PFSO Celebrates 10th Years Anniversary Of ISPS Code In Nigeria

The Port Facility Security Officers (PFSO) forum , in partnership with the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA),and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) on Wednesday celebrated the 10th year anniversary of coming into force of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code in Lagos.

Speaking at the event which had as its theme: “ISPS Code Implementation the Journey so far”, the Chairman PFSO Forum Lagos Maritime Security Zone (LMSZ); Mr. Anataku Subaru said that the idea of ISPS Code was muted to step up the security of the global maritime industry that conveys 90% of the world trade goods.

He said that the since its inception of the code on July 1st 2004, Nigeria has been in the vanguard of its implementation in all the port facilities and terminals by the training of port facility security officers who are the arrow heads of the ISPS code implementation.

He also recalled that the ISPS code is the aftermath of September 11, 2001, incident in the United States, where terrorists attack on World Trade Centre using an aircraft.

"The ISPS code which is an off shoot of SOLAS 74 is the consistent, standard and comprehensive security arrangement that focuses on mitigating threats and security risk against ships and port facilities,"he said.

Subaru pointed out the PFSO forum was established under the defunct Presidential Implementation Committee On Maritime Safety and Security (PICOMSS) as an appendage of the Designated Authority (DA), which has now been taken over by NIMASA in line with the provisions of the ISPS code.

According to him, since NIMASA came on board as the DA, it has been giving wonderful support to the forum, adding that the agency has been consistently supportive of all the activities of the forum.

Subaru solicited the support from NIMASA as the DA to organise a national security conference on ISPS code.

Also speaking at the celebration, Major Henry Ajejumobi (retd) said that security threat has become the fastest growing industry in Nigeria and stressed that there is the need to nip it in the bud.

The retired military officer added that there is the need for stakeholders to be security conscious in line with the ISPS code.

Ajejumobi said that security threat poses a major threat to the maritime environment and there is the need to tackle such threat through the ISPS code.