Adamu Yusuf (Coordinator, Sea School)
The agency that I think should be responsible for this kind of occurrence is the Nigerian Ports Authority as well as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, I believe they have a task force that was put together sometimes last year for that purpose, however what I think should be done first is to take custody of these ships and ask the owners to come forward and if the owners refused then the vessels should be impounded and do away with, maybe it’s the dockyard they will take it to and dismantle them there because it is a very big risk to human lives.
In our jetty here we have a similar case whereby the tide brought one of the abandoned vessel close to our jetty and it threatens to break it down if care is not taken, we reported the matter to the relevant agencies but nothing was done to remove the wrecks, we also contacted the owner but he has refused to come take it away.
Another thing I observed is that we don’t have radio communication aboard most vessels operating on our waterways; a situation whereby all signals are still coming from Ghana is a big disgrace on us as a maritime nation.
Olu Olasore (Gemtrade Int’l ltd)
In other to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidence let the owners of these vessels be identified, after this, if the law guiding NIMASA permits them to prosecute the owners for abandoning the vessels then they should be able to do so not minding if the owners are friends of the agency, this is necessary in order to prevent future reoccurrences, and so also to prevent other people from doing the same.
Somebody must have registered these vessels because a vessel cannot just enter Nigerian waters without its registration, but if they are not it then means a security risk for this country, it means we are not safe. if the vessels are not registered then NIMASA have to evacuate it by themselves, also the law forbidding the abandoning of vessels on our waters should take effect, if there is no law like that am sorry we cannot avoid this situation happening again because anybody can just leave their vessel where they like.
Major H.A Ajetunmobi (Rtd) (GM, facilities, Sifax group)
Before we start considering measures of forestalling the reoccurrence we should first of all identify the origin of the problem which I think has to do largely with long litigation cases against some of the owners of these vessels, there are pending court cases on some of these vessels coupled with the high cost of maintenance, many of these vessels engine are no longer left running because of the high cost of keeping crews on board and this has further led to the state of neglect and the potential danger it poses to our marine operations.
There should be guidelines as to the limit of vessels that can be anchored on the sea and the conditions of such vessels, there are some of these vessels that are near wreckage and should be put to bed, one measure to this is that a special court should be dedicated to issues like this for the acceleration of safety, second is that if there is such court in existence whatever the obstacles are that is lying in the part of easy navigation should be addressed, having done that a decision should be taken on how to dispose and clear all existing wreckage that constitute risk to our shipping, because definitely no responsible marine nation will ever allow this kind of issue on their major international free way, so if the owners are not coming then they should be disposed.
Capt. Thomas Kemewerigha (Merchant Navy)
Nigeria should develop its search and rescue team, NIMASA should live up to expectations by making sure our waterways are secure and safe. Individual ship owners should upgrade the standard of their vessels; some of the vessels have no crews. We should improve on our rescue mechanism in the maritime sector to make it more effective and also make sure our water ways are safe and navigable.
Musa Ibrahim( Seafarer)
Our water ways should be our pior because it’s the heart of pour surviaval here in Nigeria. I think the government has takne so many things for granted and that’s why, the storm caught us unaware, though it’s a natural tyhing, government should instruct with immediate effect that individuals or companies that’s has their ship abandoned on water ways should come pick them out, with strict conditions attahched, they should also provide equipments for NIMASA and the Navy to enable them carry out their responsibiliuty perfectly.
The ship owners needs to be enlightened on hazards involved in abandoning ships on our waters, as well as put measures in place to make sure their vessels are in good shape and crews are available to mane those ships.
Omotayo Taiwo ( Exec.Manager,Mem-Tay Agencies)
I feel it’s an act of negligence from the side of government, because if they are have been monitoring our waters consistently, it would have helped in curbing this occurrence. They should assign naval officers and maritime search and rescue teams to check activities on shore, though natural disaster is an unforeseen circumstance, when it happens the least that can be done is to be prepared. Strategic measures that would checkmate the situation should be in place. The ship abandoned should have been monitored by government and maybe give an ultimatum to ship owners to come pick their vessels.
Amos Michael (Operations Man. Mickey Marine& Logistics)
A penalty should be in place that if such incident occur, the ship owner be charged for moving the ship, because it is costing NIMASA so much to get the wrecks out of the waters.ISAN should educate their members on the implication of living unmanned vessels on our waters, vessels at the break waters are not to be without crew members. Crew on board should have an idea of weather; forecast should be made available to keep them updated in a situation where such circumstance prevails. NIMASA still have a role to play by monitoring inactive vessels on the waters.
Chijioke Ojunta (Comm.Dir. Universal Shipping & Logistics)
Such occurrence is natural, it’s not the first time its happening. The ship owners should be alert and make sure their vessels are sea worthy.NIMASA should equip themselves so that when such occurrences happens they can rescue and charge the owners. The marine services of NPA should be up to their responsibilities to make sure any ship dropping anchor must be sea worthy and has a certain period of time to stay on anchor.
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