The National Council of Managing Directors of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDNLCA) has lampooned the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), saying that the agency has deviated from its core functions.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily recently in Lagos, the National President of the group, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, said that the core function of the agency is to build capacity to enable indigenous practitioners to compete in international shipping.
He specifically picked on the NIMASA Director General; Dr Dakuku Peterside, alleging that the helmsman has not performed within the ambit of NIMASA‘s functions.
“Would you say that the present NIMASA administration under Dr. Dakuku Peterside is getting it right, he is not getting it right, he is just learning. When you look at the NIMASA’s core function, it has not been applied’’
‘’The core function is to build capacity and enhance participation in international shipping, that is the core function of NIMASA, when you look at the act.
‘’But what we are having is from one seminar to the other and that is not the core function. They are not revenue collecting agency, they are to provide for the indigenous operators so that they can participate in international shipping’’.
He also lambasted the nation for failing at the just concluded elections into International Maritime Organization (IMO) council, saying that the nation’s maritime industry failed to abide by the conventions of the body.
“Well, the problem is that we have to put ourselves together, the process of international arrangement in terms of convention and all that. It is not all about money; it is about following the conventions. When you go to Ghana and other countries, most of them are complying with the conventions and Nigerian is not following up. Most of them are done in paper and we are not applying them. We don’t actually implement them in our process so you don’t expect to win by dashing out money or going there to do what you do here in Nigeria’’.
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