Mariner suggests dialogue between FG, maritime investors

A Mariner, Capt Adamu Biu, has urged government agencies and private investors in the maritime industry to dialogue for solutions to challenges hindering the growth of the industry.

Biu, a former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), made the plea while speaking to the media in Lagos.

The mariner said that there could be some areas of government policy that could be defective and not able to provide the desired level-playing field.

“We as private practitioners also have certain issues which are not of national interest but personal.

“If you put in N10 million, you want N20 million next year. You do not care whether, by that N20 million desire, you want to make somebody else lose everything.

“There are some of us that are actually to blame for our woes. We must be honest.

“Unless we accept that, we will not make a way.

“The system of government cannot be perfect because there is nothing in this world that is perfect but what we need to do is to strike a balance where personal interest is not beclouding us from the truth.

“Government is there to stabilize the business in the maritime industry but we have to discuss and find a common ground, ‘’ Biu stated.

He suggested that what the private sector operators should do was to engage in continuous dialogue to enable both government and private operators to address issues.

Biu said that operators had not been having periodic dialogue, adding that the industry was dynamic and needed constant dialogue to solve issues as they appear.

He urged the private sector to try and understand government’s policies before blaming the government.

The mariner said that government had always wanted progress for the country.

Biu said there was a need for both government and the private sector to understand each other.

He said that government’s processes could be elongated, adding that it was easier for the private sector to either erase a policy or retain it as he or she likes.

The mariner said that most leaders were ready to perform but they were not practitioners, adding that constant dialogue would assist such leaders to achieve a lot in their various sectors.