Gov.Suswam Laments Poor Position Of Benue State In Nigerian Shipping Sector .

Nigeria's undisputed food basket has not been reaping the same bountiful yield in terms of the participation of the indigenes in the Nigerian shipping sector. 

Benue State has been discovered to be one of the most disadvantaged states in the nation's shipping sector.
The state has only three of its indigenes employed at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), only two at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and only one at the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).

Similarly, the state also has less than three of its indigenes practising as freight forwarders out of over 3,000 practitioners registered by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
This revelation came to the fore yesterday at the 7th Annual Shipping Career Summit organised by the Benue State Government and Ships & Ports Communication Company held on the campus of Benue State University, Makurdi.
Chairman of the Summit and the CRFFN Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Sir Mike Jukwe, who lamented poor representation of the Benue State in the nation's shipping sector, said that there is need to address the imbalance.

Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, who declared the summit opened, said that his administration will take necessary steps to correct the poor representation of his state in the maritime agencies.
The Governor, who was represented by the Benue State Head of Service, Chief Mike Iordye, said that the state has taken steps to train its indigenes in nautical sciences.

He said the state is moving away from being a mere producer to being a processor and exporter of agricultural produce.
Earlier in his welcome address, Chief Executive Officer of Ships & Ports Communication, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, commended Suswam for enlisting Benue State indigenes in the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) and for taking steps to actualise resuscitation of Makurdi Port by inauguration of a nine-member committee to oversee the project.