The most talked about issue in the maritime sector today is how to end cabotage waivers, which stakeholders insist is needed to develop the industry. In this interview with OLUWAKEMI DAUDA, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General Dr Dakuku Peterside says the agency is working on enforcing the cabotage law without stifling businesses. He advised Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector.
What was your impression about NIMASA before your appointment and three years after, what is your impression?
Well, before my appointment, I didn’t know much about NIMASA; the best I knew was that it is a regulatory agency in the maritime sector. But after my appointment, I researched further into NIMASA’s activities, I look at their history and where they want to be. When I got here, I interacted with my colleagues, and numerous sections were held with my colleagues. it really exposed me to the challenges NIMASA was facing. The limited opportunities that laid ahead and what we could do on NIMASA’s role in repositioning the maritime industry in Nigeria, most importantly, as the driver for the growth of the maritime industry. And I am glad to say that I have had the opportunity of working with my colleagues to see to the growth of the maritime industry in Nigeria through the regulatory and promotional perspective.
Before your appointment, stakeholders believed that the image of NIMASA was battered, how far have you been able to redeem the image?
I agree that much that by the time I was appointed to join NIMASA, a lot of damages have been done to the agency’s reputation, and when I sat down with my colleagues, we all admitted that something had gone wrong, and we needed to fix it. And fixing it, we believed we must start from the inside for once, we need to change the way we do things, and choose a different course. We must agree on the code of conduct, and we took very bold steps. One of the bold steps was to rebrand the agency and that is in two dimensions: internal rebranding and external rebranding. External rebranding will not be appreciated until you change the way you are perceived from inside. So, we created a new work ethic. We changed our orientation to work and began to lay emphasis on transparency and accountability. We took responsibility for our actions, embarked on a culture change from the inside and the result is what we are seeing today, where the public perceives NIMASA as a responsible organisation, contributing to the economic growth of this country, ensuring that they make our waterways safe and secure for navigation and protect the interest of Nigerians in the maritime sector.
A few days ago, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a specialised department of the International Chamber of Commerce’s report for the first quarter of this year showed an increased level of safety in the Nigerian maritime domain, what is your view about the piracy report on Nigeria?
Well, you read the latest report, even the IMB admitted that in the last one year there has been a drop in the piracy in the country. The report by IMB is not a surprise to us at NIMASA and to every watcher of maritime activities in our country and beyond, because if you consider how seriously the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government is paying attention to maritime safety and security, which led to the approval of the Deep Blue Project geared towards tackling all illegalities in the maritime sector, you would understand that these are the best times to invest in maritime in Nigeria.
I have always complained about two things. One is that I don’t know if it is deliberate on the part of the IMB. We have been wrongly reported. Every small crime on the sea is reported as piracy. We are still not the worst in the world. We are working very hard to improve where we are. The second dimension is that they have refused to acknowledge the progress we have made in fighting piracy. This is the first time they are admitting in their latest press release that piracy has dropped drastically by 31 per cent in Nigeria. The impression given hitherto is that Nigeria is now the new hot bed of piracy in the world. But now, they have admitted that we have made a lot of progress and as last count it has dropped by 31 per cent.
How did you achieve that?
We have put in place a number of measures. We are not satisfied where we are in terms of maritime safety and security. We believe it is a work in progress.
Nigeria is receiving this kind of good report almost 25 years after, why?
The Federal Executive Council’s recent approval of the Deep Blue Project, which is all-encompassing maritime security architecture, is a clear demonstration of the fact that President Buhari is leaving no stone unturned in his determination to tackle the menace of piracy. It was based on those sincere efforts by the Federal Government that the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre said no vessel was reported hijacked in the period under review, marking the first time Nigeria had such record since the first quarter of 1994. The report noted that in the first quarter of this year, Nigeria experienced a decrease in reported piracy incidents, compared to the same period last year. The report further stated that there was a great improvement in the efforts to actively respond to incidents in the Nigerian maritime domain. The IMB Director, Pottengal Mukundan also made it known to the world that Nigeria was gaining advantage from co-ordinated responses to incidents via its maritime regulatory agency, NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy.
