(Sundiata Post) – The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has announced a plan to introduce a programme of zero tolerance to non-compliance with maritime safety and security standards in order to eliminate substandard shipping in the country.
The agency made this announcement in a communique issued at the end of the harmonised NIMASA stakeholders’ interactive session in Lagos.
The session, according to the agency, was held with the aim of obtaining stakeholders’ feedback on relevant issues and aggregating their consensus for the effective implementation and governance of NIMASA’s operational mandates towards achieving the objective of a blue economy.
The agency stated that the processes of the Nigerian Ship Registration Office were being automated and would be available online and real-time for ship owners and prospective owners without undue delays.
NIMASA reiterated its commitment to the maintenance of a clean and pristine Nigerian marine environment in line with applicable international conventions, adding that it had put in place the appropriate administrative regime to achieve this.
The Agency resolved to continue to make the necessary representations to the approving authorities in order to facilitate the disbursement and utilization of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) for its statutory purpose of developing indigenous shipping capacity
It resolved that in line with the blue economy initiative, NIMASA would in future subject all policies to the sustainability test and every process that failed the test would either be amended or eliminated.
The communique read in part, “There is an urgent need for NIMASA to engage relevant agencies with a view to initiating measures designed to develop passenger, containerised, wet and dry cargo transportation in Nigeria’s internal waterways.
“The calculation of NIMASA’s three per cent levy on all wet cargoes shall be based on freight tonne, which is cubic measurement and in line with the provisions of the MARPOL Convention, all tankers operating in Nigerian waters are required to have in place adequate and sufficient insurance cover to minimise the risk of losses sequel to oil spills and tanker accidents.”
Other resolutions at the session were as follows: That NIMASA is committed to pursuing its MARITIME ADMINISTRATION (MARAD) mandates via the path of collaboration and engagement with stakeholders and in the spirit of this interactive forum, all critical issues shall be duly presented to the stakeholders for their input and consultation;
“That the battle against piracy and other criminal activities on Nigerian waters is receiving the highest attention from the Nigerian Navy, NIMASA and other Agencies working in collaboration and will receive a substantial boost when the recently approved Surveillance Contract delivers state of the art equipment and facilities for the use of the industry;
“That NIMASA will engage relevant Agencies and stakeholders in order to create a regime of concessions and policy initiatives designed to boost the competitive edge of Nigerian shipowners vis a viz their foreign counterparts;
“That NIMASA will soon launch a programme of Zero tolerance to non-compliance with maritime safety and security standards in order to eliminate substandard shipping in Nigeria;
“That the processes of the Nigerian Ship Registration Office are being automated and shall be available online, real for shipowners and prospective owners without undue delay;
“That NIMASA is committed to the maintenance of a clean and pristine Nigerian marine environment in line with applicable international Conventions and has put in place the appropriate administrative regime to achieve this;
“That in line with the Blue Economy initiative, NIMASA shall going forwards subject all policies to the test of sustainability and every process that fails this test shall either be amended or eliminated;
“That there is urgent need for NIMASA to engage relevant Agencies with a view to initiating measures designed to develop passenger, containerized, wet and dry cargo transportation in Nigeria’s internal waterways;
“That calculation of NIMASA’s 3% levy on all wet cargo shall be based on freight ton which is Cubic Measurement (CBM), and;
“That in line with the provisions of the MARPOL Convention, all tankers operating in Nigerian waters are required to have in place adequate and sufficient insurance cover to minimize the risk of losses sequel to oil spills and tanker accidents.”
