Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — Between 2020 and 2023, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has brought the country to speed in the maritime world with the ratification of 6 conventions.
Under Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh OFR, led Management NIMASA in the last three years have doubled Nigeria’s momentum for a viable blue economy that seeks to harness maritime potentials for economic sustainability and growth.
While Jamoh’s implementation drive has earned Nigeria some accolades, it is noteworthy that a lot couldn’t have been achieved without reliable legal backing either as legislation or international conventions which Nigeria acceded to. Not less than 6 International maritime conventions have been ratified by Nigeria for proper governance of the country’s maritime space.
These ratified conventions spell out the proper mode of governance for various areas such as standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping for the fishing sector, pollution management, and carriage of passenger luggage by sea.
Nigeria has ratified the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009; the International Convention on Standard of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel, STCW –F, 1995; Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties, Intervention Protocol, 1973; Protocol on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, LLMC, 1996; Protocol to the 1974 Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 2002; and Protocol of 2005 to the 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf, SUA PROT 2005,
Within the three years, the agency also concluded the review of 49 Regulations made under the Merchant Shipping Act, of 2007. Laws in this category specifically sought to protect the interests of indigenous professionals and investors in the maritime industry with first-choice opportunity preferences. It also bridged operational gaps between the maritime sector and another area while fostering inter-agency collaboration with other federal government-owned organisations.
Jamoh and his team have succeeded in Executing some Memorandum of Understanding between the Agency and Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, NITT, and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, amongst others. Other MoUs reached include Memorandum of Understanding, MoUs, on the recognition of Certificate of Competency, CoC, and Training of Seafarers between Nigeria and Sixteen countries. This is aimed at expanding opportunities for international-level job placement for holders of Nigeria CoC while also causing Nigerian skilled maritime manpower deployment in addressing the global challenge of a declined number of seafarers.
NIMASA has achieved the automation of the registration process of Shipping Companies/Agents resulting in Certificates being embedded with QR Codes for authentication. This has successfully eliminated the back-and-forth incidents of alleged fake certificates in the past and has enthroned a greater level of integrity and accountability in the certification process.
The agency’s deliberate drive to educate and strengthen judicial officers on how best to handle admiralty cases was not left behind in the period under review. NIMASA successfully hosted the Annual Nigerian Admiralty Law Colloquium in collaboration with the Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS, and the National Judicial Institute, NJI, for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. On anti-piracy, NIMASA championed the implementation of the Suppression of Piracy and Maritime Offences, SPOMO, Act, 2019 which has enhanced safer and secured trading routes through the Gulf of Guinea region and ensured proper prosecution of a sizeable number of cases such as FGN v BINAEBI JOHNSON & 8 Ors and FGN v FRANK ABAKA & 9 Ors.
This landmark SPOMO Act by Nigeria is presently being studied by other maritime administrations owing to its huge success in fighting piracy with a rich legal framework that is marked with successes since implementation began. Beyond the shores of Nigeria, notable global maritime personalities like Kitack Lim, the Secretary of the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, and Dr. Paul Adalikwu, Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa, MOWCA, have recommended the SPOMO Act model to other African countries. All these achievements under the leadership of Dr. Jamoh and his team show an Agency focused on the use of the instrumentality of the Law to enhance the values the Nigerian maritime industry adds to the Nation’s economy.
