The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that it would adopt the United Kingdom's model of the Merchant Navy Code of Conduct in order to cub incidences of product theft, random stealing and other indiscipline among Nigerian seafarers working on-board vessels.
Speaking at a meeting with some ship owners in Lagos last week, NIMASA's head of Maritime Safety and Seafarers Standards; Capt Sunday Umoren confirmed that there has been an increase in reports reaching the agency about indiscipline among Nigerian seafarers on-board vessels.
He confirmed that the agency has been getting reports of crews syphoning products from vessels and selling valuables belonging to shipowners. He assured that NIMASA is working towards having a merchant navy code of conduct that would put a stop to such atrocities.
Capt Umoren also berated Nigerian ship owners and vessel captains for failing to alert NIMASA real time whenever there is an accident or pirate attacks on their vessels. According to him, not all shipowners have the emergency numbers of NIMASA which is used to report incidences whenever they occur.
He said that most times, NIMASA would only get to know of such attacks from third party vessels before it swings into action with Nigerian Navy, thereby leaving enough time for perpetrators of such crimes to have escaped.
He said, "we have had issues of indiscipline among the crew on-board ships; we have reported this to management. In the UK we have the merchant navy code of conduct that lists out all punishable offences the seafarer can commit and the penalties associated with such"
"We are already thinking of having such in Nigeria too because there has been issues of crews selling things and syphoning product on vessels, we are working towards having that code of conduct and I am sure it would stop the atrocities"
"Not all vessel owners have our emergency numbers, what we have noticed in the past especially in regards to accident investigation is that when these accidents happen, they are not reported by the concerned party, we got to hear from third party before we start to investigate. Capt of vessels should learn to report accidents"
Corroborating Capt Umoren on the rising cases of theft and indiscipline among seafarers, a ship owner and former Director General of NIMASA; Mr Raymond Omatseye confirmed that there is an increasing rate of product theft on vessels.
He said that, "we should have a form of data capture of crew and report to NIMASA so that anyone who have stolen on-board ships would be blacklisted"
"These days, what happens is that when a vessel captain is sacked because he steals from you, the next day you see him on another vessel, there is a high level of poaching" he said.
Capt Umoren however assured the ship owners that NIMASA is collaborating with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to ensure that Nigerian shipowners benefit maximally from both the Cabotage Act and the Local Content Law in order to grow their businesses.
He assured that "a committee has already been formed and inaugurated, NIMASA and NCMDB is working closely to ensure that local shipowners benefit maximally from the Cabotage Act and the Local Content Act"
Discussion about this post