With a seat at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the 25-member Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) group is expected to pull strings for its members aspiring to be elected into IMO council’s seats later in the year. However, recent happening at MOWCA may be proving otherwise, writes TOLA ADENUBI.
ESTABLISHED in May 1975 (Charter of Abidjan) as the Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States on Maritime Transport (MINCONMAR), the organisation changed its name to the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) as part of reforms adopted by the General Assembly of Ministers of Transport, at an extraordinary session of the organisation held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in 1999.
With 23 countries as members in the West and Central African region and two other countries affiliated to it from outside the regions, MOWCA boasts of 25-member countries with a strong contingent of 14 French-speaking countries in its ranks. The 14 French-speaking members of MOWCA include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. For the English-speaking countries, a paltry five: The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone top up the number to 19. Three Portuguese speaking countries from the West and Central African region, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome & Principe, with two affiliated countries from outside the region, Mozambique and Angola take the membership haul to 24; while Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking country completes the membership list to 25.
Disagreement in MOWCA
Nigeria protested at the MOWCA pre-election meeting held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, recently. because its competitors for the position of the organization’s Secretary-General, Guinea and Benin Republic had fielded over-aged candidates against the Nigerian candidate.
Confirming the walk-out by the Nigerian delegation, the Federal Ministry of Transportation, in a statement signed by its Director, Press and Public Relations, Eric Ojiekwe, stated that, “It has come to our notice that a section of the media is reporting that Nigeria backed out of the MOWCA, after losing election into the office of Secretary-General of the organization.
“For purpose of clarity, we wish to inform the public that the election did not hold after Nigeria excused herself from the 15th General Assembly of the body in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo where attempts were being made to accept candidates who did not meet the eligibility requirements.
“There is no substantive Secretary-General of the organization presently because of this impasse.
“Nigeria left the discussions preceding elections because as a country we will not be a party to circumvention of laid down rules and extant procedures governing the 46-year-old body,” the statement read.
A divided house
With a seat at the IMO, the importance of a united MOWCA to the aspiration of Nigeria at the forthcoming IMO Council elections in November cannot be over-emphasised. That Nigeria wants the seat of the MOWCA Secretary-General in an IMO election year would surely help the country kill two birds with a stone. However, the body language of some countries in the West and Central African region has shown that Nigeria will have to do more to get the elusive IMO Council seat.
In the words of the Secretary-General of the African Shipowners Association (ASA), Mrs Funmilayo Folorunso, who was a member of the Nigerian delegation that walked out from the 15th General Assembly of MOWCA in Kinshasa, Nigeria’s boldness to walk out in the face of impunity at MOWCA will help her cause for the IMO Council seat.
According to the ASA Secretary-General, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, “I believe the position of Nigeria on pre-election irregularities at MOWCA will help us achieve our main aim, which is the IMO Council election.
“Nigeria held her head high at MOWCA by walking out from a meeting that was not conforming to laid down rules and procedure. That shows a country with integrity. That shows a country that is capable of leading the African continent even outside the IMO.
“That MOWCA has a seat at the IMO even makes our chances more realistic. If a country is able to walk away from an arrangement that is not upholding rules and procedure in MOWCA, then in terms of credibility, such country has a better chance at the IMO elections.”
However, in the word of an indigenous ship-owner who wouldn’t want his name in print, the walkout by the Nigerian delegation at MOWCA could impact negatively on its IMO council election bid as it risks losing the vital support of the other 24 other members of the regional body.
“What could have happened if the Nigerian delegation to the MOWCA pre-election meeting had not staged a walkout in protest?
“It is obvious that the French delegation at MOWCA knows what they are doing. If they can decide to look the other way and fester illegality at a regional pre-election meeting just to favour countries that are also French-speaking countries against Nigeria, then imagine what they will do when it is IMO Council elections.
“It is good that the Minister of Transportation has set up a committee to work towards the IMO Council election ambition. This obviously goes beyond NIMASA. To me, it looks more like what should be addressed at the level of inter-governmental relations. Nigeria needs the support of MOWCA if she hopes to win the election into IMO Council later in the year. We are talking of an organization of about 25 countries.
“If the Nigerian delegation to MOWCA had to walk out of a pre-election meeting to make our position clear, then it shows all is not well within the West and Central African region in terms of maritime cooperation. Nigeria will need MOWCA to succeed at IMO, so the ministerial committee has loads of work to do in this regard,” the indigenous ship-owner told the Nigerian Tribune exclusively
What is IMO Council?
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) every two years elects countries into three different councils to perform all the functions of the Assembly, except the function of making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention. The three different councils are Category A council (countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping services); Category B council (countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade) and Category C council (countries with special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election into the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world).
Since 2009, Nigeria has failed in her bid to get re-elected into the Category C council of the IMO. The last time Nigeria won her IMO Council bid was in 2009 under Temisan Omatseye who was then the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Prior to the 2009 election win, Nigeria also won election into IMO Council seats in 2007 under former NIMASA DG, Ade Dosunmu. Since the 2007 and 2009 feat, Nigeria had contested and lost the IMO council seat bid four consecutive times in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2019.
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