By Izuchukwu Ozoemena

March 10, 2023, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR, was three years in office as Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). To mark this, the agency’s Public Relations Team articulated his landmark achievements. Falcon Watch Online joins to do a special focus on Bashir Jamoh at three, x-raying specific areas his three-year tenure has made a difference plus a couple of other issues stakeholders expect him to focus on as he runs out his full tenure at the apex maritime agency.

As a home grown industry person, Dr Jamoh , on appointment, did not find it hard to quickly articulate areas of focus where special attention is needed to make a difference. These he dubbed the 3S: maritime Safety, maritime Security and Shipping development.

PIRACY & KIDNAPPING IN GoG

Nigerian waters form an integral part of the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).  Nigerian waters and the entire GoG now enjoy a drastic reduction in piracy, incidences of kidnapping and other maritime crimes which hitherto made seafaring in the area a nightmare. In 2020, for instance, 130 cases were recorded; in 2021, it was 57. There was none throughout 2022. The commendable zero incidents of 2022 are even being witnessed as Q1 of 2023 rushes to lapse.

At this rate, stakeholders say, Nigeria now stands to do without payment of Extra War Risk Insurance (EWRI) premiums and other charges introduced on account of piracy and other crimes on waters.

THE DEEP BLUE PROJECT

In June 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the deep blue project. The implementation has brought a marked reduction in maritime crimes because the Team NIMASA under Jamoh applied what can be described as a multi-sectoral approach in an attempt to address nagging problems. The agency struck new levels of strategic collaborations with regional countries and other global shipping nations with huge trade interest in the GoG.

Deep Blue Project assets include Marine Assets: Special Mission Vessels 2 (DB Abuja and DB Lagos), 17 Fast Intervention Boats.  Air Assets: Special Mission Helicopters 3, Special Mission Aircrafts 2, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Land Assets and 17 Armored Vehicles.

Other facilities are – Command, Control, Computer, Communication and Intelligence (C4i) Centre, Training Facilities (Shooting Range, C4i Training Centre etc.) Various training were organized for all personnel in the deep blue project on how to operate the assets and facilities.

The Deep Blue Project Assets were classified into 3 (three) with over 254 personnel drawn from military and paramilitary organizations. These are Marine, Land and Air Assets.

MARITIME SECURITY:

SPOMO ACT

Before 2019, the nation didn’t have a separate law to try offenders and criminals arrested in piracy and kidnapping. Therefore, Jamoh pushed for a formal legislation and the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Related Offences (SPOMO) Act was signed into law by Mr. President in June 2019. As of today, under the SPOMO Act, the agency has secured convictions. This has also served as a deterrent to would-be criminals.

Implementation of the SPOMO Act led to better partnership with the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies within and outside to gainfully explore ways and means to attain peace in the GoG region. The success of this approach enabled Nigeria’s delisting from the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Red List as well as the International Bargaining Forum’s (IBF) Unsafe Waters List.

To further deter these criminalities on the waterways and make the youths gainfully employed, the Agency engaged the Marine Litter Marshals.

REVENUE GENERATION

Since Dr Jamoh mounted the saddle in 2020, NIMASA has paid over N100billion into the federal government coffers. Between January 2020 to June 2022, N99, 944,345,082 was remitted to the federal government, records say.

SEAFARERS DEVELOPMENT

Under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), NIMASA has enrolled 2,041 student cadets since inception in 2009.

The number of officers so far trained is 656. While 625 cadets have obtained their Certificate of Competence (CoC), 31 others qualified as Naval Architects. While 360 cadets have completed seatime and are awaiting CoC, 351 have been assigned to MTIs and awaiting seatime; 120 withdrew with10 deceased.

STAFF WELFARE

Dr Jamoh inherited a staff condition of service which was reviewed last in 2010. Realizing the critical role a well-motivated workforce plays in maintaining a productive organization, he went on to secure an upward  review of staff condition of service so as to increase commitment and efficiency on their part.

MARITIME SAFETY

At the end of the last quarter, 2021, the Federal Government approved the removal of wrecks from Badagry channel up to the Tin Can Island. In the first quarter of 2022 also, Government approved the removal of wrecks in Western zone in Lagos, Eastern zone in Port Harcourt and central Zone with headquarters in Warri. All these projects have achieved major milestones.

NIMASA engaged the Nigerian Navy Naval Dockyard in Lagos to repair  operational vessels, Millennia 1 and Millennium 2. Today both vessels and five others are almost ready for deployment for enforcement purposes. This will also enhance search-and- rescue operation, port and flag state administration, amongst others.

