By Stphen Ubanna
Worried by the frequent boat mishaps, Dayo Mobereola, CON, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and his management team appears to given a top priority to safety standards in the nation’s waters to stop the ugly trend of boat accidents which has claimed many lives across Nigeria in recent times.
The latest of such boat mishaps was a wooden boat, allegedly carrying more than 50 farmers to their fields across the river near Gummi town in Zamfara state, described as a home of the Bandits, in the north western geopolitical region. The boat had capsized and sank into the river, killing 40 farmers, on the spot while 12 others were rescued.
Speaking ahead of the World Maritime Day, celebration, slated for Thursday, September, 26, 2024, expected to be attended along with all the maritime agencies, Chief Executive Officers, CEO, and industry stakeholders including top officials of the ministry, Oyetola Adegboyegha, a former governor of Osun state and now minister of the newly established ministry of Marine and Blue economy, had promised to take the ministry to a new level.
The minister had said that the ministry and its agencies, comprising of NIMASA, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC and the Nigerian Inland Water Ways Authority, NIWA, are committed ‘’to operate in accordance with globally recognized safety standards’’.
The former Osun state governor may have spoken out because the Federal Executive Council, FEC, has approved the Economic Stabilisation Bills, which incorporate the recommendations from the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy reforms
The bills according to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, aims ‘’to amend the country’s income tax laws, promote exports, reform the exchange rate regime, and provide tax relief for companies and individuals’’. The Media Aide had said that he bills will be submitted to the National Assembly for passage.
Given the theme for the 2024, World Maritime Day, which is ‘’Navigating the Future: Safety First’’, the minister, who has taken the last one year to understudy the nation’s maritime industry , was said to have told industry stakeholders that ‘’safety is a fundamental requisite for achieving a robust and business-friendly sector’’.
The former governor had alluded to the fact that the Tinubu’s Administration is dedicated ‘’to ensuring that the nation’s blue economy makes a significant contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, like the oil sector, and the ministry of Finance revenue generating agencies , particular, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, under the close watch of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR and Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS, under the Chairmanship of Zacch Adedeji, who incidentally, is a member of the Presidential Committee on Crude Oil Sale.
The Osun state born politician could beat his chest that the ministry is pursuing to generate the North American country of the United States, US, $20 billion from the blue economy project to add to the country’s revenue annually because the Supreme Court had declared that ‘’the powers, right and Authority to control the activities on the nation’s waters and the Inland Water ways belongs exclusively to the Federal Government and not the states.
Note that for twelve years, NIMASA, NIWA, and the Lagos state Government had engaged in a legal battle over the right of control of Inland water ways in the county. The Supreme Court ruling was said to have stopped the Lagos state Waterways Authority, LASWA, an agency under the Lagos state government and other governments from imposing levies on businesses operating in Nigerian Inland water ways, which is now the exclusive preserve of the FG.
Mobereola, who had served as a one-time Managing Director, LASWA and Commissioner of Transportation, during the first term in office of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor of Lagos state, had said that the safety of lives and property at sea and the safety of investments is the core mandate of the maritime regulatory agency.
The former Lagos state Commissioner may have gladdened the heart of industry stakeholders, when he disclosed that ‘’the agency is forward- looking and committed to implementing the Government policies that will ensure a sustainable future for the nation’s maritime sector’’.
Recall that as a former Commissioner of Transportation in Samwo-Olu’s government, he had promised that the state government will do everything humanly possible to avert future boats mishaps in the Inland water ways that abound in the state like the Ikorodu incident.
Israel Obada, President of Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors, AMES, had sounded it loud and clear that the issue of safety in the daily operations of the nation’s maritime industry could not be over emphasized.
He noted that as ‘’Surveyors’’ it is pertinent to state categorically that the safety of ocean-going vessels in the country’s water ways matters a lot because classification of vessels plays a key role in assessing their overall health, which in turn impacts on the industry as a whole.
He did not stop there. He was said to have further stated that as ’’ marine engineers and surveyors, they make safety a top priority in the maritime sector, not only in Nigeria but globally’’. Emmanuel Ilori, a member of AMES, may have taken advantage of the 2024, World Maritime Day, Celebration, to further reinforce the importance of prioritizing safety in the nation’s maritime sector.
He pointed out that the Association are eager to collaborate with NIMASA, under the Leadership of Mobereola, while also ensuring that all ships plying Nigerian waters are healthy, to enhance the safety of lives and property. According to him, the AMES, plans is to work closely with the Mobereola, led NIMASA, which aligns with the goals of the government’s blue economy project for a sustainable ocean.
The World Maritime Day, was said to have been first celebrated in 1978, to mark the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the International Maritime Organization, IMO, and Convention. Osagie Edward, an Assistant Director and the agency, spokesperson, had said that since then, Maritime Day celebrations have become world-wide event to highlight ‘’the importance of shipping safety ,maritime security and marine environment, while emphasizing other specific aspects of the IMO’s work.
