…To begin registration, regulation of boats, operators
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA has said that it is collaborating with the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA to come up with strategies for ensuring that the Nigerian waters are safe for navigation so as to reduce the incidences of boat mishaps and enhance the safety of lives and crafts.
The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola who disclosed this during an interactive session with the maritime media in Lagos on Monday observed that safety was one of the core mandates of the agency and one of the parameters for which the International Maritime Organization, IMO was going to rate its performance.
Noting that the agencies were working together to raise safety awareness, the NIMASA DG disclosed that the collaboration between the two agencies was still at the planning stage at the moment adding that once they were done with planning which he said takes about 70 percent of the time, implementation would begin in earnest.
“Once have a good plan, to implement is very easy because you are just going with the plan or the SOP that is already been written and at that point, you accelerate and move further and this issue of delay that you are making reference to will no longer be a cause of concern but what will be a point of reference will be our achievement and our achievement in this casw will be the achievement of NIMASA and the achievement of the maritime media, our partners in progress”, he said.
He went on to reveal that the NIMASA Act of 2007 was being reviewed at the National Assembly adding that the current NIMASA bill sought to capture all the infrastructure including FPSO and small crafts and vessels operating on the Nigerian waters under the regulation of the agency.
Insisting that the criminal activities being carried out in the maritime space were actually not done by the big vessel but by small boats that were being used for piracy, sea robberies, among others, he said, “In the new bill, we want to make sure that every boat that is on our water is regulated, is registered and we know who is piloting it and where they are going to and where they are coming from. So, that is the part of our regulation that is going to be embedded in the new bill.”
On misconception among NIMASA, the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mobereola pointed out that in as much as they recognized some of those misconceptions, they were constrained to talk about them, less it would be see as being bias. He however, argued that it would be more appropriate for the media to highlight them as they would be seen as speaking for the industry when they do than when the agencies themselves do so.
“So, I would encourage you to please, continue to pick up this subject, and compare it with international practices and tell us what we should be doing, what NPA should be doing and what Shippers’ Council should be doing. Although we are all sisters, but we need to know where our boundaries are so that we can all operate together for the benefit of the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry and for the President” he added.
Underscoring the importance of data and knowledge sharing, the NIMASA helmsman assured that the agency was going to be open and share knowledge with the media and let them have access to data within its domain to write saying, “we need you to project the industry in the right manner, to place the industry to what it is.”
“Qhat is more important is data sharing and knowledge sharing because if we don’t give you the right information, that we have spent our time, our knowledge to collate and you are quoting figures that are not appropriate out there, it might be in favour or against the plan we are working towards”, he stated.
Photo: Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola (middle) flanked by Executive Director Finance and Administration, Chudi Offodile (right) Executive Director Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Jubril Abba during the interactive session with maritime media in Lagos yesterday.
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