Beyond regulating maritime operations, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has a mandate to aid the Federal Government’ s economic diversification efforts. WALE AJETUNMOBI writes on the agency’s preparation for the task ahead
THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is bracing for its expected role in the efforts of the Federal Government to diversify the economy from the oil and gas sector.
Agriculture, solid minerals and maritime trade are some of the non-oil commodity markets being eyed by the government as alternative revenue sources following the dwindling value of crude oil in the international market.
NIMASA’s role in the diversification drive is crucial, given its strategic activities to ensure the security and safety of maritime infrastructure. The agency has a core mandate to promote safe shipping of goods through the nation’s water, which will in turn, shore up the non-oil revenue earnings.
In his keynote remarks at the fifth Nigeria Transport Awards and Lecture in Lagos, NIMASA’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said his agency was not oblivious of its mandate.
He observed that Nigeria has what it takes to push up revenue from non-oil commodities with its vast coastlines, navigable inland waterways and strategic location on the Atlantic Coast of West Africa.
According to Peterside, maritime remains a strategic sector to the success of the government’s revenue diversification policy, pointing out that revenues from oil and gas sales and other vibrant economic sectors could not be reaped without efficient and responsible maritime.
The NIMASA chief said: “Shipping is essential for proper operation of any country’s economy and a vital part of a nation’s transport infrastructure. The abundant mineral resources domiciled in every nook and cranny of the country should be harnessed through shipping to create positive economic impact.”
Expected gains from
deep seabed exploration
In repositioning the economy, Peterside said it has been exploring ways to shore up more revenue from Nigeria’s maritime sector, revealing the plan to explore and harness deep seabed mining to earn more benefits for the country.
Speaking at the opening of the 23rd International Seabed Authority (ISBA) Assembly in Kingston, Jamaica, Peterside disclosed that the agency had opened consultations with ISBA on how to effectively harness the opportunities in deep seabed mining.
Leading the Nigerian delegation to the event, he commended ISBA on its role in the optimal utilisation of seabed resources among maritime stakeholders and solicited for assistance in the area of capacity building to survey deep sea and establish a data base for available mineral resources for the benefit of the people.
He told his audience that the government was developing policies that will aid the harnessing of seabed resources, promising to work closely with the ISBA.
Peterside said: “The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Transportation is developing a blue economy policy and strategy which will incorporate the sustainable development of the country’s deep seabed resources”.
The NIMASA chief disclosed that officials of the Nigerian Navy Hydrographic office have been carrying out hydrographic survey and charting of the nation’s maritime perimeter, adding that the agency would engage the Naval Command to effectively enforce the United Nations (UN) Convention on the law of the sea and relevant international maritime instruments to which Nigeria is a party around African continental shelf.
Seeking the exploration of mineral resources within the nation’s maritime jurisdiction, Peterside assured that NIMASA would continue to prioritise marine environment preservation and protection.
Solving the riddle of bureaucracy
Following the Executive Order by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, directing the ministries, departments, agencies and parastatals to clear the bottlenecks turning away investors, NIMASA has taken steps to reorganise its activities to align its mandates with government’s Ease of Doing Business Initiative.
The steps taken to rid NIMASA of the bottlenecks are yielding positive results in the maritime sector, Peterside said.
The NIMASA director shared the testimony with a group of businessmen in the United States (U.S.) on the sideline of an Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas. The theme of the conference was: “Sub-Saharan African oil and gas networking session.
At the meeting, Peterside assured investors of Nigeria’s stable business climate, noting that the government had initiated regulations to support smooth business operations, especially in the maritime sector.
Describing Nigeria’s maritime industry as a thrust of golden opportunities which sincere investors will make maximum profit, Peterside disclosed that the nation allows income tax exemptions for infrastructural development in ship building and making financial incentives available for ship building and ship scrapping with assurance of foreign repatriation of capital and profit.
“We have made move to provide basket of incentives to ensure that investors get into the industry and maximise the opportunities in the maritime sector for the benefit of both the people of Nigerians and the investors”, he said.
The NIMASA director-general reiterated the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to carry out more reforms, with the aim to ensure a drastic reduction in bureaucratic bottlenecks impeding investment in the country.
He said that the government’s seriousness to attract more investments was demonstrated in the choice of Acting President Osinbajo as the coordinator of the Ease of Doing Business Initiative.
Peterside added that the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council had approved a national action plan for implementation across priority areas to enhance entry and exit of goods and services to drive foreign investments inflow into Nigeria.
Restating NIMASA’s commitment to boost investment in the maritime sector, Peterside, at the Nor-Shipping 2017 held in Lillstrome, Norway, hinted that Nigeria had taken delivery of the fifth largest floating dock in Africa, a project that is expected to be completed in the last quarter of the year.
He said: “Nigerian maritime is endowed with over 850 kilometres of coastline. We have six modern port complexes and a fast developing intermodal transport system as well as abundant trained workforce combined with a standard regulatory regime, which are benefits accruable to investing in the Nigeria maritime sector.
“Our country is bounded by two land-locked countries of Chad and Niger. So, we are not just serving goods coming into Nigeria, we are also serving goods going to Chad and Niger. The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) was established by the government to fast track investment entry into Nigeria. Part of the council’s mandate is to ensure the commencement of 24-hour ports operations.”
The NIMASA director also identified the key areas of achieving a maritime hub status, including putting the right infrastructure in place, reliable regulatory regime and efficient maritime security.
He said: “The Federal Government has not only put the right infrastructure in place, but it has also put the right regulatory regime and also a set of incentives to make our maritime sector a hub.
“So, if anyone wants to talk about stability, you can say Nigeria has it. The government is also working on intermodal transport system to facilitate the ease of doing business and of course good regulatory regime.”
