The minister of transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has again threatened that there would be a massive change in the agencies in the maritime sector as he has received a written mandate from President Muhammadu Buhari to overhaul the agencies.
At the opening ceremony of a regional training course on port state control organised by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Abuja memorandum of understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African region, the minister hinted of a likely purge of the leaderships of the various federal government agencies operating in the sector.
Amaechi had recently in Lagos directed all the agencies to work hard to yield N500 billion into government coffers, threatening that if not met, many top officials of the agencies would lose their jobs, and stated that the ministry would soon begin an audit of maritime agencies.
Hinting that he has got a “written approval from President Muhammadu Buhari to commence a performance audit and massive reforms in the maritime sector,” Amaechi added, “So the Nigerian Maritime Admiration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Nigerian Shippers Council will be audited from next week.”
Amaechi believes that the industry is playing host to a lot of influential Nigerians who are “benefiting from the maritime sector to the detriment of the Nigerian nation. For that reason I don’t want to step on too many toes, I want to make sure that for every step I take I have facts which informs my actions and I have just gotten a written presidential approval that I should commence an investigation or the performance audit of the Nigerian maritime sector.
“There will be changes, there will be improvement, and there will be the need for all Nigerians to benefit from the maritime sector instead of the current situation where very few people are benefitting. A lot of things will happen and they will happen before the end of the year.”
In his keynote address, the minister said that it is common knowledge that international shipping is a highly competitive and profit driven business, adding that safety measures of any nature, whether they deal with construction standard of the ship, the personnel to be employed or the ship’s operational procedures involve costs that affect the company’s competitiveness. Also speaking in his welcome address at the event, the acting director-general of the NIMASA, Haruna Jauro, said that the workshop would enhance knowledge on ship inspection.
“It also provides another opportunity for us to update our knowledge and enhance our drive toward building a robust and effective maritime safety regime in our respective countries and the West and Central African Region at large. The need for port state control (PSC) can no longer be over-emphasised. That the shipping industry is adequately regulated but inadequately monitored is an accepted fact and this has been the main reason for the continued existence of sub-standard vessels in our waters.
“The dangers of these un-seaworthy vessels have become so huge that lives and the marine ecosystem are massively threatened,” he said.
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