By Aisha Cole
Lagos – The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has said that it is the agency’s responsibility to conduct oversight functions on stevedoring In ports, terminals and jetties.
Peterside said this while receiving members of the National Association of Stevedoring Companies led by the President, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola.
He said that NIMASA would not abdicate that oversight function to anybody.
“The agency is capable of carrying out its regulatory functions and will not abdicate its mandate to anybody,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes the director-general as saying.
Peterside said that the agency had no powers to eject stevedoring companies approved by the government to operate in their facilities.
He said that in exercising its oversight function, the agency would inter-phase with terminal operators and the NASC to ensure that maritime operations are not hampered.
According to Peterside, NIMASA understands the challenges faced by stevedoring companies and the terminal operators and will consult further with all parties to ensure that there is an amicable resolution of the issues.
The director-general said that the importance of stevedoring companies included: facilitating economic growth, ensuring industrial harmony and also serving as a security shield in the ports.
He assured the delegation of the agency’s commitment to develop human capacity.
“The Management of NIMASA has approved a comprehensive stevedoring guideline sensitisation which would soon commence.
The President of the NASC urged NIMASA to come to their rescue in respect of their negotiations with terminal operators.
Sunmola said that it had become a norm for jetties, offshore/onshore operators to refuse the Federal Government’s appointed stevedoring contractors to operate in their premises.
He said that the appointment of stevedoring companies to these facilities was a deliberate attempt by the Federal Government to avoid security breaches.
Sunmola appealed to the Management of NIMASA to activate the 2014 NIMASA Stevedoring Regulations which he thinks will go a long way in resolving the issues with the terminal operators (NAN)
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