The Federal Government has directed the management of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to deploy its N50 billion Modular Floating Dock to create jobs and boost government’s revenue.

The Modular Floating Dock was acquired by NIMASA about four years ago.

The directive was given by the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, to NIMASA.

NIMASA’s Director-General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, who made known to reporters in Lagos, said the minister described the deployment of the Modular Dockyard as one of the low-hanging fruits that would be delivered to the nation within the next few months.

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“When we met with the Minister last month, he made it clear that we needed to deploy the Modular Floating Dockyard for the benefit of Nigerians.

“The truth is that we are working round the clock daily to ensure the Dockyard is put to use. We are working closely with the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) using lessons from past mistakes, to ensure a productive and sustainable deployment of the Modular Dockyard,” he said.

Jamoh added that NIMASA and NPA were set to complete the operationalisation of the Modular Floating Dock with the installation of dolphins and repair of facilities at the NPA Continental Shipyard facility, where the floating dock would be operated from.

He noted that the agency had completed the ongoing discussions with its co-partner, NPA and others to provide the Continental Shipyard for the anchoring of the Dockyard.

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is  providing guidance for the deployment of the national asset on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, adding that the floating dock needs to go through an installation before it starts functioning or be put to use.