Ignatius Ushie
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on Friday met the Ministers of Transportation of West/Central Africa countries over the development of the Maritime bank.
In a statement from the Media Assistant to the Honorable Minister, it was stated that Amaechi met with other Ministers at the One-Day Conference of Ministers of Transportation by the Maritime Organisation for the West and Central Africa (MOWCA) in Lagos.
He said that the establishment of a maritime bank was necessary for maritime development in the region.
According to him, Nigeria will make their financial contributions when other countries make their contributions, adding that Nigeria already has a budgetary allocation for it this year stating that he can’t guarantee if there would be budgetary provision for it next year.
“The last meeting we had, a lot of countries signed, that they are coming but they are not here today.
“The position of Nigeria will change a bit, the position of Nigeria now will be, we are ready to contribute our money when others are ready, we will just seat back and watch, when others bring their money, we will bring ours.
“We couldn’t have been pushing and nobody is responding the way we thought everybody should respond, we will make our contribution when others have made theirs.
“I wish we could make our contribution this year because we have the budgetary allocation for it but if is next year, I can’t guarantee that we will have the budgetary provision, we will try in case you are ready next year.
“We believe that this bank is a necessary tool that we need for maritime development in our region both West and Central Africa.”
However, Didier Mazenga Mukanzu, the Minister of Transport and Communication from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chairman of MOWCA expressed his gratitude to the 25 member states and the Government of Nigeria.
“Indeed, the Committee of Experts of MOWCA met in Lagos from September15-16, 2020 on the project to set up the regional maritime bank of development.
“The Honorable Minister of Transport of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has taken upon itself the commitment to speak with its counterparts from other member States in order to convince them to support the project by approving in particular the Charter and expect the States to express their commitment to the project.
“I would like to remind you that this maritime bank project was adopted for the very first time by the 6 session of the Bureau of Ministers held in Abidjan on the 9 August 1999. So more than 20 years ago. Many initiatives have been taken. But this time, the partners are there and ready to invest in the project.
“I therefore recommended that these partners not being won over by doubt on the real desire of the sub-region to equip itself with an institution, great achievements in the world have always had reservations at the beginning.
“However, when people actually want to achieve a goal, they must commit accordingly, Ministers, we are at a decisive turning point in this project. I hope that the will of the sub-region is expressed overwhelmingly align that we can take a big step forward.”
Mukanzu, recalled that approval of the Charter is not the ratification stating that the step is to allow provisional bodies, based on the agreement of the Ministers responsible for transport of maritime to discuss start-up procedures and their financing.
So far, five countries has signed the treaty while four countries has shown readiness.
