REPS: We Will Be Fair To All
Amidst anxiety over the imminence of a new agency to take charge of what presidency sources have termed post amnesty security issues within the nation’s territorial waters, the House of Representatives has assured that the National Assembly will be fair to all stakeholders in the treatment of the bill that is seeking to establish the Maritime Security Agency.
The highly controversial bill has already scaled the first reading at the lower chambers and there are indications that it may also passed scaled second at the Senate.
But chairman, House committee on marine transport, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi told Shipping Position Weekly exclusively that the bill has already been received by the House and that it would be made to pass through the required legislative procedure.
According to him, the committee which he presides over has no choice but to be fair to all, adding however that the House of Representatives to which the members all belong has the final say as to what becomes of the bill.
Similarly, sources confirmed to our correspondent that presidency officials were at the National Assembly recently where they allegedly actually lobbied the law makers to allow the Maritime Safety Agency not to be subjected to the mandatory public hearing, a request which was reportedly politely turned down.
No fewer than 22 statutory functions of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will be ceded to the proposed agency should the bill which seeks to establish it becomes an Act.
Apart from NIMASA, no fewer than five government agencies are likely to lose some of their core functions if the MSA becomes a reality. These agencies include: Navy, Air Force, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Police.
Propose as an inter-agency rapid response paramilitary agency, the MSA will be empowered to carry light arms and will be vested with wide ranging powers including the powers to “ stop, enter, board, inspect, search any ship or craft within the Nigerian maritime zone or territorial waters, demand the production of any licence, permit, record, certificate or other document or make copies of or take extracts of such licence, permit, record, certificate or other document in relation to matters provided for under this Act"
The MSA will also have power to enter ports, terminals, jetties and ships to monitor and investigate matters related to maritime safety and security within the nation’s territorial waters.
Shipping Position Weekly also confirmed that the MSA will be charged with the continued coordination of the implementation of certain portions of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention as well as the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.
Nigeria is blessed with a coastline of 420 nautical miles and 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) within which there is a vast deposit of oil and gas resources with multi-billion dollar investments and maritime infrastructures and facilities
By implication, the Nigeria’s maritime domain covers an area of about 84,000 square nautical miles
But Hon. Ugwuanyi assured that the House of Representatives will be guided by national interests, even as he refuted insinuations in some quarters which suggest that the lawmakers may have taken a pre-emptive stand.
“As the chairman of the House committee on marine transport, I can neither express an opinion on the matter nor take side”, he stressed adding that it is within the purview of the hallowed chamber to decide the faith of the bill and that any comment on the bill may create anxiety.
“But I want to assure that the overall interests of Nigeria will prevail in this matter” he assured.
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