NIMASA Trains Journalists, Charts Leeway To Maritime Prosperity
. Sulaimon Salau
The Nigerian Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), recently took the media professionals in the maritime sector through some critical operational procedures of the industry in order to play a key role in the efforts to chart a course for a prosperous maritime sector.
The workshop, themed: “Regulating The Maritime Industry: The NIMASA Perspective” had some professional facilitators who took the journalists through some critical aspects of the NIMASA Act and the realities in the current shipping business.
Speaking at the workshop, one of the facilitators and a Retired Director, Shipping Development, NIMASA, Anthony Ogadi, urged journalists to form a formidable voice in the quest to move the maritime sector forward.
He explained that there are some policy directions in the industry that require swift implementation to be about to drive the required change and boost revenue generation as well as generate more employment to Nigerians.
Noting that Nigeria took for granted the rules of the economies of scale which could have generated more revenue for the nation, he said the nation currently has no ocean going vessel, and thereby leave its cargoes for foreign liners to lift and losses the freight to them.
He said: “Countries that generate cargoes and as well ship them by their own vessela stand the advantage of double earnings from freights and costs and in most probably the insurance cover on both cargo and haul.
“This economies of scale is what a robust shipping policy portends for most maritime nations of which Nigeria should not be an exception. Cargo and vessel ownership are interrelated and interwoven,”
Ogadi said freight is additional income to the cost of cargoes if the shipment is self carrying. He therefore urged the maritime stakeholders and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to work out modalities of shifting the trade policy from the present Free on Board (FOB) to Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF).
Noting about 13 shipping companies operating in and out of Nigeria and Ogadi said that there is no single Nigerian ocean liner involved in all maritime businesses as at the day.
He said: “No Nigerian company has ever freighted a drop of Nigerian crude oil out of Nigeria”,
Deputy Director and Special Adviser to the Executive Director Operations, NIMASA, Peter Agbaminoja, spoke on the the topic: “Understanding the International Maritime Regulatory Framework”.
He took participants through the formation of the International Maritime Organisation and its various conventions, the International Labour Organisation and its rules, the formation of the League of Nations which later culminated into the United Nations.
He spoke on the various events that brought about the need for setting of standards, the signing or treaties and the reaching of conventions like the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the end of the first world war in 1919 and the end of the second world war in 1945 while also adding that issues such as the sinking of other ships brought about the enhancement of extant laws.
The Director, Administration and Human Resources at NIMASA, Isichei Osamgbi urged the journalists to support the good policies of the government in revitalizing the sector.
