The Chairman, Starz Marine Investments Limited, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun; former President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu; President of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics (CILT) Nigeria, Barr. (Mrs.) Mfon Usoro; among other maritime bigwigs will speak as Distinguished Maritime Personalities at the 2nd National Discourse.
The organizers, Maritime Nigeria and its associates revealed this in a press statement issued on Tuesday.
Other DMPs are; former Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hassan Bello; the Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua, among others.
Master Mariners, chief engineers captains of industry will grace the occasion where Mr. Charles Okorefe, a lecturer and haulage expert is billed to make presentation and the Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Service, ML/CS, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Engr. Victor Ochei is also expected to speak at the event on current maritime issues.
Government agencies such as; the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Shippers’ Council, the Nigeria Customs Service, NIMASA, MAN Oron, will be joined by NLNG Shipping, Starz and other private organizations for the programme.
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, (NAGAFF) are among maritime groups expected at the event.
The theme for this year’s National Discourse is “New Ship, New Ports: The Challenge of Infrastructure, Skill sets and Tools”.
According to the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Maritime Nigeria, Mr. Kelvin Kagbare, the Nigerian maritime domain is not only expanding but developing bigger and deeper sea ports across the country.
He says “With the successful takeoff of the Lekki Deep Seaport and proposed lbom, Badagry, Gelegele, Agge and similar facilities, the issues of complementary and operability dynamics also sets in; hence the need to be abreast of developments.”
“As the ships and the ports and get bigger, become more sophisticated and technology driven, we have a duty to hear and learn from those whose business it is to know, what our actual competitive margins are and where we are real time”.
“We are confident that our DMPs forum will also give us a broad-based outlook in areas of support structure and superstructure, tools and skills, policy stability and it’s interplay with global trade”, Kagbare said.
The Maritime Nigeria Chief Executive Officer assured that the 2023 DMP edition promises to be huge and better, having regards to the depth of consultations. He explained that the DMPs were carefully selected based on their track records, involvements and contributions to maritime businesses and development in the country.
The Chairman of the Planning Committee, Mr. Shepherds Okiemute, however, disclosed that preparations for the 2nd edition began last year at Rockview hotel, immediately after the end of the maiden edition.
