Government Committed to Safety/Standards….Amaechi

The Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has restated the Nigeria’s commitment to ensure safety standards in all areas of maritime operations in the country in line with standards adopted and agreed on by member states of the International Maritime Organization, IMO

The Minster who stated this in his address at the regional training on Ports State Control (PSC) for West and Central Africa in Lagos, observed that because merchant ships often trade outside the areas that are under the jurisdiction of the Flag State, maritime agencies cannot therefore guarantee that all ships under their flag are in full compliance with safety requirements.

To ensure that safety standards are complied with, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) mandates maritime administrations to periodically carryout port state control checks in compliance with the instruments to which the Flag State is a party.

Hon. Amaechi stated that the high level of maritime activities in the waters imposes enormous demand and pressure on coastal countries in West and Central Africa in terms of building a robust and effective maritime safety regime. According to him, the need to therefore continually update the knowledge of vessel inspectors and surveyors cannot be overstated especially against the backdrop of rapid changes at both the industry and operating environments.

He reiterated the commitment by the Federal Government to reposition the maritime sector for greater effectiveness and efficiency. He also assured member states of Nigeria’s co-operation for a better Port State Control implementation in Africa.

In his welcome address, the Acting Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro while assuring member states of the Agency’s resolve for the effective implementation of Ports State Control in the sector, disclosed that NIMASA is committed to human capacity development. He added that trainings will be a continuous process geared towards the development of the sector and the nation in general. In his words “The Agency will continue to build the required capacity to meet domestic and international obligations aimed at making our waterways safe for shipping activities”

It will be recalled that the NIMASA Act empowers the Agency to carryout ports state inspection on foreign vessels that call at Nigeria’s sea ports.
The eight day training which is being hosted by NIMASA has in attendance representatives from the 19 member states of the Abuja MoU with resource persons drawn from the International Maritime Organisation, IMO.