Decarbonization: UNILAG Don Advocates Tax Waivers for Shipowners bringing Green Compliant Vessels
Prof Wale Olawoyin (1st from left) during a panel session at TAAM 0.7
—Says the only Challenge with Cabotage Act is in Ship Building
By DAPO OLAWUNI
Prof Wale Olawoyin SAN, the Head of Department of Commercial and Industrial Law at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has said that the Federal Government should encourage decarbonization in the marine and blue economy by granting tax waivers to shipowners who bring in green compliant vessels into Nigeria.
Speaking during a panel session at the Taiwo Afolabi Annual Maritime Conference (TAAM) held at the University of Lagos last weekend, Prof Olawoyin said that the tax waivers would ensure Nigeria Maritime sector moving into the 21st century in terms green compliance.
DAILY TREND reports that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is leading efforts to decarbonize the shipping industry, with the goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Speaking on this, the UNILAG Don said “We know that decarbonization is now more or less the main thing that everybody is talking about in terms of low emissions, low soft oil emissions, and stuff like that.
“So what can the Nigerian government do to move into the 21st century in terms of ensuring that most shipowners have green compliance? I think one of the things that can be done easily is to encourage tax waivers for people that bring in green compliant vessels, vessels with low emissions, vessels that are powered by CNG gas, all sorts of alternative energy.
“And we can also come up with a sort of rating system on the waiver side, that if a foreign company or even a Nigerian company is compliant with the concept of a green economy, then it gets the view of whether or not the automatic thing in which the waiver is to be given” he said
Earlier, Prof Olawoyin highlighted the challenges in the Nigerian Cabotage regime, saying that the challenge with the Cabotage Act is in the shipbuilding requirements.
“The Carbotage principle is essentially that people that engage in coastal trading or the vessels that engage in coastal trading must be owned by Nigerians, must be manned by Nigerians, must be financially constructed by Nigerians, which is okay in any environment that you want to ensure that there is local indigenous participation in what is actually a lucrative business in shipping.
“But the problem with the Carbotage Act that we have seen is not with the ownership side, it’s not with the money side, because we have a non-human capital, it’s with the construction side. We know that we don’t have the capacity in that area.
“Initially, before the Carbotage Act was passed, we had one shipping yard, it was called Niger Dock. But they don’t have the capacity to build the kind of vessels and the kind of tonnage that is really needed to enhance and improve local participation.
“And because of that, we then have more of foreign vessels and foreign voyeurs seeking waivers to operate in the Carbotage ecosystem. So you then say to yourself that has the policy behind Carbotage been achieved when you have more people operating with waivers than people that are actually compliant with the Carbotage regime? So that, in a general sense, is one of the problems with Carbotage” he stated
