Maritime
NIMASA makes case for Multilateral cooperation as key to vessel safety, Marine resources utilisation
Modupe ASUDO
ABUJA-THE Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, says the agency has created operational conditions that have prompted a turnaround in prospects for maritime safety and successful utilisation of the country’s enormous marine resources. Dakuku stated this in Abuja last week while delivering a lecture on “Maritime Safety and Shipping Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects,” at the National Defence College.
Dakuku said NIMASA’s Total Spectrum Maritime Security Strategy had engendered significant improvement in maritime safety and security in the country. The other measures adopted by the agency to better the state of safety and security in the marine environment, he said, include acquisition and utilisation of marine technology infrastructure (maritime domain awareness); improved compliance monitoring and enforcement activities; training/re-training; and conscious efforts to ensure adequate funding for the maritime sector.
NIMASA DG, DR. Dakuku PETERSIDE
At NIMASA, he said, “We have moved from enforcement to education and enlightenment, to get operators to understand why they should comply with the rules and the risks in not complying, as well as help them to comply.”
Speaking further at the event, which had participation from several African countries, Dakuku called for multilateral cooperation, especially among African countries, to ensure vessel safety and enhance opportunities for the exploitation of marine resources, saying maritime security is a global problem.
“Shipping, perhaps, is the most globalised of all great industries in the world. Approximately 90% of world trade is transported by ships. Such as the case of Nigeria, this figure is close to 95%. There are over 50,000 merchant ships trading internationally today, manned by more than a million seafarers and carrying every kind of cargo. Thus, the safety of vessels is critical to the global economy,” he stated.
Dakuku said maritime safety had moved from the approach of tending to react to marine incidents only after their occurrence to a proactive regime entailing the prior initiation of solutions based on risk analysis.
The DG said research had shown that most maritime accidents in Nigeria resulted from human factors, stressing that industry actors have a greater role to play in the new approach to maritime safety, as they have a better control over the human elements. He said NIMASA was tackling the human factors that could imperil shipping in the country through its improved enforcement and monitoring mechanisms.
Underscoring the role of the human factor in the efforts to ensure safety of vessels, Dakuku said a study of marine accidents/incidents in Nigeria between 2016 and 2018 showed that 38 per cent resulted from collision (poor vessel traffic) – human error; 19 per cent resulted from fire explosion; 12 per cent was due to capsize; grounding and sinking accounted for eight per cent each; and oil spill caused 15 per cent.
He identified the challenges associated with maritime safety and shipping development in Nigeria to include poor compliance with regulations, insufficient manning, professional competence issues, lack of capital, piracy, inadequate technological infrastructure, and pollution.
Dakuku stated, “NIMASA has continuously dealt with safety challenges in the context of operations, management, surveying, ship registration, and the role of administration. Since international maritime safety has moved from a largely prescriptive and reactive safety scheme to a risk-based proactive regime, responsibility for safety is being placed on those in the industry to set out and create new perspectives on risk-based decision making.
“Hence, the way forward would be to adopt a Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) framework for maritime safety management.”
He said the FSA framework consisted of five key steps, namely, identification of hazards, assessment of risks associated with the hazards, finding ways of managing the risks, analysis of the risk control options (RCOs), and deciding on the options to select.
“The five-step process covers all aspects of safety analysis and suggesting suitable safeguards against all major and minor areas,” Dakuku stated.
Dakuku also disclosed that the six fast intervention security vessels, which NIMASA leased under its maritime security strategy project, had made tremendous impact. The initiative helped to increase Port State Inspection by 10.53 per cent in 2017, from 475 in 2016 to 525 in 2017. It also facilitated an upswing in Flag State Inspection, from 77 in 2016, to 98 in 2017, representing a 27 per cent increase. He said the rise in PSI and FSI had continued.
In his own remarks, Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo, also emphasised the importance of maritime cooperation among African countries, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, saying this is key to their maritime security, safety and development.
He said in African there used to have excessive focus on land, with little or no interest in activities in the sea. But increased political contacts among African leaders, according to him, have transformed that to “wealth blindness”.
“Wealth blindness in the sense that there is so much in the maritime environment in terms of economic resources and activities that could solve practically 70 to 80 per cent of our national economic problems. Our ability to explore and exploit the related opportunities are part of the problems,” he said.
Those present at the lecture included Chairman, NIMASA Board, General Jonathan India Garba (rtd), members of the agency’s management team, and course participants of the National Defence College.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has called for a comprehensive action in Nigeria’s bid to be elected into Category C of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council, as he inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial Committee to promote the campaign.
Speaking at the inauguration held at the Boardroom of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy (FMMBE) in Abuja on Tuesday, Oyetola said the campaign must be all-inclusive, taking into consideration diplomatic and operational strategies in soliciting votes to yield good dividends.
He explained that, having lost out three times between 2011 and 2019 after its successful stints in 1975, 2001, and 2005, Nigeria is due to return to the Council to cement its relevance as a strategic Maritime domain and a strong voice in West Africa.
On his part, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said, “The need for Nigeria’s return to Council is imperative given our strategic location and significance as a hub of Maritime activities and as a voice for the sub-region on the IMO Council, where crucial decisions regarding international maritime shipping and trade are made.”
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He added that membership in the Council comes with such benefits as “technical assistance, manpower and institutional development, as well as political influence in the maritime sector of the global economy.”
The inter-ministerial committee for Nigeria’s election to the IMO Executive Council at the 34th Regular Session in 2025 comprises high-level officials led by the Permanent Secretary of the FMMBE, Olufemi Oloruntola.
