Determined to ensure safety and secured shipping on the Nigerian territorial waters, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has directed all owners of abandoned ships, especially wrecks to urgently remove them from the nation’s waterway.
A statement signed by Isichei Osamgbi, head, corporate communications of NIMASA, said the owners of such ships had before April 28 to remove them or risk sanctions, which range from forfeiture to removal by the agency, at the owners expense.
According to the statement, Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Agency, said it had become instructive to ensure that our waters remained safe for navigation in order to advance its maritime interests.
He therefore warned that all abandoned ships would be declared, as wrecks and the Agency would ensure that nothing impedes safe navigation in the waters.
The NIMASA boss further said the sanctions include removal of such wrecks at the owners’ expense as well as forfeiture of the vessels, stating that the Agency was empowered to do so in line with the powers vested in it by the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 and other enabling Acts and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) instruments.
Recall that Nigeria is party to the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (Nairobi Convention 2007). The Convention is a treaty of the IMO with the purpose of prompt and effective removal of shipwrecks located in the parties’ territorial waters including its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that may be hazardous to navigation or environment. The convention gives States’ Authority to remove wrecks and in Nigeria’s case NIMASA.
All abandoned vessels littering the waterways and the shoreline of the country are affected by this directive.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
