Nigeria’s ship registry in limbo as COVID-19 stalls progress, meetings

EFFORTS to reform and re-strategise Nigeria’s ship registry is currently stalled in a state of inactivity following the prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic which has made meetings and subsequent deliberations elusive.

This is even as the committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the ship registry reform said it is patiently waiting for the new NIMASA leadership to define its priorities.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, Chairman of the Ship Registry Committee, Emmanuel Ilori, stated that the committee, with members scattered across the country, has not been able to meet or even hold any meeting with the new Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh, due to the prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Ilori, “Don’t forget that no sooner did the previous NIMASA administration under Dakuku Peterside left that this Covid-19 pandemic became prevalent. It is just of recent that meetings started taking place virtually.

“I think we need to give the new NIMASA administration under Bashir Jamoh time to settle in and define its own agenda and priorities. It is not the job of the Ship Registry Committee to set priorities for the new NIMASA leadership. I think the DG should be asked what his priorities are.

“I have met with the new DG, although on a personal level and not on-behalf of the Ship Registry Committee. The committee has not met with him formally because getting everybody to come together under this Covid-19 environment is difficult since we have members scattered across the country.

“The NIMASA board has also just been inaugurated. We need to give them time and may be ask the NIMASA management what their priorities are.”

On progress made so far on Nigeria’s Ship Registry, Ilori stated that, “We have initiated some reforms in terms of the security of our flag certificates. What we tried to do is to eliminate fraudulent practices within the certificates issued by NIMASA, that is stopping the issuance of fake certificates. We were about moving to the next stage when the change in leadership at NIMASA occurred in early March of 2020. So we are waiting for the new NIMASA leadership to define their priorities.”

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