Lagos — The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, has declared the nation’s maritime sector as one of the fastest growing on the African continent.
Dr Jamoh stated this during an interactive session between the Senate Committee on Marine Transport and chief executive officers of agencies of government in the maritime sector.
Jamoh noted that NIMASA has embraced collaboration and peer review exercises with other Maritime Administrations, MARADs, on the African continent and globally.
He said: “We regularly undertake peer review exercises amongst maritime administrations not just on the African continent, but globally. We have learned a lot from reviews with the South African Maritime Administration (SAMSA), and Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). We have also provided mentorship for maritime administrations on the African continent. Countries like Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana amongst others have come for mentorship on various issues such as Port and Flag State Administration and the SPOMO Act”.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun, noted that the interactive session was to ensure that the legislature and the implementing organs of government were on the same page to ensure Nigerians enjoy benefits accruable from the blue economy.
He said that the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy was created in the determination and commitment of the Federal Government towards reviving the nation’s economy, noting that the ministry had the mandate of coordinating and supervising the activities and operations in the maritime sector. “The creation of the Ministry is born out of the enormous opportunities that are in the marine and blue economy and the desire to fully harness them,” he added.
The Senate Committee on Marine Transport is in Lagos as part of their oversight functions, to receive briefings from the parastatals under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy Ministry. They are NIMASA, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC; Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; and National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA. Others are the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, CRFFN, and Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Oron.
