LAGOS – The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said on Friday that the collaboration between the agency and other sister agencies had led to sustainable peace in the maritime domain.
The agency’s Director-General, Dr Patrick Akpobolokemi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Akpobolokemi said the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air force, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps contributed significantly to ensuring peace in the maritime environment.
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“Our Act was clever enough to make a provision that we can interface with any sister government agency in furtherance of our functions and therefore we decided to partner with the Navy in particular.
“All the other security agencies in general are on board all our vessels with their weapons carrying out security activities; helping us to enforce our regulatory functions in all parts of our maritime domain.
“You see the usefulness of the Nigerian Air Force in some speed that requires interdiction.
“You see the efforts played critical roles. So, we decided to also partner with the Nigerian Air force and a formal MoU has been entered into by these two government agencies.
“The amphibious arm of the Army is working seriously with us in bringing sustainable peace, quietness in the maritime domain; sooner or later, we will get the results.“
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He said that since 2013, NIMASA became the designated authority on the implementation of International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.
The director-general said it was the maritime administrations that enforced ISPS code compliance in most parts of the world.
He said the role of enforcement of compliance was prior to 2013 carried out by a committee outside NIMASA.
Akpobolokemi said government had returned the enforcement of the ISPS Code back to the agency.
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“Compliance on ISPS Code or implementation of the ISPS Code over the 10 years before we took the mandate back was less than seven per cent.
“Just one year plus when we have assumed responsibility in the implementation of ISPS Code, we have over 38 per cent success rate and our gauge is to get up to 90 per cent by the end of 2015.
“Very paltry sums of money have been expended in achieving these. The ISPS Code is a very important aspect of our security system internationally for a maritime administration for our country, for our ports and terminals.
“The agency has adopted the ISPS Code regulation, developed guidelines and quick reference cards to enhance assessment, inspection, enforcement and monitoring of ports’ facilities in the country.
“It gives me pleasure to announce to you that more than 38 per cent of 129 port facilities in the country has fully complied.“
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Akpobolokemi said that NIMASA’s target by 2016 was to compete favourably with its peers in the developed world in terms of Port State Control (PSC). (NAN)
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