The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola has set up a committee to review the International Maritime Organization (IMO) audit report on Nigeria and the enabling laws of the country’s maritime regulatory agency, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dayo Mobereola disclosed this during a meeting with IMO Secretary-General, Arsenio Dominguez at the organisation’s headquarters in London recently.
According to a statement from NIMASA signed by the agency’s spokesman, Osagie Edward on Sunday, Mobereola was quoted as saying that “The Honorable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola CON, has constituted a committee to address all areas of concern raised in the 2016 IMO audit report. This includes reviewing NIMASA’s enabling laws and effectively implementing a corrective action plan.”
Established by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007, NIMASA also draws its enabling laws from the Merchant Shipping Act 2007, which establishes its port state control powers and the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, otherwise known as the Cabotage Act, which obligates the agency to regulate and develop local shipping business.
Over the years, stakeholders held that NIMASA has not been able to enforce maritime policies, especially in developing cabotage trade and effectively controlling entry of foreign ships aand foreign maritime personnel into Nigerian waters.
While the NIMASA boss did not give details of the review on the agency’s enabling laws, such a move has been overdue.
Speaking further during the meeting with IMO Secretary-General, Mobereola said that his meeting with IMO technical staff was aimed at ensuring that NIMASA and the IMO are aligned before the next audit cycle.
“I discovered today that some critical information regarding our administration and the technical team at the IMO is obsolete, and we are reviewing it to update it immediately. We do not see the IMO audit as an examination but rather as a guide to assist Nigeria in achieving its potential; hence, my decision to get personally involved. We need to get the basics right,” he said.
