Determined to ensure pollution-free marine environment for safe navigation of ships calling the nation’s seaports, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), collected over 2.3 million kilogramme of garbage from Nigerian waters in the first 11 months of 2019 (January to November), says the 2019 Activity Report of the Marine Environment Management Department (MEMD).
Within same period, a total of 4,752 vessels called at Nigerian ports in Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt, Onne and Calabar where the garbage and oily waste were collected.
According to MEMD report, a specialised unit of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the NPA also collected about 17,989.71 cubic meters of oily waste from Nigerian ports in Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt, Onne and Calabar within the period under review.
A breakdown of this shows that from the ports in Lagos (Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports), which had about 2,356 vessel calls, about 1,964,15.63 kilogramme of garbage was collected while the volume of oily waste collected stood at 12,529 cubic meters.
Also, at Port Harcourt Port, which received 553 vessel calls, NPA collected about 56,571kg of garbage and 1,041.71 cubic meters of oily waste in the first 11 months of 2019.
The report further revealed that at Onne Port, which handled 905 vessels calls, the NPA collected a total of 168,953kg of garbage and 2,503 cubic meters of oily waste.
In Calabar Port, which recorded a total of 370 vessel calls, the NPA collected about 25,882kg of garbage and 124 cubic meters of oily waste within same period.
Meanwhile, in Warri Port that handled 568 vessels from January to November 2019, NPA collected a total of 49,611kg of garbage and 1,792 cubic meters of oily waste.
BusinessDay understands that the protection of the marine environment from pollution and any other waste are very critical to shipping, which is an international business that is globally regulated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a United Nations organ.
Also, the NPA has a joint venture arrangement with African Circle Pollution Management Limited (ACPML), a private Nigerian company, licensed to operate port reception facilities for the collection, storage and processing of ship generated waste on behalf of the NPA.
The MEMD report has it that the NPA has acquired reception facilities for MARPOL Annex IV for the three maritime zones of the country (Eastern and Central) Zones.
The reception facilities include Garbage compactor truck, Oil collection tanker, Storage tanks, Oil water separator, Sorting plant, Bailer, and Granulator Modular Laboratory in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar and Warri Ports.
However, in line with the IMO circular on mandatory documents and certificates carried and used onboard vessels, the MEM Department received, processed and issued Marine Environment Management Mandatory Certificates and other documents to stakeholders.
Here, a total of 299 certificates and documents were processed and issued in 2019 as against 266 processed and issued in 2018.