We at NIMASA have also taken a number of steps. One is to create the legal framework that will give us the teeth to fight piracy and other crimes at sea. In that respect we are pushing for the early passage of a dedicated anti-piracy bill. We are also acquiring assets through the deep blue project to enable us build response capability to tackling maritime security. We are also doing a lot of collaboration with our partners in the Gulf of Guinea.
What further assurance do you intend to give to the international community to keep the good report?
The truth is that the Federal Government, through NIMASA will continue to do all in its powers, within the ambit of the law, to ensure that piracy in Nigerian territorial waters is reduced drastically, if not totally eradicated.
What is your take on collaboration with other maritime administrations in the Gulf of Guinea to boost your efforts?
Yes. We are doing a lot of regional collaboration with our partners in the Gulf of Guinea. We are also investing in intelligence and surveillance so that our fight against piracy would be driven by technology; guided by accurate and timely information.
What other measures are you putting in place to stem the problem?
One of the other things we are doing, is to convey a global conference on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. There have been different actors doing different things. But we want to harmonise everything people are doing concerning maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.
So, we hope that later this year, we would convey a global conference on maritime security that will focus on piracy and crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, where we would bring our partners and other colleagues for us to issue a statement of commitment on how we intend to tackle piracy and as well reach a consensus on what needs to be done, when it would be done, who would be the actors and who are the responsible parties. That is what we intend to do in the short run.
Why the need for regional collaboration?
Most of our revenue is from oil. The oil and gas industry needs the maritime sector, particularly shipping, which is international in nature for it to thrive. The fact that shipping is international in nature makes collaboration, particularly at the regional level, inevitable. This will serve as a catalyst for growth in the industry and we at NIMASA have recognised this fact, thus our numerous collaborative efforts, which have begun to yield fruits.
Is there any relationship between NIMASA, the Navy and IMO?
Yes. We have a very strong relationship with the IMO. We are also partnering the Nigerian Navy in different programmes, some supported by the United States. We are embarking on dedicated operations to tackle piracy and wade off maritime crime within our coastal waters. So, those are some of things we are doing with piracy because no piracy begins and ends in one jurisdiction. When there is a hot pursuit, they shift to another region, and on our part, we are determined to give it a fight. Also, in the area of ratification of IMO conventions, Nigeria has done very well, which is evident in the day-to-day running of the maritime sector in the country.
As a maritime administrator, what are the challenges you and other maritime administrator in Africa are facing?
There are four major challenges the maritime administration is facing. One is the dynamism of the industry. Laws change as soon as they are made. Regulations change too often. And that now takes you to the second issue; human capacity building. This is because there is new development in technology and new development in rules. You must continuously train your people and retrain your them, and in many maritime administrations, human capacity is an issue. Now, the third one is what I called harmonisation of rules. You know, maritime is global in nature and when you come up with new international regulations; you need to domesticate it in your own jurisdiction. You must get the legislature to understand your role; you must get the government of the day to also understand your role. And to harmonise the position of the executive and the legislative, stakeholders and operators in the industry, as well as maritime administrations, you will discover that it is not an easy task. It is something you work very hard to get everybody to understand and bring everybody to the same page.
Even from one jurisdiction to another, circumstances vary. You must also engage the people in the same cluster with you. In our case, we in Abuja MOU Zone. You have the Turkey MOU Zone, you have the Black Sea MOU Zone, you have different maritime zones. So, you must be well positioned in your country with different stakeholders, harmonise in your region, harmonise internationally. And that is a bit of a challenge. Now, the other challenge faced, that is peculiar to us in Nigeria, is the issue of maritime security. We thought that It would be history by now, but it is proving slightly or seemingly intractable. But we are doing a lot in that direction. Then, the final thing is the issue of infrastructure deficit. Maritime is capital intensive and so are the assets or building ports and building of supporting infrastructure. They are usually capital intensive and not cheap in this part of the world. In other parts of the world you can get one, two per cent interest rate, but that is not common here. So, those are four key challenges we are facing in the maritime sector.
What are you doing to ensure that NIMASA performs its core responsibility?
We are doing a lot. All of that is articulated in what we called the NIMASA medium term strategic plan and it has five pillars. Pillar number one is survey of certification, transformation strategy; the second one is environmental and security, search and rescue initiatives, the third one is capacity building and promotional initiatives while the fourth one deals with digital and the fifth one is structural. These are five anchors on which we are repositioning NIMASA to fulfill our mandate. Our mandate is two: one is regulation of the maritime industry and the second is promotion of the industry so that many Nigerians will get involve as active players in the sector.
