NIMASA needs $1.5 million to transport Korean ship gift – DG

 

Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, (middle); Executive Director, Maritime Labour & Cabotage Services, Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei, (right) and the Executive Director Operations, Mr. Shehu Ahmed during a media interactive session with journalists at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos.

The Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Bashir Jamoh has disclosed that NIMASA will need about $1.5 million to ferry a safety ship donated to Nigeria by the government of the Republic of Korea, to fight piracy and maintain safety in her sea and in the Gulf of Guinea.

 

Dr. Bashir Jamoh made the disclosure in Lagos last week while addressing the media on the performance of NIMASA in 2021, saying that when the ship arrives in Nigeria it would further help to complement the equipment already deployed by the agency under the Deep Blue Sea to fight piracy and maintain safety.

 

To further strengthen maritime security, he said that the organization had reactivated the marine police unit as an Assistant Inspector General of Police has been appointed by the Inspector-General of Police to head the unit. He added that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had been incorporated into vessel inspection to know which vessels involve in the importation of hard drugs into Nigeria.

 

The NIMASA boss informed that in the year under review the organization introduced a zero duty on new vessels to boost the growth of the local shipping industry and to discourage the acquisition of old vessels which eventually become debris on seashores of the nation.

 

On the floating dock, he informed that the organization had adopted a private-public partnership model which involves NIMASA, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and a foreign organization to run the dock, assuring that the dock would be operational by the first quarter of the year 2022.

 

“The floating dock will not be operated by NIMASA but through private-public partnership model for its operation. This is under process and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has given us go-ahead. We have negotiated with our co-partners – NPA and the managing partner. We are adopting this model to put the floating dock into operation to reduce operational cost,” said Jamoh.

 

He said that in 2021, a total of 489 vessels were inspected as against 276 inspected in 2020 stressing that only 12 sea accidents were recorded by NIMASA in the year against 18 which happened in 2020. He noted that necessary recommendations had been taken to avert further marine accidents in 2022 and beyond. He added that necessary actions were taken to regulate the operations of barges.

 

Jamoh who said the agency in the year remitted N37.9 billion into the coffers of the federal government maintained that the agency in 2022 would organize stakeholders to tap the deep blue sea resources. He stressed that the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) money is intact and not spent by the government as being speculated as the necessary approval for the disbursement of the fund is in pipeline.

 

“Shipowners will smile over the disbursement off the fund before the year – 2022 end,” boasted Jamoh who later expressed disappointment over the poor performance of Nigerian seafarers who sat for Certificate of Competency (CoC) examinations in the year.

 

He announced that NIMASA has revived its online seafarers’ Certificates of Competency verification platform in order to enable ship owners both local and international, to determine the genuineness of seafarers’ COC before employment.

 

While giving a breakdown of the performance of the seafarers in terms of examination and certification,

 

The NIMASA DG said that 829 sat for the officers’ cadre examination in 2020 while the total number of candidates who passed and certified was 264, forming a percentage of 32%.

 

“The total number of candidates who failed is 565, forming a percentage of 68%. Total certificates revalidated for 2021 are 246.

 

“For Officers ratings, the total number that sat for the exams were 1,251, out of this, 926 passed, representing 74% passed. The total number of candidates that failed is 325, representing 26% failure.

 

“The examination for ratings in 2021, the total number of students who sat for the exams are 1,327, this is a sharp increase against the 2020 figure of 1,251. The total number of candidates who passed is 990 forming also 74% passed. The total number of candidates who failed is 337 with a percentage of failure of 26%,” said Jamoh.

 

On the failure of Nigeria to secure a seat in the IMO Council, the NIMASA boss said that there were many nations who ganged up against the aspiration of the country but noted that the nation has learned a hard lesson. He assured that Nigeria would begin to take a position on many activities of the IMO to let the international community know where she stands.

 

“We shall begin to put Nigeria on the right track on her quest to go back to the IMO Council. Our country will begin to take a stand on IMO’s decisions and prepare and present technical bills to the IMO,” Jamoh promised.