Vincent Toritseju
Lagos — FOLLOWING its resolve to sustain the war against the activities of pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has commenced moves to review and update its Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy.
Speaking at the launch of a book authored by Mr. Ubong Essien, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said that the MoU is usually reviewed every four years adding that the management of the agency has written to the leadership of the Nigerian on the need to review and update the document.
Jamoh also said that NIMASA wants the MoU reviewed, updated, and signed as soon as possible as the sustenance of the relative peace and security being experienced in the Gulf of Guinea needs to be maintained.
He explained that four years ago when the MoU was signed a lot of changes have taken place hence the need to fine-tune the MoU to meet with the realities of the time.
He stated: “The MoU still subsist, when we signed the MoU four years ago the situation was different from what we have now. I have just sent a letter of renewal to the Nigerian Navy about a month ago. The essence of giving a timeline is that when signed the MoU, the situation was different from what we have now.
“There have been so many developments and improvements in the maritime industry and so we have to capitulate all these changes into the new MoU. We are renewing and incorporating a lot of things into it.
“For instance, there are lots of training going on, the owners of Deep Blue project are being trained, we have to bring all these into the new agreement.
The issue of unmanned aircraft, helicopters, armoured tanks have to incorporated in the MoU because in the last MoU we signed, these assets were not there. So, we will continue to refine and redesign the MoU that we have with the Nigerian Navy.
Follow us on twitter