And I think that if anybody will modestly access us, they would agree that we have made remarkable progress in the last three years. Unprecedented, phenomenal progress that has not been seen in the recent time. Whether in the area of regulations, and we are focusing on the area of promotion, all these are giving them reasons to get involve in the maritime sector and giving them the reason to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the sector.
What is your take that more women should be involved in the maritime sector?
Globally, the focus in the maritime industry today, is how to get more women involved in the sector, whether as seafarers, ship owners, etc. So, every effort to encourage women participation in the sector is supported by NIMASA. They can count on the support of NIMASA and, by extension, Nigeria. We believe and support everything that would give women a role in the maritime sector. There is no sector that would exclude 50 per cent of the population and expect that sector to thrive. If we exclude women, we are excluding 50 per cent of our population from benefitting in the economic activities in the maritime sector.
As AMAA President, tell us African leaders’ efforts in this direction?
There are ongoing efforts by African leaders to create economic activities in the continent by maximising the benefits of the blue economy. They all believe that nobody can ignore the role women have to play. The blue economy is one critical sector that will create employment for our people, contribute to economic growth, and give opportunities to all our people, whether they be men or women. So, it is timely and most appropriate that you asked question that is focusing on how to get 50 per cent of the continent’s population involved in the blue economy, be it fisheries, fishing, or underwater mining, aquaculture or any of the activities that go on in the blue economy. That totally aligns with our vision of making the blue economy play greater role in the economic growth of our country and our continent.
In 2017, NIMASA remitted N18.7 billion and in 2018 you projected N109 billion. How far have you been able to achieve this?
In 2018 we projected that we will raise revenue of N109 billion, including Cabotage which is actually not money NIMASA can utilise. But, by December 2018, we were able to rake-in over N92 billion. That is over 85 per cent of our target. You will admit if you know the operating time that we have done very well. Our contribution to the consolidated revenue fund keeps increasing. We have been singled out by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as one of the most improved agencies in terms of contribution to the consolidated revenue fund. And that is something worth celebrating, something worth taking note of.
What do we expect this year?
This year, we will definately exceed the N109 billion revenue. We are putting a lot of measures in place to grow our contribution to the consulidated revenue fund. But that is not our primary focus. Our primary focus is safety on our waterways. Are we able to reduce accidents to zero? Are we able to ensure that no substandard ship is unable to call on any port in Nigeria? Are we able to ensure that shipping does not contribute to the pollution of the marine environment? Are we going to get more Nigerians on board the vessels? Are we going to get more Cabotage vessels to be working? Are we going to ensure that our response time in case of search and rescue is minimal? That we are able to respond less than five minutes. Are we able to reduce threat of maritime insecurity to zero? For me, those are the measures for us to be assessed and not necessarily the amount we are able to contribute.
What assurance can you give to the indigenous and foreign ship owners using our waters?
In terms of piracy and maritime threat, we have put in place what we call the deep blue project approved by the Federal Executive Council to tackle the issue of piracy and maritime crime. We are so pushing for the full implementation of ISPS Code approved by the IMO. We will ensure that our ports and terminals are safe. We read a report from the United States where Nigeria was indicted and that some of our facilities are not ISPS Code compliant. And we engaged the US Coast Guard and as well as the Department of Transport in the United Kingdom and they said the report has not been updated. In their updated report, which will be published later this year, you will see that almost all the facilities in Nigeria are on clear standard. Nigeria is the most improved country in terms of ISPS Code enforcement and that is International Shipping and Ports Security code enforcement in the region of Africa. So, I have talked about the deep blue project, ISPS Code enforcement, then, the other one is the issue of our ports, flag and coastal state control responsibility, which we have taken very seriously so that vessels would be safe to navigate our waterways and our ocean would be clean to maximise the benefits of the industry.
What is your take on the roads leading to the Lagos sea ports?
All stakeholders are not happy, including me. The agencies too are not happy.
What do you think should be done?
For once, it is coming under serious consideration by the Federal Government working with maritime sector players. We all agreed that without fixing the roads, our ports will not be competitive. It has its own multiplier effects on the competitiveness of our ports. So, it is in our best interest that the government should fix all the roads leading to our ports. It reduces dwell time, increases revenue, enhances efficiency and reduces the time of doing transactions in the ports.
