Maritime:’’ Nigeria,An Important Maritime Nation To Global Economy”- Lim, IMO, Secretary General

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By Stephen Ubanna

Kitack Lim, Secretary General, of the United Nations, UN, Maritime Agency, International Maritime Organisation, IMO, who had arrived the country, on Friday, November 19, 2022, on a working visit, may have gladdened the heart of Eng. Muazu Jaji Sambo, minister of Transportation and Bashir Jamoh, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

Eng. Sambo, the minister, of Transportation , who was said to have been  accompanied  to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT,   by  Magdalene Ajani, the ministry Permanent Secretary , Heads of agencies  under the ministry  and stake holders from  the nation’s maritime  industry were said to be on hand  to receive the IMO , Secretary General.     

Lim, who was hosted to a reception organised for him by the ministry and Industry stakeholders had declared that ‘‘Nigeria as a maritime nation is not only important to African but to the global economy’’. The IMO Secretary General, had confirmed what, Jamoh, the NIMASA, Director General had said that this is the first time a sitting IMO, Secretary General, will be visiting Nigeria, in over 15 years. It was not surprising why he is excited to be in Nigeria to rub mind with Industry operators.

. It is instructive to note that the IMO, Secretary General visit to Nigerian which was on the invitation of the ministry appears to have come Jamoh, the Kaduna state born technocrat, is the Head of NIMASA, and piracy in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea, has been reduced to the barest minimum over the last two years, due to the Administration intensified anti-piracy operations.

Jamoh, DG,NIMASA, eXPLAINING APoint To The IMO, SG

 Jamoh, the NIMASA, Director General, had said that the IMO, top official visit to the country, was an indication that the International Maritime Community has ‘’renewed its confidence in Nigeria’’.An Appreciative Lim, had thanked the minister and his team from the ministry for inviting him to Nigeria. He was said to have also thanked the NIMASA, Chief Executive officer, CEO, and other industry stakeholders for their effort to reposition the nation’s maritime industry that it can compete favourably  with any developed economy.

He had said that ‘’Nigeria is blessed with huge potentials, and abundant Natural resources’’. He may have alluded the more than  200 types  of mineral raw materials  in the country  ranging  black gold, oil and gas, gold,  lead, zinc, limestone, Bentonite, gypsium, Coal,  salt,  Tin, Kaolin and Manganese , cotton to, oil palm , among others, which aremajor foreign exchange earners.

Lim had said that above all ‘’Nigeria has very nice people’’, stressing that he has pleasant experience from his interactions with Nigerians at the IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom, UK. The Asian country of South Korea, Secretary General of the IMO,had said  that his home country  ‘‘consider  Nigeria a dream  land’’  and expresses hope  ‘’for more Cooperation  between the two maritime nations’’.  

Sambo, the minister of Transportation, may have taken advantage   of the IMO, Secretary General visit and acting on his directive  for the public sector to partner with the private sector to build the global maritime sector, to inform him   that the Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, Ship  Management Limited,  is among the industry  stakeholders partnering  with the NIMASA, in  the %195 million   Deep Blue contract which an insider had said also attracted a management fee of $19.5 million .

Jamoh, Lim, IMO ,SG And Another Top Official Of NIMASA In A Round Table Talks

The IMO, CEO, is expected to witness the Operational Management session of the Deep Blue Project,   scheduled as part of  the activities  of the his visit to Nigeria. It is expected to give the IMO, CEO, a firsthand  experience  of some Operational activities on NIMASA , which is the focal agency  of Nigeria liaising  with the UN, Maritime agency under the supervision of the ministry of Transportation , under the close watch of Eng. Ambo.

Note that the  contract for the $195 million  Deep Blue Project was awarded  to  HLS Systems and Technologies Limited, an Israeli  firm which was said to have delivered 17 Interception Boats,16 armoured  vehicles, meant for coastal Patrols, two Special Mission Vessels, two Special Mission Aircrafts, three Helicopters and four unmanned Aerial vehicles, to NIMASA, between 2020 and now.

 As part of the contract, the Israeli, was said  to  have also provided  platforms operated by the Nigerian Navy, under the close watch of Vice Awwal Zubairu  Gambo,   and the Nigerian Air Force , under the supervision  Air Marshal Adebayo Olayinka Amao  for practical issues  in operations  and regulations  impacting  on  decarbonisation  in shipping in the West and Central African Sub regions, , but which a source confirmed still belong to NIMASA.

Jamoh, the NIMASA, helms man, who has been working effortlessly, to reposition the nation’s maritime industry  had repeatedly said that  that the current management’s,’’ desire   is to continue  in  its strive to give a new face to the nation’s maritime industry   until  the country  attain  a status  of not just  ‘’the hub of maritime activities  in the region but  in the global scene’’.

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