Indigenous Ship-owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Chairman, Isaac Morakinyo Jolapamo, has stressed the need for the Federal Government to support its local industries, particularly those in the maritime to succeed, saying that this was the practice in other economies.

He also expressed his pains that Nigeria could not develop a national maritime policy till date.

The ISAN boss, who spoke in his office in Lagos , emphasised that various efforts of the separate and distinct business groups should be appreciated and complimented by enduring policies.

“The problem is that the government is yet to realise the enormous degree of what the business groups are facing,” he said, adding that presently, the authorities had apparently left undone several of those things it should to fast track enduring development.

“ISAN has done well. We have done well enough. But of course, we are still not there yet. But from the look of things, we are likely to get there very soon.  

“When we conceived the cabotage law, we did not imagine that our refineries would not be working. But this not withstanding, I would still insist that the day the government decides to capture the market and protect the indigenous stakeholders, that day, the industry would begin to grow.

“I don’t believe that the situation is hopeless. I even think the situation is tending towards the positive side. So, I disagree with the view that if a president from a littoral state could not do it, how would a person from any other part of the country be able to do it?  The issue has nothing to do with where a man comes from. What I know is that the day the government realises what the country is losing by its neglect, and decides to effect a turn-around, the indigenous operators would be able to smile again; and the first multiplier effect would be massive employment opportunities for the youths”, he indicated further.

Buttressing his opinion with facts, Chief Jolapamo, noted that though former President Olusegun Obasanjo had ample opportunity to up-lift the nation’s shipping industry, his anger that he left about 18 brand new vessels when he was leaving as a military head of state, and came back to find none, kept him back.

He felt this was however not unconnected with the conspicuous absence of any national maritime policy in Nigeria.

Responding to questions on the prospect of the nation developing its national career, using the ISAN as a platform, Jolapamo said the body had met almost all the conditions given to it by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, remarking that ISAN had nothing against the agency’s desire to also float two or three other more groups.