LAGOS – Mr Jonathan Nicol, President, Shippers’ Association, Lagos State, on Monday urged the Federal Government to inaugurate the Regional Maritime Bank without delay in order not to lose the bank’s [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
head office to another country.
Nicol made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
A well-informed source, who is a member of the Project Management Committee of the bank, told NAN [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
that the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) might shift the bank’s head office to Equitorial Guinea.
The source, who pleaded for anonymity, said that since 2011, the report of the bank’s project
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
management committee had not been implemented.
Nicol said: “Under no circumstance should the bank be taken away from Nigeria.’’
According to him, the Nigerian maritime community has hopefully waited for the establishment of the regional bank.
“If you look at the volume of maritime activities in the sub-region, a large number is concentrated in Nigeria’s domain.
“We have so much maritime activities in Nigeria compared to any other country within the West Africa sub-region.
“We expect that Nigeria will not lose out as the headquarters of the bank.
“With the bulk of cargoes coming into Nigeria, we need a regional bank that will be resident in Nigeria for maritime operators to easily access funds to facilitate business activities,’’ he said.
Nicol said the bank would take care of infrastructure problems and other domestic requirements, adding that it would result in an improvement in the nation’s maritime activities.
“There is need to have funds for replacement of old equipment and other materials in our maritime industry.
“A regional maritime bank will be of immense help not only to private entrepreneurs but other practitioners,’’ he told NAN.
NAN reports that the idea of a regional bank was mooted at the Bureau of Transport Ministers’ Meeting in Angola in 2005 and Nigeria agreed to host the secretariat.
All the necessary approvals had been secured for the commencement of the bank but little was being done.
The approvals for Nigeria to host the banks’ headquarters sailed through at the 13th General Assembly of MOWCA in Dakar, Senegal in July 2008 and the resolution of the 14th General Assembly of MOWCA on August 2011 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
All the resolutions and approvals have given credence for the take-off of the bank.
The bank’s project is a sub-regional initiative supported by multilateral agencies like World Bank, African Development Bank and European banks.
The multilateral agencies are waiting for the commencement of the bank’s secretariat to work with MOWCA. (NAN)