The International Institute of Marine Surveying Alumni Association (IMSAA), Nigeria branch has held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) with a call to encourage the practice of marine surveying to be reflective of the world expectation in the industry and for the industry standards to be maintained.
The body also during the AGM elected nine executive members with Engr. Ijioma Emeraku as Chairman.
Speaking on the sideline of the meeting, the new Chairman of the association, Engr. Emeraku stated that the body would no longer condone a situation where people who claimed to be marine surveyors do what they liked taking advantage of ignorance of ship owners, importers and exporters in the industry adding that IMSAA had noticed that there were losses as a result of that both to goods and to the equipment.
He disclosed that members would continue to encourage themselves to do the right thing and help those who want to come into the industry to take the necessary courses, to get the right exposures and then practice the profession in accordance with the law.
“We want to be able to serve the maritime sector truthfully. If you look at the sea, the harbours and so on, you will see vessels littering the whole place that cannot work and that is because owners buy such vessels without the right surveyors to assist them and in most cases, they rely on seller’s surveyor rather than having their own independent surveyor. The seller just wants to sell his product whether it is working or not, they don’t care how much value you derive out of what you purchase. Once money exchanges hand, you are on your own.
“But if the maritime sector in Nigeria understands that they have experienced and qualified surveyors that they can rely on and engage when certain things like that are taking place, it could minimize the losses they have been experiencing over the years and then also reduce the wrecks that they litter our shores with.
“The industry must understand that they need to use the right people. Also, when you are importing goods and you rely on the seller’s surveyor, they deliver what they want to deliver, they will realize in most cases that some percentage of the goods damaged before arrival and you have to pay for the damaged ones. But if you have a surveyor that knows his onions, there is no reason why you should pay for damaged goods especially if it is not as a result of your carelessness but the carelessness of the persons moving them and so on. That is why you have the loss adjusters and cargo surveyors as part of our membership”, he clarified.
On the distinction between the Centre for Marine Surveyors, Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors and IMS, he quipped,” International Institute of Marine Surveying is an international body with headquarters in London, we are a branch. I am a member of the Centre of Marine Surveying Nigeria (CMSN) and I am also a member of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES). The point is, while the AMES and CMSN are completely Nigerian organization, the IMS is global and unless the international society knows you, it becomes difficult for you to practice beyond the boundaries of Nigeria and by having the IMS strong here, most of the members of both organizations are here. It gives members international clout to start with and then, from then on, Nigerian marine surveyors can become international players”.
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