Lagos – The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), is committed toward implementation of all International Maritime Organisation (IMO) instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory, for the development of the maritime industry.
This is contained in a statement by the Head, Corporate Communications Team of NIMASA, Hajia Lami Tumaka, on Tuesday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NIMASA had developed a programme of action to keep its personnel abreast with the provisions of the IMO instruments and to encourage regular interface with the IMO and member-states.
“It is in line with this objective that NIMASA was part of the Nigerian delegation to the IMO for the Sub-committee meeting of the Implementation of IMO Instruments (III), which held its third session at the IMO Headquarters in London, from July 18 to July 22, 2016.
NAN reports that the meeting, which was attended by delegates from member states, established four working groups.
“This is in order to deepen discussions and encourage more robust and technical inputs, with each group forwarding its report to the plenary for consideration.
“The four Working Groups were that of Analysis of Marine Safety Investigation Reports; and Harmonisation of Port State Control (PSC) activities and analysis of PSC data.
“The others were the Working Group on the Analysis of Consolidated Audit Summary Reports; the Working Group on Survey Guidelines under the Harmonised System of Survey and Certification (HSSC) and non-exhaustive list of obligations under instruments relevant to the IMO implementation Code,’’ the statement said.
It added that the Nigerian delegation was made up of staff from relevant agencies of the Ministry of Transportation.
According to the statement, the delegation included NIMASA, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), who actively participated in all working groups with the coordination of Nigeria’s Alternate Permanent Representative to the IMO, Mr Bala Dikko.
The statement said that the delegates from NIMASA made strategic contributions at the meeting with regard to implementation challenges in developing countries.
It noted that the NIMASA delegates were conscious of the determination of the agency’s current management toward repositioning the agency and ensuring compliance with IMO mandatory instruments with particular emphasis on recent amendments adopted by the IMO.
“One of the key items on the Sub-committee’s agenda was the review of Port State Control procedures 2011 to further standardise the work of Port State Control officers and improve overall effectiveness.
“Maritime training institutions in member states were also encouraged to make use of the IMO’s Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) module on marine casualties and incidents to access reports of marine casualty investigation filed by IMO member states,’’ it said.
The statement said that these could provide case studies and valuable lessons for the training of seafarers. (NAN)