The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has hinted of its plans to immediately flag-off of an intensive wreck removal exercise in Nigerian waters as part of its statutory responsibility of making the waterways business-friendly and environmentally clean.
The agency’s Director General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, made this disclosure during a ministerial retreat organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation for key maritime industry stakeholders in Lagos
The agency further stated that arrangements had been concluded for the recycling of wreckage recovered from the waters.
According to the statement, the recycling of the wreckage wastes will be done in collaboration with Bayelsa State Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), which has a foundry in Lagos for the purposes turning waste to wealth and creating jobs for Nigerians.
The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, in his opening remarks during the retreat said that the ministry was there “to assess the progress made so far in the maritime sector in order to enhance efficiency in our operations.
“This administration has achieved a lot in areas, such as rail transportation, port operations, maritime safety, and security, among others, and our goal is to do more to enhance productivity”, the minister added.
The NIMASA DG commended the minister for approving the creation of the Maritime Intelligence Unit and the NIMASA Maritime Stakeholders Experience Contact Centre, adding that the automation drive in the agency has facilitated the integrated use of technology in the Certificate of Competency verification process with the attendant positive implications for ports operations.
According to him, with the automation of the verification process, the number of manual verification of CoCs dropped from 4,112 in 2019 to 2,750 in 2020 as the total online verification rose to 9,723, representing a 33 percent drop in manual certificate verification.
On the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, the industry regulator explained that “the CVFF is in the Treasury Single Account and there are guidelines for the disbursement, one of which is the use of primary lending institutions.
“We have advertised for expression of interest from interested PLIs and we are following due process to ensure disbursement according to the guidelines. Eleven banks have been shortlisted and forwarded to our supervising ministry for further actions.
“The ministry has identified some grey areas, which are being addressed to ensure prompt disbursement of the CVFF”, the Director General added.
According to Jamoh, 446 beneficiaries of the programme are currently undergoing sea-time training, while 351 have been assigned to maritime training institutes and are in the process of boarding for sea-time.
He added that 93 beneficiaries of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme were undergoing CoC, 360 had completed sea-time training and were awaiting CoC issuance, while 368 beneficiaries of the NSDP project were already fully employed.
