By Adaku Onyenucheya
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has urged the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, to leverage his diplomatic capacity to secure Nigeria’s representation in key international institutions such as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO) to strengthen the country’s maritime sector.
The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Dr Pius Akutah, appealed during a courtesy visit to the minister’s office in Abuja to foster collaboration, deepen institutional partnerships and explore avenues for enhanced synergy between the Council and the ministry.
Akutah stressed the importance of improved trade intelligence to help resolve international shipping disputes and called for the ministry’s cooperation in advancing Nigeria’s blue economy.
He advocated the promotion of blue economy diplomacy, pointing to countries like Canada with a well-developed blue economy as potential partners for technical exchange and collaboration in areas such as maritime research and ecotourism.
“Nigeria has embraced the blue economy, and there are countries with mature frameworks we aim to partner with. For instance, Canada has a very advanced blue economy. We want to leverage your influence to help promote our blue economy in such countries, facilitating technical cooperation to support our development,” Akutah stated.
He also called for stronger diplomatic engagement to ensure fairer treatment and smoother trade relations for Nigerian shippers abroad, highlighting concerns over constraints they face in international markets.
“We believe that, with your support, we could establish liaison desks within Nigerian embassies to assist our shippers, particularly in countries like China, where significant trade volumes exist between our people and the Chinese market,” he added.
In his response, the Minister welcomed the proposal and expressed support for closer collaboration, emphasising the need for inter-agency synergy regardless of ministerial boundaries.
“We need to work more closely with one another. An agency may fall under a specific ministry, but that shouldn’t hinder joint efforts on matters like overseas trade support,” he said.
Tuggar also affirmed the ministry’s willingness to support the Council’s initiatives and hinted at the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise the collaboration.
