FG restates commitment to safety standards in maritime sector

Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation on Tuesday restated the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure safety standards in the nation’s maritime sector.

L-R: Nigeria’s Alternate Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Mr. Dikko Bala, Head, Africa Section, Technical Cooperation Division, IMO, Mr. Williams Azu, Hon. Minister of Transportation and Vice Chairman, Abuja MoU, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, (CFR) Secretary General, Abuja MoU, Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro and the Acting Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro at the opening ceremony of the Regional Training Course on Port State Control, Held in Lagos, recently.

Amaechi disclosed this at the regional training on Ports State Control (PSC) for West and Central Africa in Lagos, that because merchant ships often trade outside the areas that are under the jurisdiction of the Flag State, maritime agencies cannot therefore guarantee that all ships under their flag are in full compliance with safety requirements.

Accordingly, the Minister said that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) mandates maritime administrations to periodically carryout port state control in compliance with the instruments to which the Flag State is a party.

He maintained that the high level of maritime activities in the waters imposes enormous challenges to coastal countries in the West and Central Africa in terms of building a robust and effective maritime safety regime.

According to him, the need to therefore continually update the knowledge of vessel inspectors and surveyors cannot be overstated especially against the backdrop of rapid changes at both the industry and operating environment levels.

Rotimi Amaechi, however reiterated that the Federal Government is committed to repositioning the maritime sector for effectiveness and efficiency and also assured member states of Nigeria’s co-operation for a better Port State Control implementation in Africa.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro, Acting Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) assured member states of the Agency’s resolve for the effective implementation of Ports State Control in the sector, stated that NIMASA is committed to human capacity development and that this training will be a continuous process geared towards the development of the sector and the nation at large.

“The Agency will continue to build the required capacity to meet domestic and international obligations aimed at making our waterways safe for shipping activities” the Acting DG said.

It will be recalled that the NIMASA Act empowers the Agency to carryout occasional ports state inspection on foreign vessels that call at the nation’s ports.

The eight day training which is being hosted by NIMASA has in attendance representatives from the 19 member states of the Abuja MoU with resource persons drawn from the International Maritime Organisation.