When the British government puts \u00a3746 million into rehabilitating Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, someone has to ship the materials. Nigerian shipowners are asking why that someone shouldn’t be them.<\/p>\n
That was the case made by Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, chairman of Starzs Group, at the 2026 World Maritime Day commemoration in Lagos last Friday. He was represented by Mrs Oluseyi Oluyede, speaking on a panel under the theme “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence.” The event was organised by the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.<\/p>\n
The port projects are expected to involve British contractors and the shipment of steel valued at roughly \u00a376 million. For Oluyede, that steel is more than construction material \u2014 it’s cargo, and cargo is what builds a fleet.<\/p>\n
“These are areas where tonnage can be built for Nigerians,” she said. “Indigenous operators should be given the opportunity to participate in transporting materials required for the port reconstruction projects.”<\/p>\n
Behind the appeal is a familiar frustration: Nigeria has no shortage of shipping policies, but a persistent shortage of follow-through. Oluyede argued that the gap between policy and practice is what keeps local operators on the sidelines while foreign vessels carry the business.<\/p>\n
She applied the same logic to the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund. Financing vessels alone, she said, doesn’t work if owners have no guarantee of cargo to fill them. “How then can you have an asset when you don’t have the cargo guarantees? We should not put the cart before the horse.”<\/p>\n
Her proposals were straightforward. Government and stakeholders should identify the cargoes actually available for movement, then build mechanisms that let Nigerian shipowners compete for them \u2014 including the steel shipments headed for the two Lagos ports. She also urged indigenous practitioners to engage more actively with the government’s Policy Advisory Committee, so that implementation problems get flagged by the people who live with them.<\/p>\n
Her closing point was about what counts as success. Nigeria sits in the International Maritime Organization’s Category C framework and takes part in international maritime institutions, but Oluyede argued that participation should be measured by something more concrete: Nigerian operators deploying vessels, carrying cargo, and competing in international trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the British government puts \u00a3746 million into rehabilitating Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, someone has to ship the materials. Nigerian shipowners are asking why that someone shouldn’t be them. That was the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t