The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency has called on the National Bureau of Statistics to include NIMASA in its monthly statistics.
Director General of the agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made the call, said the Nigerian maritime sector, which currently provides over 100,000 direct jobs with multiplier effects of over two million jobs, deserves adequate mention in the NBS statistics released monthly.
“We are pushing for a single data window system in the maritime sector, whereby NIMASA, the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Nigerian Customs Service and other relevant government agencies in the sector will share a common platform for data on all vessels calling at our ports and the activities,” Peterside said.
He explained that this will make it easy for the NBS to capture the contributions of the maritime sector and the GDP of the country to enable those who make use of the figures to grow the economy achieve better results.
According to him, the Agency is pushing for a single data window system of all activities in the Nigerian maritime sector in such a way that data required will be available on a single platform, as a maritime data bank to help engender the nation’s rapid economic growth.
Speaking on the survey and inspection of vessels calling at Nigerian ports, Peterside said that the fast intervention vessels the agency leased last year have led to an increase in Port, Flag and Coastal State control inspections, which, he noted, has increased by over 10.3, 33.3 and 27 per cent respectively in 2018 than the same period in the previous year. This is just as the Agency has taken drastic action to ensure that substandard vessels do not ply and endanger our waters.
“Nigeria is no longer conducive for substandard vessels, because they know that we are more vigilant and by this, we are ensuring the protection of our environment. We are strict on enforcement of standards and the international fleet feels more comfortable with our maritime terrain,” the DG
said.
Commenting on the issue of placing beneficiaries of the Agency’s Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme onboard ocean going vessels for their mandatory sea-time training, he disclosed that currently a total number of 289 cadets have commenced their training in Egypt and the United Kingdom on NIMASA full sponsorship. He also used the opportunity to assure all beneficiaries of the scheme that the Agency will ensure they all complete their mandatory sea-time training in due
course.
He pointed out further that the Agency is working with the IMO as technical partners to improve the quality of graduates from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, saying this is to ensure that graduates from MAN, Oron and other maritime institutions are employable.