In order to attend to the emergencies that may occur after a Search and Rescue Operation, the Agency has built two brand new Search and Base clinics of international standard at Azare Crescent, Apapa and Kirikiri.

“We are hopeful to commission them soon. The hospital is not for NIMASA or Nigeria, but original Regional States. NIMASA is in charge of nine countries in terms of Search and Rescue. The hospital is of high international standard where we hope to treat all caliber of patients locally and internationally with the state-of- the-arts equipments when completed, NIMASA says.

“In the area of Flag and Port State Administration, at the inception of the administration, there was no single vessel for enforcement in the past. Today, we have built seven brand new bullet proof boats and we expect them to have completed the building. They are being built in Spain, and we are hoping that before the end of March, we will receive and commission the vessels. As soon as the vessels are commissioned, there will be enhanced enforcement performance; and we plan to divide the use of the vessels not only in Lagos, but also to other zones of the Agency. All these will cater for the issue of safety.”

MARITIME TRAINING

In the area of education, the Agency introduced the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP). The Nigerian NSDP development program is a capacity development programme.

In order to ensure that Nigeria’s major maritime training institution is not relegated to the background, NIMASA has improved her interface with the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron. The Agency’s statutory funding of the MAN Oron has been on point since 2020.

Currently, MAN Oron has Simulators, among other state-of- the- art facilities, and the funding by NIMASA has been unhindered. This is in addition to other private maritime institutions such as Charkins. They are now also coming up with a lot of accreditation of diplomas and other short-term certificate courses that are being done locally, thus, saving foreign exchange.

In addition to this initiative, the Agency created skills acquisition centres across the six geopolitical zones. For the South-West, one is in Lagos.  In the South-East, there is one in  Anambra; for South-South, there is one in Bayelsa. There is one in Maiduguri, Borno State, for North-East. For North-West, Kaduna has one while one is in Kwara for North Central.

So, these skill acquisition centers have the capacity of training younger Nigerians on different aspects of professionalism in the maritime sector. This idea is to help keep the youths busy thereby stemming the volume of criminality in the territorial waters. Records show that from the third quarter of 2021 till date, one single attack has not been recorded on the territorial waters.

SHIPPING DEVELOPMENT

The critical aspect of shipping development encompasses fleet expansion, shipbuilding and ship repairs. Shipping is responsible for over 90 percent of international transportation of goods that sustain the global supply chain, which is a significant component of the global economy, enhancing import and exports of goods and services.

NIMASA is poised to advance shipping by ensuring a conducive environment for commercial shipping and encouraging more indigenous participation in the global shipping trade.

LAST LINE

No doubt, Dr Jamoh’s scorecard at three years is impressive. But certain areas still yearn for attention as he inches towards the end of his first tenure as NIMASA Director General.

As some industry watchers say, it has become necessary to raise the standard of Nigerian Certificate of Competency (CoC) by inviting United Kingdom and American maritime authorities for a facility and faculty assessment visit to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, especially now that basic STWC training equipments are in place. Their observations and recommendations have to be noted and painstakingly followed.

Steps should be taken to possibly meet whatever standards the visitors may prescribe and recruit internationally recognized facility members and trainers for MAN.

Nigeria should sign a MoU with the UK and US authorities to recognize and accept Nigerian CoCs after meeting all the prescribed standards.

Nigeria should put on ground a two-year internal re-evaluation arrangement to ensure that attained standards are not compromised but improved upon in line with the expectations of modern navigation and global maritime trends.

There are expectations that Nigeria should look inwards and train more people at home at lesser costs but with higher chances of working onboard any seagoing vessel anywhere in the world with NIMASA CoC.

Nigeria should consider migrating beyond the present near-coastal voyage (NCV) of certification to certifying masters and chief engineers while constantly re existing MoUs.

NIMASA should work towards improving Nigeria’s ship registry to attract more registrations perhaps beginning with the fleet under the Nigerian LNG Limited (NLNG) whose vessels fly foreign flags.

Till date, illegal poaching of fishes and other aquatic products by foreigners flourish on Nigerian waters with little or no control. Over 40% of global Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing occur in Africa out of which the GoG accounts for a sizable portion. Jamoh and NIMASA should be able to capture IUU fishing as a maritime crime under its tripod and explore avenues to curb the menace.

For now, many NSDP training beneficiaries remain without jobs. More opportunities should be created for them and others awaiting seatime when indigenous ship-owners have access to fund ship acquisition.