…Buhari congratulates Peterside
Kunle Kalejaye
24 April 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Namibia and Seychelles are jostling for the hosting right for the 2019 Association of African Maritime Administrations, AAMA, conference.
The chosen host could not be confirmed at the time of filing this report.
AAMA, a body of 34 African countries including Nigeria, held its 3rd conference in Abuja last week, where Nigeria’s Dakuku Peterside, director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, was elected as chairman of the association for the next one year.
Peterside takes over from Mr. Sobantu Tilayi, the acting Chief Executive Officer of South African Maritime and Safety Agency, SAMSA, who has been the acting chair of the association since 2013.
At a closing sessionAbuja conference, Tilayi described Peterside as a committed and dedicated technocrat that will take African maritime administration to a higher level.
In his goodwill message to the African maritime group, the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, Secretary General made a strong case for an increment in Africa’s tonnage and development of other shipbuilding and marine infrastructure to increase the continent’s participation in global shipping activities.
The IMO-scribe, who was represented by the head, Africa (Anglophone) Section Technical Cooperation Division of the International Maritime OrganiSation, IMO, Mr. William Azuh, at the conferebce, cited the 2016 UNCTAD review of maritime transport, which indicates that out of the 35 top ship-owning countries in the world, which also make up about 95 per cent of world ship tonnage, none is an African country.
He charged leadership of the association and indeed member states of the association to begin to develop the framework that would enable them take full advantage of the vast maritime potential embedded in the continent.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Peterside over his election as the chairman of AAMA.
The presidents congratulatory message was contained in a statement issued by presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina.
President Buhari described the election of the NIMASA boss as a confirmation that the country has the human capital required to make Nigeria a leading maritime nation.
