Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is to train about five to 10 local maritime auditors overseas to service other African maritime nations.
The training is part of the organisation’s five-point agenda, to build capacity and to empower Nigerians as a major player in the league of maritime nations.
The aim of the audit is to assess methodologies and strategies for achieving the objectives of flag-state implementation and port-state control, which include Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), Maritime Pollution (MARPOL), Standard Training Certificate and Watchkeeping (STCW), and pollution regulation, amongst others.
The training would help to reduce the cost of flying and paying the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) consultant, as well as to generate foreign currency for the country by auditing other African maritime nations.
Presently, only South Africa and Liberia have undertaken voluntary audit scheme on the African continent, which the IMO has constantly requested member states to submit with their maritime administrations for voluntary audit schemes.
Speaking with BusinessDay in Lagos recently, the director general of NIMASA, Temi Omatseye, says Nigeria has all it takes to be in the Category B of the IMO in the next few years, stressing that the training would be one of the steps towards achieving that objective.
According to Omatseye, it cost much to pay foreign consultants and the organisation is working towards empowering its workers as the apex maritime body in the country.
“We are supposed to carryout coastguard, domesticate ratified conventions, build capacity and increase Nigeria’s tonnage. But NIMASA has not been doing that and time has come for us to wake up from our slumber,†Omatseye stated.
The director general explains further that the country’s audit ended on Monday this week, saying that the result would determine the Agency’s next line of action, pointing out however that out of 160 member countries in the IMO, only 49 countries have be audited, and that the first audit was done in 2006.
Responding, the IMO voluntary audit consultant, Richard Rees, stated that the programme was necessary, stressing that in the next few years, it would be compulsory for Council members.
Benefits accruable to Nigeria under this audit scheme include the identification of areas where the country requires technical assistance from the IMO, while the country will also receive valuable feedback from the organisation on ways to improve on its port and flag-state control activities.
Results from the Nigerian audit process will be systematically fed back into the regulatory process at IMO to help make measurable improvements in the effectiveness of the international regulatory framework of shipping.