Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola on Wednesday reiterated the federal government’s determination to ensure the country’s port rating goes up in order to compete favourably in the global maritime industry.
He said his priority is to improve the country’s balance of trade, a crucial component of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu policy agenda to strengthen the depreciating value of the nation’s currency and to also create employment.
The minister, who spoke when he commissioned the Mission to Seafarers (MTS) centre in Lagos affirmed that the pivotal role the maritime sector plays in actualising the noble objective of the current administration will ensure it is given all the attention it deserves.
“This is part of our concerted effort to ensure the maximisation of the comparative advantages that our maritime resources present. The reconstruction of this MTS facility will undoubtedly scale up Nigeria’s rating in the global maritime community,” he averred.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said with over 90 per cent of global trade which accounts for half of the world’s economic output constituting an important economic driver that helps to spur development and reduce poverty going by sea, every member of the maritime and indeed the global community is directly or indirectly a beneficiary of the service of seafarers.