Peterside said the government was working out plans to refloat the national fleet for the country, noting that initiative would be private sector driven.
He said: “The government, through the Federal Ministry of Transportation, is making efforts to refloat the national fleet. When the plans are concluded, it will ensure that the private sector drive the process while government will serve as facilitator. That is the way we have chosen to address the issue of national fleet ownership.”
Symbiotic relationship
with investors
The agency has been re-assuring investors of profits on their venture into the maritime business and an insistence on mutually beneficial relationship, even as the NIMASA chief foreclosed compromised.
Peterside spoke of Africa’s readiness to engage the global investors in the area of maritime businesses, but on equal terms. He said it was time African maritime administrators stopped others from engaging them on their own terms, whether they bring vessels or just taking for cargoes.
Rather, he said African maritime needs a mutually beneficial relationship where it can give and also receive.
He averred: “What we are trying to do is to change the terms of engagement for the rest of the world in terms of maritime businesses. We want to operate on equal terms that are not lopsided against our own interest, thereby creating room for a mutually beneficial relationship.
“There are countless opportunities in the maritime administration of Nigeria and the rest of countries in Africa.
“In Nigeria, we are diversifying the economy, which is the biggest economy in Africa with a vast population, vast coastline of over 800 kilometres, and endowment in many natural resources and a good Gross Domestic Product (GDP) amongst others.
“If any investor is considering doing maritime business in Africa, such investor must talk about Nigeria. The business model must be beneficial to all parties. That is, the investor and the people of Nigeria.”
Vision for African maritime trade
Following his recent appointment as the chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA), Peterside said his plans were to increase Africa’s shares in the global maritime market.
The drive, he noted, would be achieved through the promotion African maritime industry growth by building the capacity of the individual nation’s maritime sector.
Charging maritime stakeholders in the continent to foster partnership and cooperation, Peterside stressed the importance of collaboration for African maritime to take its rightful place in the global maritime community.
He spoke with African Maritime Advisory Group (AMAAG) at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in London. He highlighted briefed the AMAAG members of the modest progress recorded by Heads of African Maritime Administrations, working together and the plans of going forward for the implementation of the instruments signed by African Heads of State and Governments to reposition the continent’s maritime community.
He said: “Africa is a major stakeholder in maritime market, so, we must take our rightful place. This can only happen if we work together, and these cooperation issues would be brought to the front burner during the meeting of the Executive committee of AAMA coming up in September in Egypt.
“If you look at the number of seafarers we have globally, it appears things are lopsided against Africa and the challenge appears to be sea time training, so we are talking about sea time and building capacity.”
He also observed that African did not have its fleets, suggesting the need for African nations to develop their own fleets while the terms of trade was being looked into.
Peterside said: “What is going on is that many other countries of the world just come to Africa to take our cargoes and they go away.
“How can we all operate on the same level? It is because Africa has something to give, which is the reason they are coming to us. Our maritime has enormous potential to generate profits for investors. Therefore, they must engage us on equally beneficial terms.”
He added that AAMA members would promote collaboration to work out ways to benefit from one another’s experiences. This, he said, will help in the running of the affairs of their respective maritime administrations.
He listed the areas of collaboration to include enhancing the continent’s fleets, human capacity development, peer review in terms of maritime administration, ports state control, coastal control and infrastructural growth, among other.
The objectives, he said, would be geared towards achieving a virile maritime administration in Africa, adding that AAMA, under his leadership, had put policies in place to enhance African maritime administrators to work as a block to get a better share of the global maritime trade, beginning with representation at the IMO.
He disclosed that AAMA would meet with the leadership of the African Union (AU) to deliberate on how best to harness the continents maritime potential, using international regulatory instruments.
Corroborating Peterside’s suggestion, the Alternative Permanent Representative of Ghana to IMO, Mrs. Azara Prempeh, said Africa’s representation in the IMO Council and the Secretariat staffing did not reflect the numerical strength of African states membership in IMO, urging AAMA to work as a block to influence a change of policy in favour of the African continent.
She said: “Heads of Maritime Administrations should engage the AU to give maritime affairs the deserved priority attention in its structure. We also need proper implementation of the Yaounde Code of Conduct that has to do with maritime security in West and Central Africa, the Lome Charter, 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS), AU Agenda 2063 and other instruments accented to by African leaders to fast-track the development of the continent’s maritime potential.”
Engaging Africa in
international maritime politics
Leading the AAMA executive delegation to meet with the IMO Secretary-General, Mr. Kitack Lim, at the organisation’s headquarters in London, Peterside called for increased African representation in IMO. He said that there was the need for Africa’s proportionate representation to commensurate with the size of the continent’s membership of IMO.
He said: “The number of African nation at the council of the IMO is disproportionate to the size of the continent’s representation at the global maritime body. To drive Africa’s maritime sector development agenda, there is need for a proportionate and effective representation of the continent in the council and at the secretariat.”
Commending the IMO for the technical support extended to members in Africa, Peterside solicited for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the IMO and AAMA to have integrated position, saying it would be beneficial to African countries needing technical supports.
In his response, the IMO Secretary-General, Lim, praised the African Maritime Administrations for their high level organisation and a proactive leadership of AAMA with a drive towards ensuring that Africa maritime sector remains viable.
He urged African nations to foster cooperation and work closely to remain a formidable block that would be of influence in decision making at the IMO.
The IMO chief said developing countries could learn from the success stories of maritime industries of developed nations, assuring the AAMA members of the IMO’s willingness to continue to champion greater assistance to developing countries for more benefits in global maritime trade.
He promised that the technical department of IMO would get back to AAMA on the various requests made.
