A former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Ade Dosunmu, on Tuesday faulted the proposed merger of the agency with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), stating that NIMASA is not a revenue-generating agency.
In a statement he personally signed, Dr Dosunmu gave a historical analysis of how NIMASA came into existence.
He said, “My attention has been drawn to speculation purported to have emanated from the Presidential Policy Advisory group erroneously classifying the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as a revenue generating agency, thereby proposing a merger of NIMASA, CUSTOMS and FIRS. It is a very serious misconception and dangerous for the future of shipping/maritime industry in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was created in 2007 following the merger of National Maritime Authority (NMA) and Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC) deriving its powers from Merchant Shipping Act, 2007, NIMASA Act, 2007 and Coastal and Inland shipping (cabotage) Act, 2003.
“The agency is a maritime safety administration responsible for regulating shipping activities in Nigeria with a view to achieving safer shipping and cleaner oceans as mandated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) through its various conventions and protocols.
“The enabling Acts give NIMASA statutory powers as specified by international conventions and protocols for the enthronement of global best practices in ensuring safety of navigation and prevention/control of marine pollution in the shipping industry as regulated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), in which Nigeria is a contracting member state. The agency also has responsibility for development of indigenous shipping capacity.”
He added that “NIMASA, being the safety administration of Nigeria, has counterparts in 167 maritime nations responsible for ensuring safer shipping and cleaner oceans through the instrumentality of the technical mandate it performs viz port states inspection, flag states inspection, search and rescue, maritime capacity building, maritime security by ensuring our waters are safe from piracy and sea robbers, prevention/control of marine pollution, administers the training and certification of seafarers (STCW ’95), shipping development, coastal and inland shipping (cabotage) and maritime labour administration.
“All these functions by NIMASA require technical expertise and can only be performed by a safety administration. The same technical functions are performed by Maritime Safety Administration of UK, MCA, US Coast Guard, Safety Administration of Greece, Finland, Cyprus and all other member countries of IMO.”
“It is therefore my humble position that emphasis of government should be on how to strengthen NIMASA to deliver more on its technical mandates and not merging it with agencies that are not compatible with its philosophy and objectives.
“I can say the proposal in my view is like suggesting a merger of Nigerian Navy with Nigeria Civil Defence because the later has responsibility for protecting critical national assets. For instance, technically speaking, all ships that call on Nigeria waters carry minimum of five certificates which include certificate on safety equipment, certificate on radio equipment, and certificate on crewing, etc.
“These certificates are carried by all ship calling on ports globally. NIMASA surveyors, under its port states responsibility must board these ships to ensure compliance with global requirements. NIMASA also carries out flag state inspection on all ships before they are registered to determine their fitness for purpose. In this regard, the ships are subjected to preregistration survey and condition survey. All these are in line with the Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Convention and STCW ‘95 Convention.
“Again the activities of over 40 floating production storage offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage Offloading (FSO) like, Agbami, Bonga, Egina, Akpo engaging in crude oil exploration and production offshore Nigerian waters are potential polluters. It is the responsibility of NIMASA to monitor and ensure that there is no pollution of the marine environment to protect aquatic life and our ecosystem.
“To do this, NIMASA must invest heavily on the procurement of offshore reception facilities to collect and process the wastes from these platforms. All these are in line with MARPOL Convention, and the mandate requires technical know-how which NIMASA over the years has developed capacity to handle.
“Let me quickly point out that there is no doubt that in the course of discharging her technical mandate, NIMASA generates revenue and uses part of it to prosecute its technical regulatory functions. The surplus at the end of the year is paid into the federation account in line with the target set by Ministry of Finance.
“However, the critical and urgent nature of some of these technical activities and the fact that they require instant response is part of the reason NIMASA is allowed to retain its funds and sometime not allowed to go through the bureaucracy of tendering example a vessel that is sinking or an unexpected oil spill and pollution of the waters, or wreck that needs to be removed to ensure safety of channels for navigation, flag state inspection, survey, regular patrol of our coastal waters and enforcement of necessary regulations.”
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