By Adeniyi Onifade
The Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration (NIMASA) led by the Director-General, Bashir Jamoh, has commissioned its new Zonal Headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Agency also commissioned the Centre for Logistics and Transport Studies at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). The project is part of the Education Development Scheme of NIMASA.
The two sensitive facilities, which were commissioned recently, are expected to boost revenue generation and maritime regulation in Nigeria.
Jamoh said the Logistics Centre in Uniport is expected to produce workers that would lead Nigeria’s maritime industry to global prominence. About the new world-class NIMASA zonal headquarters named after a maritime giant, Magdalene OnyemaOrakwusi, the DG said it is expected to double revenue from the South-South region of the country.
The NIMASA boss said that two bullet-proof buses have also been procured to help NIMASA staff to enforce regulation, track offenders, collect revenue from oil lifting activities, and do far better than before.
He also lamented that greed is one of the most dangerous factors responsible for the insecurity in the land and the sector.
According to him, “in 2018, when I was doing my doctorate degree at Uniport, under the able supervision of the man who today is Director of the Centre for Logistics and Transport Studies, Prof Osai Akpogemi, and I was supported to identify causes of maritime insecurity in Nigeria, and this study lasted for two years.
“We saw greed, poverty, poor governance, poor human capital capacity, etc, as the main factors.”
He said these bad actions lead to maritime insecurity. He also said that training is critical because that is one of the best ways to confront insecurity.
In his own words, “education and training are key to anything else government wants. The maritime industry is in disarray but we have gone far to install stability. We have engineered policy management and policies that can move the maritime industry to global levels, and these policies will help the youth contribute to the growth of the economy.
“We have just handed over 11 vessels (Platforms) to fight infrastructure decay. This centre is to address youth menace.
“The Ministry, the FG, the Rivers State government, etc played very important roles to see to this outcome. We worked closely with the Vice-Chancellor. This is the second university in rating in Nigeria and the first in the South-South.”