The Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) says Nigeria is losing about two trillion dollars (N300 trillion) in capital flight annually to foreign ship owners operating in Nigerian waters.

Capt. Niyi Labinjo, General Secretary of the association, told newsmen in Lagos that the loss was due to influx of foreign vessels illegally involved in coastal trade in Nigeria. He said the invasion of cabotage trade by foreign ship owners had cost huge losses, including unemployment to many Nigerian seafarers.

“By also not engaging Nigerians in transportation of refined petroleum products, the nation is losing severally. If the indigenous ship owners are allowed to participate effectively in the coastal trade, Nigeria can have about five million Nigerians employed as seafarers,” he said. Labinjo said that many vessels that could not work in Europe and Asia where there was stiff enforcement of regulation, were now found in Nigeria. He expressed regret over non-enforcement of laws on the cabotage regime.

Labinjo said that some people in authority failed to understand the implications of not giving Nigerians jobs of petroleum products transportation.

“Allowing foreign ship owners to bring more tankers and offshore support vessels into the country will compound unemployment situation among Nigerian operators. By also not engaging Nigerians in transportation of refined petroleum products, the nation is losing severally,” he said. Labinjo said that over 800 million barrels of refined oil were being lifted annually by sister vessels of foreign ship owners.

“Yet, Nigeria does not have a single national carrier to carry the commodity,” he said. Labinjo said that many local shipping firms had closed shops because of the dominance of the shipping industry by foreign operators.

“Sometimes, my company does not do a job in nine months with our five vessels, but we are resilient despite that.” He advised the Federal Government to evolve the maritime culture since 76 per cent of shipping activities in the sub-region took place in Nigeria.

“Nigeria imports 100 million tonnes of general cargo annually and 65 million litres of fuel.” Labinjo advised that government should be more interested in developments in the maritime industry.