LAGOS – Prof. Alex Okwuashi, Rector of the Certified Institute of Shipping (CIS), said on Wednesday that the shipping business accounted for 80 per cent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Okwuashi. a professor of maritime administration and international shipping, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that transportation and the sale of crude oil which fetched a large amount of foreign exchange, were done through shipping.
Okwuashi, however, expressed concern that the cost of transporting crude oil out of the country was enormous, adding that it accounted for almost half of the total cost of the commodity.
According to him, this is because crude oil in Nigeria is sold on Free on Board (FOB) basis.
He said this was a `lacuna’ in the National Shipping Policy Act, 1987, which the Certified Institute of Shipping of Nigeria (CISN) Bill, would have resolved, if it had been signed into law.
“The CISN Bill seeks to fill that gap that the nation’s crude oil should not be sold on an FOB basis,’’ Okwuashi told NAN.
NAN reports that if the terms of delivery of a transaction are on FOB basis, the cost of movement of the goods on board a ship is borne by the seller.
NAN also reports that many operators, including the Nigerian Ship owners Association (NISA), had called for a change in the mode of transaction of crude oil from FOB to Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF).
Okwuashi, however, noted that the CISN Bill, which was submitted to the National Assembly some years ago, had sailed through the House of Representatives and was presently in the Senate.
The rector said the CISN Bill would also assist in building human capacity in various areas of the shipping industry, including ship building.
He urged the National Assembly, maritime institutions and all practitioners in the industry, to rally round and ensure that the CISN Bill “is eventually passed, to sanitise the industry’’. (NAN)
- Latest
- Trending