How will you feel if you are re-appointed by President Buhari?
I don’t think that is under consideration now. I don’t think it is time to talk about that. I want to talk about how to move the industry forward. It is time to talk about how to drive our reform, which we have started to its logical conclusion. We have invested a lot of time in reforming NIMASA and in repositioning it. So, if there is anything that will give us joy is to see a new NIMASA that is alive to her responsibility; that is responsive to stakeholders’ yearnings and be able to deliver on her mandate. For me, that is the focus for now.
When is the CVFF fund going to be disbursed?
We have made a lot of progress with the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF). We have engaged the Presidency and the Presidency has given consent and support for us to review the CVFF guidelines and disburse the fund. The Minister of Transport has also approved the review of the CVFF guidelines and we are putting the necessary framework in place towards the disbursement of the CVFF. For us, the ultimate is for the CVFF to be able to reduce the cost of borrowing funds to do businesses in the sector so that Nigerians would have access to capital to acquire assets, get the infrastructure and compete with their pairs in the industry.
How many seafarers have you trained to date?
We have trained a number of seafarers under the NSDP programme. We have also retrained seafarers, who are not under the NSDP programme. As at the last count, we have trained close to 2,000 seafarers under the NSDP programme and we also retrained about 6,000 seafarers and dock workers under our retraining initiative.
How many members of staff of the agency have you promoted in recent time?
We have done a lot in that regards. Recently, NIMASA’s Governing Board approved the promotion of the Nigerian Alternate Permanent Representative at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Mr. Dikko Bala, to Director. Also elevated to the position of Director in the agency was the Deputy Director, Maritime Labour Services, Mrs. Rita Uruakpa. Other beneficiaries of the promotion exercise were Mr Kazir Musa, who was promoted to Deputy Director, and 18 officers, who were elevated to Assistant Directors. Let me add that 236 other staff across all grade levels also benefited from the exercise. The promotions were ratified at a meeting of the Governing Board of the agency under the chairmanship of Major General Jonathan India Garba (rtd). Our determination to continue to motivate the agency’s workforce remains unwavering. This was a rigorous, but fair process, and in this wise, I will like to use this medium to congratulate the newly promoted staff of the agency and to say to them that the reward for hard work is more work.
Why do you think your members of staff need to be promoted?
On our part as Executive Management, we will continue to ensure that staff are promoted as and when due, so that they can remain motivated to give their best in the agency’s drive to reposition the maritime industry.
How far have you gone with your CSR projects?
Recently, we embarked on a nationwide donation of relief items to victims affected by flood in some 20 states of the country. The measure was part of the agency’s humble effort towards alleviating the suffering of the people, who were displaced through natural disasters, insurgency and other forms of conflict. This is just our way of supporting the Federal and state governments in catering for the needs of the displaced so that they do not feel abandoned in their times of need. Let me also call on other well-meaning organisations and individuals to also lend their hand of support to the displaced citizens as government cannot do it alone.
As the current Chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA), kindly tell us your primary aim and what your group is doing to build a competitive maritime sector in Africa?
Our primary aim of coming together is to continue to uphold the tenets of the African Maritime Transport Charter (AMTC) to improve among others, the capacity, capability and performance of Africa’s Maritime Administrations and the maritime/shipping sector with great emphasis on human resources development, technology and information sharing. Let me assure you and others that we will not relent in our efforts to build competitive and vibrant maritime and shipping sector and to give Africa a voice among comity of maritime nations as Africa is our hope for sustainable growth.
Recently, stakeholders and other key players said they want NIMASA to end Cabotage waivers for non-indigenous ship owners, what is your take?
NIMASA is determined to ensure that Cabotage waivers are stopped in the next five years. NIMASA’s mandate is all about promoting and regulating shipping in Nigeria. And we have no intentions to stifle anybody’s business. Rather, we are committed to promoting, protecting and providing the enabling environment so that the local ship owners can grow and compete with their international counterparts. We are, certainly, determined to work with our stakeholders and other key players in the industry. I, therefore, call on stakeholders to cooperate with NIMASA to realise the Cabotage implementation because it holds a huge potential to create jobs, add to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and bring about a boom in the economy.
