement made by the minister that in the face of falling oil price, the country should no longer regard itself as an oil producing nation but explore other sources of revenue.
While commending the minister on her suggested steps towards enlarging revenue base for the country, including the broadening of the tax base, Agbakoba observed that such was mere surface scratching.
Agbakoba wrote, “Your welcome statement that Nigerians should henceforth view the country as a non-oil producing nation and explore other sources of revenue as a result of the decline in the price of oil, calls for reflection. You have suggested broadening the tax base to raise revenue. While this is a good step, we suggest that it only scratches the surface”.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) advised that government should focus more attention on the maritime sector, which he described as being largely untapped but had presently collapsed.
As a way to reap the full potentials of the sector, he suggested that there was the need for an overhaul of policies and regulatory framework and cited examples with certain bills that had to do with the sector that had remained pending at the National Assembly thereby stalling the growth of the industry.
“As I have always said to you, there is massive untapped revenue in our maritime sector estimated at N7 trillion per annum. I will suggest that you pay close attention to this sector, which at this time has all but collapsed. In order to tap revenue from this sector there will need to be an overhaul of policy, institutional, regulatory and legal framework.
“There is a raft of legislation pending in the National Assembly, which have deterred growth in the sector, e.g. the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Ports & Harbour Bill, the Bill establishing the economic regulator (shipping sector), and the Maritime Zones Bill, etc. In fact there is very good reason to review Nigeria’s Ocean Policy to tap abundant national resources”, Agbakoba urged.
-NEWSWATCH TIMES-
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