A varsity don’s roadmap for shipping development in Nigeria

In 2010, the then President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, the immediate past director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to run the affairs of the agency. He was saddled with the responsibility of implementing the National Shipping Policy, the Nigerian Maritime Labour Policy; the Cabotage law and the Nigerian Merchant Shipping Laws.

He came into the shipping sector not as a ‘technocrat’ as many stakeholders would argue, but as an academic from the Niger Delta University on Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, who had his mind set on a mission geared towards turning around Nigeria’s shipping sector for good.

At that time, the nation’s shipping sector was quite under, owing to lack of visibility, dearth of manpower, non-compliance to the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code, high level of criminal and illegal activities on water and low maritime domain awareness.

This was why the ex-NIMASA boss came onboard and mapped out four-point agenda to enable his administration deliver on four main functions of the agency and they include: promotion of indigenous shipping development through human and infrastructure capacity building; administration of maritime safety and security; marine environment management and maritime labour administration.

Amid the controversies trailing the removal of Akpobolokemi by the present government, industry close watchers believed that the academic left some legacies, which the nation’s maritime industry will not forget in a hurry. In summary, his administration succeeded in setting up good track for shipping development in the country.

Firstly, it was under the past administration that the agency automated Nigerian ship registry to facilitate the efficiency of ship registration in Nigeria.

“He was able to engage more professionals in the right position and made NIMASA the maritime administration that it’s supposed to be as recognised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the global maritime regulatory body. This helped in improving the Port and Flag-State control activities of the agency such that Nigeria is presently doing more than the minimum requirement of 15 percent for vessels visiting Nigerian ports,” said Adewale Ishola, a prominent master mariner, who was close to the happenings in the maritime sector.

Before now, the nation’s maritime sector was limited by shortage of manpower supply especially seafarers to take over sea jobs from the ageing master mariners. This is why the NIMASA led-Akpobolokemi went ahead under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) to finance the training of about 2,500 cadets in various maritime universities located in Egypt, United Kingdom, India, Philippine, Romania among others.

These seamen, who were trained as Marine Engineers, Naval Architects, Nautical Scientists, were also given the opportunity to undergo their sea-time programme and to obtain the prestigious Certificate of Competency (CoC) as stipulated by IMO.

In the area of NDSP, even though there were some issues with the programme, we appreciate the efforts of the ex-NIMASA boss for continuing and expanding the legacy that was laid by the Dosumu administration, said Ishola.

“I feel so grateful and happy because it is like a dream come true for me. And we really worked hard for it”, said Ibrahim Abubakar Anas, a cadet from Kaduna, who benefited from the programme and graduated from the South Shields Marine School in South Tyneside College, Newcastle.

Zizoh James Anto, another cadet from Kaduna State, who assured Nigerians of his contributions to the development of the shipping sector, also explained that the programme was a 3-year course, one year of Higher National Certificate (HNC) in India and two years of Higher National Diploma and degree programme in Marine Engineering.

Apart from that, the ex-NIMASA boss championed the establishment of the first maritime university in Nigeria located in Okerenkoko, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State. The university is expected to run courses in Marine Engineering, Naval Architecture, Nautical Science, Transport Technology and other maritime-related professional courses at degree and sub degree levels.

The administration also established Institutes of Maritime Studies in six Nigerian universities, including University of Lagos; University of Nigeria Nsukka; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai Niger State; Niger Delta University Amasoma, Bayelsa State; Anambra State University Uli and Federal University Kashere, Gombe State.

According to Ishola, the Maritime institute that his administration established in six recognised Nigerian universities is also good for recognition owing to the fact that it has succeeded in creating jobs for master mariners, who were engaged by the universities to lecture in the institutes.

“For Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, Akpobolokemi administration surpassed the contribution of his predecessors by assisting MAN as required by NIMASA Act and most time goes beyond the ambit of the law to make extra provision/allocation to the academy.”

Nigeria as a maritime nation, became signatory to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) SOLAS including ISPS Code, but some port and jetties failed to measure up to the requirement of the Code, which was developed after the September 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. For the sake of implementation, the code was kept in the custody of the Presidential Committee on Maritime Safety (PICOMMS) and the failure to comply with its provisions, put Nigerian originated ships at the risk of ban by the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

“Upon the appointment of NIMASA by the Federal Government, as the designated authority (DA) in charge of the implementation of ISPS Code in 2013, the past administration was able to get about 90 percent of Nigerian seaports and terminals to comply with the provisions of the Code,” Ishola said while reviewing the tenure of ex-NIMASA boss.

Akpobolokemi recorded another milestone in the area of maritime domain awareness using both technology and personnel to attain to the present level of domain awareness. Precisely, NIMASA in June 2014 launched a Satellite Surveillance Centre used in providing intelligence in the fight against piracy and other illicit crimes on the waterways. The facility was instrumental to the Agency’s winning the war against piracy because the satellite was built with the capacity to monitor activities in the entire maritime domain.

Also, the agency went into partnership with the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force by signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide enhanced water patrol and aerial surveillance of Nigeria’s maritime domain.

Findings have shown that the upgrading of the agency’s Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) in Lagos, Bonny and Oron, and the installation of Radar in Escravos, Bonny and Takwa Bay in Lagos, also complemented the satellite facility and added boost to NIMASA’s domain awareness response capability.

NIMASA entered into partnership with a Nigerian maritime company called Global West Vessels Specialist Limited (GWSVSL) to provide platforms for the patrol of the coastline. These facilities, closed watchers say, helped in restoring relative peace in Nigerian territorial waters especially in minimising piracy, sea robbery, crude oil theft and other illegalities on waters.

In June 2013, the agency was able to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, which came into force on June, 2014. According to the handover brief of the ex-NIMASA boss, the agency under his supervision; successfully carried out review of stevedoring contractors guidelines, minimum wage condition of service for dock labourers; seafarers and dock workers training across the maritime zones including the commencement of full implementation of the collection of 0.5 percent stevedoring levy.

Industry close watchers are of the view that the new administration in NIMASA can consolidate on these achievements by looking inward to those areas that Akpobolokemi-led administration was not able to handle, to further develop shipping in Nigeria.

The areas, according to the handover brief of the ex-NIMASA are in the review of Nigeria’s export trade policy by changing from Free on Board (FoB) to Cost, Insurance and Freight, which means that Nigeria can use its vessel to deliver the product at the doorstep of the buyer because the current regime gives undue advantage to foreign players.

“CIS encourages full local participation while FoB transaction kills the indigenous players, therefore, we need government to change the crude oil trading policy and create a balance for the indigenous shipping players to benefit,” affirms Taiwo Akinpelumi, managing director of Oceanic Energy Limited, an indigenous shipping firm.

Nigeria needs to create specific incentives such as tax holidays for ship building and repair facility; duty free regime for machinery and parts importation by ship building and repair facilities as well as parts imported by operators; 100 percent duty free regime for temporary importation of vessel and credit guarantee for ship building by Nigerians, the ex-NIMASA boss recommended in his handover brief.