Caption: Director General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh and members of his executives addressing the media during the press parley at the agency’s headquarters boardroom, Apapa, Lagos.
By Esther Komolafe
In a bid to make the blue economy more visible, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Ports Authority( NPA) are combining efforts to the tune of N50 billion to make floating dock resume duty before the end of the first quarter of 2022
According to Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General of NIMASA, the rebuilding of the Floating Dock was being fine-tuned to ensure that the project is seamlessly executed to serve the needs of local and regional markets to make it profitable
Jamoh said that the Director-General of Infrastructure Concession &Regulatory Commission (ICRC) had visited NIMASA to ensure the partnership was successful.
Speaking to Newsmen at the corporate Headquarters of the organization in Lagos as part of his efforts to showcase the Agency’s scorecard for the year 2021.
On Maritime Safety, Jamoh Stated that in 2021, 489 vessels, representing 43.6 per cent were inspected and surveyed by his administration by the Merchant Shipping Act of 2007 while 276 vessels were inspected and surveyed in 2020, the year of the Covid-19 Virus.
He maintained that about 565 cadets and officers who took examinations failed to pass such tests in 2021 while 829 cadets passed their examinations in 2020.
He further disclosed that his management was seeking ways to address this woeful anomaly through online examinations and certification.
However, because of the failure rate of the cadets, many of them were experiencing rejections from the local and foreign shipowners.
He maintained that the sector recorded 18 accidents within Nigerian waterways in 2020 while it came down to 12 in 2021.
Jamoh noted that NIMASA had obtained Quality Assurance Certificate in April 2020 with an ISO 9001.
He said that due to the incorrigible nature of the traffic gridlock on port corridors in Lagos, there was some drastic increase in the use of barges to move containers in and out of the ports. He further disclosed that the Maritime Distress System which had been dormant for many years had been revived in line with the IMI standards, adding that the Maritime Accident Investigation Unit had been set up to handle reported cases of breaches on the nation’s waterways.