The Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola has said that the agency priotised the full automation of the Nigerian ship registry and gender inclusion across various aspects of the maritime industry.
Mobereola, who stated this recently during his maiden engagement with the maritime stakeholders in Lagos, said there is a need to move the industry forward and advance the nation’s goals.
“Automation of the ship registry is one thing that has been spoken about, I want to assure you that it would happen very quickly. The gender inclusion is another thing we would seriously look into, and wherever we have shortfalls, we would make the necessary amendments.
“We also have to align with the Minister’s objectives for the Blue Economy. My purpose here for today’s occasion is to listen and take note of all the comments. I can assure that all we have shared here will be put into consideration in developing our plans for the next four years.
“The purpose of NIMASA is to serve the industry and we cannot decide what is good for the industry unless the industry is involved via a joint partnership for us to excel. The automation of the ship registry is something we have talked about and I can assure you that it will happen very quickly,” he said.
While delivering the lead paper at the interactive session, a frontline maritime lawyer, Dr Emeka Akabogu said that there is no availability of accurate data of ships registered in Nigeria, owned by Nigerians and the number of Nigerian seafarers.
According to him, Nigeria is losing $1 trillion annually to the non-disbursement of the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF), adding that the country was losing $4 billion to lack of local marine transportation in the country.
He added that there are three legs to shipping, fleet expansion, ship repairs, and shipbuilding and the country was losing $9 billion annually to the non-participation in international freight services.
He said that the fishing sub-sector of the maritime industry contributes $282 billion annually to the economy while Nigeria’s coastal resources have an estimated capacity of $504 trillion, saying the current realised capacity is $106 trillion in export and import on frozen fish is $876 million.
Akabugo quoted the former DG of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, to have said that Nigeria loses approximately, $25.5 billion annually to illegal maritime activities and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited loses, $1.35 billion on oil bunkering.
He said that in 2024 alone, the number of registered ships in Nigeria was 4419 with a total tonnage of, 5.8 billion.
“Summary of the valid registered vessel, 2136 with a 4.2 billion gross tonnage, invalid registered ship, 61, Cabotage registered vessel, 1033, with a gross tonnage of 1.9 million. The foreign-owned vessel, 18 with a gross tonnage of 125 million,” he added.
SOURCE: The Sun News