The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has assured zero per cent occurrence of piracy and sea robbery on Nigerian waters by June 2018.
Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside gave this assurance over the weekend at the 26th Anniversary of TELL Magazine in Lagos.
Speaking shortly after picking an award for NIMASA as the 'Public Organisation of the Year’, Peterside pledged the commitment of NIMASA to end piracy and sea robbery in Nigeria come 2018.
On Cabotage implementation, Peterside said that currently, 65% of the vessels working in the country are owned by Nigerians, and that the agency intends to increase the number to 80% soonest.
He said that NIMASA is making conscious efforts to make it easy for shipowners to register their vessels and get operating licenses, even as he added that the agency is improving its command and control centre from where it would be able to spot illegal activities of unregistered ship owners.
Speaking on the piracy level in the country, Peterside said: "There is so much more to expect from NIMASA, recall that we have for some time now been faced with challenge of piracy and sea robbery within our shipping lane and Maritime domain, we have given our word to Nigerians that by next year people should hold us responsible for this problem"
"From next year June, we would have moved from wherever we are now to zero percent none piracy on our waterways, that is our first commitment to the Nigerian people"
"Secondly we working towards 24hours response to every challenge anybody is having with doing business on our waterways, in terms payment of bill, getting clearance. We are also working hard to ensure that our processes are fully automated, we are committedto having more Nigerians involved in shipping, especially within the purview of the Cabotage Act"
"We are working hard with industry stakeholders to ensure that substandard ships have no place within our maritime domain" he assured
Peterside also expressed confidence that Nigeria would reclaim its position on the coveted Category 'C' of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council in the coming Council election in November 2017.
"It's an election, we are working hard, doing the right things at the right time and I believe the world is watching us and they would reciprocate in November in the votes, I am confident Nigeria would be voted back into the council of IMO under category 'C', he said.
Meanwhile, maritime industry stakeholders have congratulated NIMASA on its Award as the TELL Magazine Public Organisation of the year.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the award ceremony, President of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) Engr. Greg Ogbeifun charged NIMASA to see the award as an encouragement to do more for the maritime sector.
He said "NIMASA is already doing a lot of work which led to the recognition, what we expect them to do now is to strive harder. They have started a good job, but they are not there yet, there are still a lot of issues they are dealing with, the award can only be seen as a sort of encouragement for them, it is not that they have arrived"
Also speaking, a trawler owner and former president of Nigeria Trawler Owners Association (NITOA) Mrs Margaret Orakwusi described the award as a sign of good things to come.
"It shows they have done well, at the same time it is a challenge for them to do more. We have so much confidence in NIMASA of today and we thank TELL for acknowledging all the changes they are seeing"
"I will advise the DG to see this award as a challenge for bigger expectations and bigger success to be recorded in the industry. I want to see us go back to category C of the IMO, Peterside is working towards that and we are all excited", she said.
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