The committee is tasked with identifying activities and actions that will promote Nigeria’s standing in the IMO community by articulating and showcasing the country’s maritime achievements.
Members of the committee include the Director of Maritime Security and Safety from the FMMBE and the Director-General of the NIMASA, who will serve as alternate chairpersons.
Other members are; the Directors of Legal Services and Maritime Services from the FMMBE, the Director of International Organisations Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), the Managing Director of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority, and the Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron.
Others include the former Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Ade Dosunmu (stakeholder); the representative of the Office of the Honourable Minister of the FMMBE, Dr. Charles Akinola; and the Assistant Director, Maritime Pollution Control at the FMMBE, Mr. Paschal Ogah, who will serve as Secretary to the Committee.
Meanwhile, the Direvtor-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola, has officially presented the six IMO instruments assented to by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, GCFR, to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
He thanked the Minister for facilitating the signing of the IMO Conventions, noting that, ‘these six conventions have been pending within the Ministry and government for the last 6 to 8 years. With the efforts of the Honourable Minister, they have now been assented to by Mr. President and will be delivered and showcased with the IMO.’
Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the instruments of accession for six Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
This action paves the way for Nigeria to officially deposit these instruments of accession at the IMO headquarters, which serves as the repository for such conventions. This move is expected to enhance Nigeria’s maritime governance and align its practices with international standards, promoting maritime safety, security, and environmental protection.
It was gathered that the six instruments signed by President Tinubu are the Instrument of Accession of the Protocol of 2005 to the 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms on the Continental Shelf, the Instrument of Accession of the International Convention of Standards of Training, Certification, and Watch-keeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel 1995; and the Instrument of Accession of the Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in cases of Pollution by Substances other than Oil, 1973 as Amended (INTERVENTION PROTOCOL).
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Others are the Instrument of Accession to the Protocol of 1996 to Amend the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) 1976; the Instrument of Accession to the Protocol to the 1974 Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea, 2002; and the Instrument of Accession to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.
Presenting the instruments to the Hon Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, the Director-General of NIMASA, expressed his gratitude to the Minister for facilitating the signing of the IMO conventions by the President after several years of being pending in the Ministry.
In his words, “These six instruments have been lying within the Ministry for the last 6 to 8 years, and thanks to the efforts of the Honorable Minister, they have now been assented to by the President. This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria, as the IMO will soon update our records to recognize these instruments.
On his part, the Honorable Minister reassured stakeholders of the President’s commitment to developing the Nigerian maritime industry in line with global best practices.
By signing these instruments of accession, the President has reaffirmed this administration’s determination to take its rightful position among the comity of maritime nations. This development will undoubtedly further reassure member states and stakeholders of Nigeria’s resolve and determination to be a leading member of the decision-making body of the IMO.
The deposit of these six instruments of ratification will be carried out by the supervising Ministry, and NIMASA.
Following the recovery of the Flight Data Recorder FDR and Cockpit Voice Recorder CVR otherwise called the black box, of the Helicopter that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima, Port Harcourt, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will share details of her findings therefrom with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Biztellers reports that the black box was recovered last weekend through an inter-Agency collaboration involving NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy (NN), the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), the NNPC Ltd, HydroDive in addition to other local and international search and rescue partners.
On the incident, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dayo Mobereola, commended all organs of government for the swift, and well-coordinated inter-agency partnership for the search and recovery operations.
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He revealed that NIMASA will share information on the incident with the IMO.
In his words, “In line with international maritime safety standards, NIMASA will report the findings about the helicopter crash into the Atlantic Ocean to the International Maritime Organization IMO via the Global Integrated Shipping Information System GISIS.
“By sharing the findings of the offshore Port Harcourt helicopter crash with the IMO, we at NIMASA demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and cooperation within the global maritime community”.
The GISIS is an online platform developed by the IMO to support the timely and accurate reporting of incidents, accidents, and other essential maritime data. This platform enables member states to share information crucial to improving safety protocols, updating best practices, and fostering international cooperation.
According to Mobereola, “NIMASA is committed to working closely with all relevant Agencies to determine the cause of the incident and to take all necessary steps to prevent future occurrences. As we mourn those lost, NIMASA reaffirms its dedication to the safety of Nigeria’s maritime domain and the continued strengthening of inter-agency collaboration.
On October 24th 2024, the Agency had received distress signals at the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) and the C4i center of the Deep Blue project and shared same with the Nigerian Navy who immediately deployed the NIMASA’s specialized search and rescue assets to the crash site to locate the downed aircraft and conduct recovery efforts under challenging conditions.
The helicopter crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima, at a distance of 1.4km from the starboard side of the Floating Producing Storage Offloading FPSO, NUIM ANTAN Producing Ltd owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC Limited).
The NIMASA working closely with the NN, the NSIB, the NNPC Ltd, HydroDive and other local and international search and rescue partners recovered the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) from the Sikorsky SK76 helicopter, registration 5N BQG.
It was gathered that with the recovery of the black box, over 80 percent of the helicopter wreck had been recovered. Other items recovered include rotor, three blades, engine, gearbox, windows, cockpit overhead panels, the Electronic Locator, Transmitter (ELT) and the tail. All the recovered wreck is on a dump barge.
Meanwhile, the DG NIMASA has extended the Agency’s heartfelt condolences to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC Limited, the families of the victims, and all those affected by the tragic helicopter crash.
He stated, “Our deepest sympathies are with the NNPC, the families, and loved ones of those affected by this unfortunate incident. Safety is a paramount commitment for us at NIMASA, and we remain resolute in our partnership with the Nigerian Navy and other stakeholders to ensure effective, rapid response in emergencies.”
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