The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will be empowered by its new act to regulate the entire maritime infrastructure in Nigeria’s blue and brown water to promote safe navigation.
Effective regulation of brown water will ensure safe navigation by reducing the incessant boat mishaps on Nigerian waters.
The NIMASA Act of 2007 is under review by the national assembly, and it passed the first reading in the Senate in 2023.
Blue water refers to the ocean; green water refers to coastal waters including ports and harbors and brown water refers to all navigable rivers and estuaries.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday during an interactive session with journalists, Dayo Mobereola, director general of NIMASA, said the study carried out by the agency has shown that the menace carried out on the nation’s waters is not being done by big vessels.
He said small vessels are being used by criminals to carry out illegalities including piracy and sea robberies on Nigerian waters.
He said the revised NIMASA Bill would include regulations for all maritime infrastructures, from large vessels to small boats, particularly focusing on the smaller ships often used for illegal activities.
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“In the new bill, we want to ensure that every boat on our waters is regulated, and registered, and we know who is piloting them, where they are going and coming from,” he explained.
On the controversy surrounding some of the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) cadets schooling at Centurion University in India, he said, the agency is also reviewing the process of engaging the schools that train the cadets.
He said the review was prompted by concerns raised about the quality of education impacted on the cadets.
According to him, NIMASA wants to ensure cadets return to help develop Nigeria by being well-prepared and employable graduates.
“We have not said that those students are coming back home. What we are doing is in the interest of the students because we are dedicated to the future of the cadets. We don’t want to labour and spend the nation’s resources on sending students abroad to study only for them to return half-baked. This is why we want to ensure that the platform where they are schooling is gotten right, and we are working to develop the best approach in engaging the schools,” he said.
Mobereola further disclosed that Nigerians are still paying war risk premium imposed on vessels operating on Nigerian waters despite the reduction in pirate attacks.
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The NIMASA boss said the payment of war risk premiums on Nigerian-pound cargo is inflating costs for Nigerians.
He pointed out the need for Nigeria to collaborate with international maritime organisations to tackle the entrenched practices that sustain the war risk premium.
He said the war risk premium is not determined by the actual risk level but by a cartel profiting from the status quo.
“Even if we have zero piracy and no security incidents for the next ten years, if we don’t force the issue, they will continue to charge us and also elevate freight costs for imports and exports,” Mobereola added.
To counter this, he said NIMASA has initiated discussions with key international partners, including taking the matter to the United Nations.
“The UN is going to support us, and we will be able to take it to the insurers who will have no choice but to reduce it as well,” Mobereola said.
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