The Nigerian Maritime Law Association, NMLA, has expressed concern over the dearth of data in projecting and planning growth of the Nigerian maritime industry.
Speaking at the maiden edition of a breakfast meeting of the association held in Lagos, President of the group, Mrs Funke Agbo said that the lack of data in the industry has not only stunted the growth of the industry but has led to planlessness.
Agbo, said that the industry needs data to gather information that will help put things together which will also help the government to plan for the maritime industry.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, explained that there is a lot the government can do better to grow the sector adding that the association is also ready to assist government with the growth.
She stated: “We need this data, that way, it helps us to grow a databank of information of putting things together so as to be able to tell the government the things that are lacking, these are the forecasts that we can see in these areas and that we need to do certain things in these areas to put things right, information is key in planning for growth.
“Shipping is not all about oil and gas, it is about international trade, it is about volumes and figures, ships going back and forth. We have ships coming with imports but we do not have ships going back with exports, the deficit is really huge. So if we can show the government that that the trade imbalance can be reduced.
“With data, we can help because we need to show them facts and figures to enable them believe what it is that we are saying.”
Culled from Vanguard
