With less than nine days to the end of the tenure of the Minister of Transportation; Alhaji Mu’azu Jaji Sambo on Sunday commissioned 13 boats, an Administrative Building, Search and Rescue Clinic, all belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The boats include: 5 new Search and Rescue/Pollution Control Boats, 4 staff ferries and 4 refurbished boats.
The Minister who commended the Director General MIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh for his great stride said the completed projects are part of the government’s commitment for good governance and institutionalised policies for improved safety and security enhancement on the nation’s waters as well as service delivery and economic development.
He said the projects will enable the country to achieve and sustain safe, secure shipping, cleaner oceans and enhanced maritime capacity.
The minister said the state-of-the-art enforcement platforms will ensure strict compliance and adherence with the extant laws governing the operations of the nation’s maritime domain.
Sambo added that the platforms will also give NIMASA the much-needed tools required to function as a maritime administrator in line with the protocols and conventions of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) to which NIMASA represents Nigeria as its contracting government.
He further said the search and rescue clinics will enable the agency to fulfill its obligations to seafarers and the general public by providing top-notch medical care facilities.
Speaking on the newly-acquired communication gadgets, he said they will enable the agency’s enforcement as well as search and rescue operators to communicate in real-time without any hindrance or interference, while conducting their operations at sea.
Speaking earlier, Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh noted that in the last three years, the agency has been persistent and relentless in the fight against maritime crimes and insecurity, while also striving at making the nation’s waterways and general maritime ecosystem safe.
He said the inclusion of the security/patrol boats along with the search and rescue/pollution control boats to the Deep Blue Project assets are particularly with intent to intensify the internal security of the waterways, taking into cognizance the recent proliferation of oil theft.
He said the agency also simultaneously took cognizance of the damaging impact that piracy, kidnapping of seafarers, smuggling, illegal oil bunkering, robbery at sea and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing has had on the nation’s maritime profile.
Jamoh noted that the successful reduction of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea can be credited to the tremendous effort of the Federal Government in terms of provision of infrastructures, through the Deep Blue Project investment towards vessels, maritime domain awareness platforms, as well as land, air and sea assets.
He said beyond the strides at overcoming maritime crime at the Gulf of Guinea, the management and safety of the nation’s inland waterways equally deserves attention.
He added that it is important to keep the inland waterways free of waste and pollutants to ensure they remain navigable in addition to keeping them secured from perpetrators of maritime crime.
Speaking also, the Chairman of the House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education & Administration, Lynda Ikpeazu, commended NIMASA management for their focus and commitment in seeing all the projects through.
She said the 9th Assembly is glad to be part of the achievement and success of the projects that will enhance shipping and security in the country.
She, however, charged the NIMASA management to ensure the judicious use of the assets, while lamenting that the problem in Nigeria is having wonderful ideas but lack maintenance culture.
On his part, the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Tolu Odebiyi expressed delight at the accomplishments by NIMASA and the Transport Ministry, for the additional assets to enhance the security of the nation’s maritime domain.
The agency named some of the new boats after President Muhammadu Buhari; former Minister of Transportation; Rotimi Amaechi; former Acting Minister of Transportation, Senator Gbemi Saraki; the present Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Mu’azu Jaji Sambo; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani; and Late Chairman of Nigerian Ports Consultative Council; Otunba Kunle Folarin.
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