The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has unveiled plans Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya on maritime industry with a view fast-tracking the development of Africa’s maritime sector.
This is even as he restated the NIMASA’s commitment to continue to develop and adopt appropriate strategies targeted at repositioning the nation’s maritime sector in order to make it viable and globally competitive
Peterside, who made the disclosures in Lagos when he hosted a delegation from the Gambian Maritime Administration, led by the Director-General, Mr. Mustapher Maroung, said that NIMASA would continue to drive regional collaborations in order for Africa to reap the benefits of the blue economy.
The Director General and Chairman of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA) explained that the upcoming fourth conference of the Association with the theme ‘Protecting the African Marine Environment to Support Sustainable Development’, scheduled for September16th -19th in Egypt would provide an avenue for African maritime leaders to chart a way forward for the continent which can be tagged the biggest Island of all the continents.
He said:“We cannot walk this journey alone; partnership is crucial to achieving a robust economy. The beauty of partnership is that everyone brings their expertise to the table where ideas are shared and considered as a way forward to achieving a particular goal; it is not only here in Nigeria, it has become a global trend and this is what AAMA seeks to achieve for the continent.”
The industry regulator noted that the NIMASA had opened discussions with the Maritime Administrations of South Africa, Ghana and Kenya to acquire and jointly operate a training vessel for Cadets.
He expressed the hope that such partnership agreement would be beneficial to the countries, adding that the AAMA conference will be an avenue to continue discussions on the proposed agreement.
According to him, the partnership with the United Arab Emirate on free training of 100 cadets would support the country, noting that the pact provides for the training of 10 cadets per annum spread over 10 years, making it a total number of 100 cadets to be trained in 10 years, contrary to the negative news making the rounds.
Expatiating further, the NIMASA boss also spoke on the issue of the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), promising that very soon, the guidelines for the disbursement of the fund will be publicised for qualified ship owners to be duly considered.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General of the Gambia Maritime Administration commended the activities of NIMASA, saying that the Gambian Maritime team has come to learn from the Agency and is willing to collaborate with Nigeria for the growth of Africa’s blue economy.
Over the past few years of his leadership of the maritime regulatory agency, Peterside has continued to harp on the strategic importance of collaboration among maritime authorities globally as a means of realizing their mandates, especially in improving the contributions of the sector to national developments.
