NIMASA pledges to make Nigerian Ship Registry among world best

TAYO OLADIPUPO. ∫ .

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has vowed to make the Nigerian flag the best in the world and to align with the global best practice.

The agency had constituted a committee for the review of the activities and operations of the Nigerian Ship Registration office.

Caption: From left: Engr. Emmanuel Ilori (Chairman , Committee on Review of Nigerian Ship Registry) discussing with Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, President, Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) at Eko Hotels, Lagos

The terms of reference of the committee include among others: the examination of the status of ship registry in line with international best standards; ascertain that the ship registration processes are of the same operational expectations with other global ship registries; determining the level of automation of the Nigerian Ship registration office; advising and recommending requisite improvement of necessity in the Nigerian Ship registration offices and to assess and determine other jurisdiction with more advanced registries with which NIMASA can establish reciprocal relationship with a view to an all-round improvement of the ship registry and the Nigerian flag.
The Director General of the NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside made the promise in Lagos, Thursday while speaking at the meeting of the stakeholders’ forum on the review of the ship registration office in Lagos.
NIMASA DG stated that for the Nigerian flag to be business-friendly, it must not be seen to be competing with other African flags but with the best flags in the world.
It will be recalled, that the call for review of the Nigerian ship registry was borne out of the recommendation of the committee set up by the Honourable minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi two years ago to advise him on the reform of NIMASA following the negative image trailing the agency at the time.
In his welcome address, Dakuku said, “There is a distinguishing feature between this committee and other committees because it’s primary function is not to write a report but to work hand in hand with us in implementation of the suggestions and findings.”
“That is why we set up the committee because we don’t want to compete with anyone in Africa; we want to compete with the best in the world. That is our vision and we are clear in our vision.”
“In addition, we also need comparative analysis with other leading ship registries of the world that can leverage on our relationship with some of those Maritime Administrations and ensure that the committee takes advantage of the resources of other ship registries around the world and improve on our own ship registry,” he added.
Dakuku, who promised to provide all necessary supports for the success of the committee and implementation of the suggestions, quipped that the agency would not mind to approach the National Assembly if there is need for it to make sure that the recommendations are implemented. He said, “For the committee to succeed, the first thing is that they need political will, the second, they need financial resources to provide for logistics. “Another thing, there may be cases, I don’t know yet, cases where we need to look at our laws again and if need be, to tinker or alter our laws, I believe that we can approach the National Assembly and get it done”.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Committee, Engr. Emmanuel Ilori said that the purpose for the review was to make sure that Nigerian flag records quality ships adding that, substandard ships would no longer have a place under the Nigerian flag.
“It is not just the case of more ships but quality ships under Nigerian flag. It is not about plenty ships but about quality ships on the Nigerian flag and by the time we finish, it is not going to be a flag where substandard ships will have place. “Critical stakeholders’ input into the process of the Nigerian Ship registry is very important because they are one of those who will feel the impact of working of the registry.”
“There might be challenges but our aim is to bring everything together and you can see from the committee and NIMASA, that, we are ready to see the process through and we have had assurances from NIMASA that this is not just a report but to see that all that is necessary to be implemented is done,” he maintained.