Nigeria moves to implement laws on oil pollution compensation

Nigeria has renewed its commitment to ensuring the effective and efficient implementation of the international conventions on oil pollution compensation.

The conventions include the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992 and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1992, to which Nigeria is a party.

Both conventions were domesticated in Nigeria by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). To implement the conventions, NIMASA also constituted the National Standing Committee (NSC) on IOPC Fund in September 2004 and another five Sub-Committees in October 2016 with a mandate to ensure effective implementation of both conventions.

The five subcommittees include the Sub-Committee on Fish Stock/Fisheries; Sub-Committee on Identification of Receivers of Contributing Oil; Sub-Committee on Compilation of Oil Report; Sub-Committee on Claims Handling and Sub-Committee on Pricing Index.

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Speaking at the just concluded 2-day 7th Sub-Committee Meeting of NSC organised by the NIMASA, Aishatu Jidda, secretary of the NSC-IOPC Fund Sub-Committee, said the Sub-Committees have been working towards ensuring the effective implementation of the IOPC Funds in Nigeria.

According to her, the committees have held six meetings since they were constituted.

She said the meeting of the Sub-Committees has culminated in the review and approval of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the IOPC Fund Secretariat, the development of an action plan for the implementation of the SOP, and the implementation of the terms of reference of the Sub-Committees.

According to her, the convening of the meeting was a result of the directive of the chairperson of the NSC-IOPC Fund that four meetings must be held this year in the months of February, May, August, and October.

“The objective of this meeting was to deliberate on the resolutions reached the 6th meeting including the development of a roadmap on the establishment of a Local Oil Pollution Compensation Fund by Local Insurance Companies; development of a Pricing Index for the Nigerian Maritime Industry and data on Fish Stock/Fisheries,” she said.

She listed other resolutions to include drawing up national guidelines on fish stock/fisheries; collation of recent data on contributing oil receivers, contributing oil products imported, and quantity of product and details of coastal movement of Low Pour Fuel Oils (LPFO) and High Pour Fuel Oils (HPFO) from the refineries and condensates as well as distribution of COR-1 Forms and carrying out sensitisation programmes.