FG urged to align maritime agencies

A Marine Engineer, Mr Olu Akinsoji, on Monday urged the federal Government to properly align all government agencies in the maritime sector for adequate development of the sector.

Akinsoji, a former Government Inspector of Ships (GIS), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said a change in the “poor’’ alignment of the agencies and other institutions in the maritime sector would ensure better service delivery.

The marine engineer urged the government to strictly monitor the expenditures of the various agencies to ensure their compliance with the administration`s budget implementation regime.

He commended the Federal Government for the “increased’’ budgetary allocation to the transportation sector in 2016.

The mariner said, “If the budget earmarked for the sector is well implemented, it would address the funding of projects in the sector and fast track its development’’.

NAN reports that the budgetary allocation to the Federal Ministry of Transportation was 215.8 billion in 2016.

NAN reports that in the 2015 Appropriation Act, the Transport and Aviation ministries got N11.98 billion and N2.14 billion respectively.

The increased allocation is a step in the right direction. There are so many things that are still wrong with the sector.

The poor infrastructure, the poor alignment of institutional agencies, the poor seed money for shipping development and so many other challenges.

All these problems justified an increased allocation to the sector and I think the government has shown that it is moving away from the past with the development,“Akinsoji told NAN.

The mariner also talked about the need to rehabilitate the rail lines for easy evacuation of cargoes from the ports.

He, however, urged the Federal Government to ensure that the maritime sector benefited immensely from the implementation of the budget for the development of the sector. (NAN)