The federal government is reinforcing its demand to Lloyd of London for the removal of Nigeria from War Risk Insurance status with the move to resubmit the request to that effect.
This is as the Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh said it was unfair that despite the delisting of Nigeria as a maximum risk zone, the war risk insurance has not been removed.
He gave the indication at the graduation ceremony of the third batch of the Deep Blue Project held at 5 Battalion of the Nigerian Army located Elele, Ikwerre local government area Rivers State at the weekend.
The training which was supervised by Israeli experts was on manned and unmanned platforms plus armoured vehicles.
The NIMASA helmsman said that for one year, no successful attacks have taken place in Nigeria’s territorial waters, a feat he said even the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has admitted adding that the two incidents that took place in March 2022 were not to counted against Nigeria.
He said just 10 days ago, the IMO leadership visited Nigeria and inspected the equipment and facilities and admitted that the collaborations and cohesion achieved by the Deep Blue Project must be studied by the 175 member countries.
According to Jamoh it was therefore important for the Lloyd of London to remove Nigeria from the punitive war risk insurance which makes shipping to Nigeria very expensive, thus fueling inflation and making Nigeria’s produce very uncompetitive.
He explained that 109 new specially trained operatives graduated to be deployed to the Focados, Brass and Bonny adding that 300 operatives had been trained and deployed.
He informed that the activities of the trainees have already stabilised Nigeria’s territorial waters saying he would soon be traveling outside of the country to submit further evidence of Nigeria’s successes.
Speaking later in an interview, the NIMASA DG said the international insurance regulators may be waiting to be sure of consistency in the safety of Nigeria’s territorial waters and consistency of the security and safety measures Nigeria has deployed.
He mentioned some countries that have achieved delisting but yet to get the war risk insurance off their backs.
Explaining the damage such insurance status is inflicting on the Nigerian economy, the DG said rate of $3000 would be $15000 stating that an import-dependent country like Nigeria would be bleeding from high import charges.
He said he would not expect Nigeria to hang on the hook for too long after achieving safety in it’s territorial waters and after being delisted from maximum risk zone status.
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