For the second consecutive week, we are focusing on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). We are doing this for the first time since this newspaper made its debut, and there is a very strong reason behind the decision of the Editorial Board to focus on this very strategic agency of the Federal Government.
At a media briefing penultimate week, the new Director General of NIMASA; Dr Dakuku Peterside admitted what none of his predecessors have been too scared to admit. He presumably admitted that the agency has failed in its responsibility of ensuring safety and security on the nation’s waters.
While giving an update on the recent attack on a Liberian tanker; MT Sampatiki, the NIMASA boss acknowledged that it is not the agency’s responsibility to man the nation’s waters.
While acknowledging that NIMASA works with the military authorities, he had said that: “Manning of our waterways is a primary function of the Navy and not the function of NIMASA, our responsibility is to ensure safe passage of ships on our waterways, it is not the same thing as securing our waters, they are two different things”.
NIMASA still has a subsisting Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force; it is for the purpose of coastal patrol and air surveillance to deter criminals and to ensure quicker response time when incidents occur.
The NIMASA DG however observed that there is a conflict of roles between the functions of the Navy and NIMASA and that a line must be drawn between the two, even as he disclosed that the MoU is already being reviewed.
We recall that it was Mrs Mfon Usoro as the DG, who initiated the MoU; after her, successive DGs found it useful and sustainable.
However, while the MoU was still in existence, NIMASA also engaged Messrs Global West Vessel Specialists in the same venture of making sure that pirates and sea robbers were kept at bay.
Whether the contract achieved its aim or not is a matter for another discuss, but suffice it to state that the termination of that contract has been widely applauded by maritime industry stakeholders.
Even though it is the nation’s maritime safety and security agency, NIMASA’s name has been missing in action in the records that are being reeled out on anti-piracy and sea robbery activities in Nigeria. Available statistics reveal that in 2015, activities of the Nigerian military in the Niger Delta accounted for the arrest of 1,610 pirates, militants and criminals.
It is on record that NIMASA was born on August 1, 2006, and one of the many reasons that were adduced to justify the 2006 merger of the then-National Maritime Authority (NMA) with the then-Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC) was the need to tighten security on Nigerian waters.
Specifically, NIMASA was created to; among other things provide regulations that are related to Nigerian shipping, maritime labour and coastal waters. The agency also undertakes inspections and provides search and rescue services. There was a time when NIMASA was accountable for some feats, especially after it took delivery of four state-of-the art patrol boats – NIMASA Port Harcourt, NIMASA Lagos, NIMASA Burutu and NIMASA Warri, which were described as the fastest boats on the nation’s waters.
Deliberately or otherwise, while the usual press statements from NIMASA about arrests and seizure of ships and persons involved in piracy and oil theft have stopped, attention has shifted to the Nigerian Navy and the Joint Task Force (JTF), which now (on daily basis) report its exploits. Hardly is there any week that the Navy does not address the media about exploits in the Niger Delta. It has become so usual that one begins to wonder if NIMASA still exists in the fight against piracy and sea robbery in Nigeria.
We recall that it is the NIMASA/ Navy MoU that gave birth to the Maritime Guard Command which is domiciled in NIMASA. It is this command that was largely responsible for the increasing rate of arrests of sea robbers and pirates in the past. So where has the Command gone to? Certainly, the effect of the much- mouthed arrangement with the Air Force is not yielding any feasible result.
We disagree with the new DG. We maintain that it is the statutory responsibility of NIMASA to ensure a safe and secure passage for ships, crew and cargo. If it is not its responsibility, why then was it given the name – ‘’Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’’? Why did it engage Messrs Global West and paid so much?
We recall that at the public hearing at the National Assembly during the making of NIMASA, some interests canvassed that the agency should not be saddled with the responsibility for maritime safety, but the stronger argument was that NIMASA should be the all-in-all when it comes to matters of administration and safety.
At a point, there was a push for the creation if aMaritime Security Agency (MASECA), but NIMASA apologist and Niger Delta interests superseded national interest and the MASECA dream was killed. Some even advocated for the creation of a Coast Guard, but the same interests that killed MASECA also killed that push
Our position as maritime industry-based newspaper is that, NIMASA has derailed and lost grip of its mandate, hence, it should be redirected. Rather than abdicate its safety responsibilities, it is incumbent on the DG to think out of the box and make the agency what it truly should be.
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