The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that the Federal Government is targeting about N300 billion from the maritime sector if ongoing infrastructure interventions in the sector are completed.
Listing some of the projects as including the Deep Sea Project, Amaechi said that government’s current intervention in the sector would in addition to raking in revenue also economic activities with strong implications for sustainable development of the nation’s economy in the years ahead.
Amaechi gave these hints in Lagos during interaction with journalists at the World Maritime Day celebrations, with the theme, “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”.
During the event, 10 women were honoured for their pioneering contributions to the maritime sector just as 10 students who performed excellently in the essay competition organized by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) were awarded educational grants at the occasion.
The minister explained that the Deep Sea Project being executed by the government to secure the country’s territorial waters up to the Gulf of Guinea, would inspire greater investors’ confidence in the nation’s Nigerian maritime sector
He expatiated: “With this security infrastructure, the revenues of the agencies in the maritime sector will increase and the revenue to the country will also increase,” he stated.
“Currently, maritime sector is returning less than N100 billion; they should be doing more than that. They should be returning above N300 billion. But in terms of the economy, the maritime industry is contributing quite a lot”, Amaechi added
