Minister tasks NIMASA on Cabotage, Urges A More Nigerian – Focused Implementation

Minister of Transport,  Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Bio  has charged the new management of NIMASA to ensure a more serious implementation of the Cabotage Act, insisting that the 70 per cent participation reserved for Nigerians in the Cabotage administration is adhered to.
Alhaji Bio stated this when the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Auditor, Mr. Richard Rees paid him a visit in Abuja. Mr. Rees had come into Nigeria to audit Nigeria in preparation for the IMO audit for member nations later on in the year. The IMO audit takes place once in two years.
Welcoming the IMO man, Alhaji Ibrahim Bio had stressed that Nigeria is ready to fully develop the maritime sector to make Nigeria take her rightful place, assuring that the new management of NIMASA has been charged to put all hands on deck to achieve the targets.
He assured that Nigeria is not doing badly with domestication of IMO conventions as the Federal Executive Council has approved ratification and domestication of all the conventions, adding that Nigeria will take the issue of the audit process seriously by making sure that all IMO laws are strictly adhered to.
 The minister told his visitor that the new NIMASA management has also been charged to simplify the ship registry more conducive so as to make it more conducive for practitioners in order to increase Nigeria’s tonnage and ensure that the country takes her rightful place in West Africa especially in the area of search and rescue.
Earlier in his speech, Mr. Rees had said that the audit process will help to move maritime administration in Nigeria forward. The process will also help in addressing the issue of substandard ships on Nigerian waters.