IMO elections: MOWCA engaging 25 member-countries to vote for Nigeria — Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr Paul Adalikwu on Wednesday, revealed that he is presently engaging with the 25 member countries of the Regional bloc to vote for Nigeria during the forthcoming council elections into the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) holding later in the year.

Speaking during an interview with Maritime journalists in Lagos, Dr Adalikwu stated that MOWCA has already been contacted by the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy for support and he hopes to persuade members to support Nigeria ahead of the IMO elections.

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According to the MOWCA Secretary General, “Nigeria last became a member of the IMO category C in 2011. Since then, Nigeria has contested four more times and lost.

“But under the present leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who gave the approval for Nigeria to contest again, the minister and his team from the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, a newly created ministry, were in London last week to launch the campaign.

“We hope that with all critical stakeholders coming together, Nigeria has a very good shot of winning this seat. They have contacted MOWCA and I am engaging with the 25 member countries to give a block vote to Nigeria.”

On incessant boat mishaps in waters within West and Central Africa, Dr. Adalikwu stated, “As all of you are aware, the issue of ferry safety is very important for the member states of MOWCA, the maritime organization that covers the 25 countries of West and Central Africa.

“There have been incessant ferry accidents across the length and breadth of these countries. Nigeria, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo with over 8,000 lives lost in the last decade.

“That’s a very huge number. So we at MOWCA were motivated to engage with the government of Gabon last year when the Esther miracle accident happened and the Minister of Transport of Gabon lost his job.

“We had a successful conference in Gabon last year. It produced the Libreville Plan of Action.

“Going forward we thought that Nigeria, being a critical member of MOWCA, and the incessant ferry accidents that happen here almost every month, we decided to engage with the Lagos State Government through LASWA and InterFerry, an international ferry organisation based in Canada, to bring this two-day conference to Nigeria and create awareness, particularly among the 36 states of Nigeria, that ferry safety is very important.”

In efforts to stop harassment of seafarers, the MOWCA Secretary-General stated that, “MOWCA is not working alone to ensure the welfare and overall safety of seafarers. The International Maritime Organisation is our global sister institution in this regard, so MOWCA is partnering with the IMO to ensure that measures are put in place to reduce, if not eliminate harassment of seafarers, particularly the female gender.

“So we are working with critical stakeholders but most importantly the IMO in London to ensure that this menace comes to an end.“