Maritime

Lagos, Nov. 7, 2023: The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC) have kicked against moves by the National Assembly to revisit the Ports and Harbour Bill.

MWUN and SSASCGOC said this at a joint press conference on Monday in Lagos.

Speaking at the meeting, the President General of MWUN, Mr Adewale Adeyanju and the President, SSACGOC Maritime Branch, Comrade Akin Bodunde urged President Bola Tinubu to be wary of legislation that would kill his commitment towards job creation for Nigerians.

They stated that many Nigerians would be jobless with the passage of the Bill into law.

They explained that the job creation would come through the newly created Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.

Recall the Bill was squashed from becoming law by the 8th Assembly through the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians, stakeholders and the exerted efforts of the two in-house unions- MWUN and SSASCGO

“We wish to note that this said Bill if allowed to be passed into law will have far reaching grave consequences on the security of the nation as it will cede harbour, jetty and terminal operations into private hands.

“We are therefore not surprised that the bill is being vigorously sponsored by certain unpatriotic individuals within the maritime sector, who are hell bent on appropriating our common wealth and cornering same into the lining of their individual pockets and that of their cronies.

“We would have thought that given our persistent cry and various notices pointing to the deplorable state of our various nation’s seaports, decrepit state of port access roads, collapsing quay aprons, and the general failure of infrastructures within our ports the focus of this 10th National Assembly would have been to find solutions to them.

“The myriad of problems bedeviling our ports, terminals, jetties and oil and gas platforms and even the need to dredge all the ports particularly Calabar, Warri, Onne for increased efficiency.

“They should not through clandestinely and recklessly seek misappropriate public infrastructure through unfriendly legislation for the benefit of individuals whose only interest is capital accumulation and not the general public good of all,” he said.

He said they were surprised that the sponsors of this Bill had refused to obey the extant maritime regulations, standards and laws to order.

He said that the Bill as being proposed, if passed into law would render the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) employees jobless and endanger the productivity of other port users.

“It is our believe that allowing this Bill to be passed into law will effectively institutionalise the evil concept of casualisation of workers and as well negate the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2004 as amended.

“This is in direct contrast to the avowed promises of President Bola Tinubu to ensure the provision of about five million jobs for Nigerians through the newly created Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy,” he said.

Adeyanju added that the MWUN and SSASCGOC would not fold their hands and allow few unpatriotic Nigerians within the industry to rip-off the nation’s common wealth and render the sector unproductive.

“This infamous Bill will only create poverty, hopelessness, hunger and generate avid bitterness amongst the already impoverished workers and Nigeria citizenry.

“We unequivocally reject the Bill seeking to repeal the Act that set up NPA in its entirety.

“Consequently, we confirm our absolute vote of confidence on the NPA Act as it currently relates to the Nigerian state and the well-being of the workers in the sector,” he said.

Adeyanju also drew government’s attention to the duplication of functions of MDAs within the maritime sector, and urged government to define clearly the functions of each government agencies to avoid unnecessary conflict.

According to him, government must ensure appointment of technocrats with vast experience in maritime operations in consonance with the laid down laws to head these agencies.

Lagos, Sept. 19, 2023: Ambassador Florentina Ukonga, past Executive Secretary, Gulf of Guinea (GoG) Commission, has decried the non-African country participation in maritime transportation.

Ukonga said this at the 2023 Lagos International Maritime Week (LIMWeek 2023) organised by the ZOE Maritime Resources Ltd. in Lagos on Tuesday.

The week has the theme, ”MARPOL at 50-Pollution from Ships, Africa’s Commitment to Clean Oceans Seas, Inland Waters and the Marine Environment”.

MARPOL is an international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships.

Ukonga noted that Nigeria was among the 26 African countries that had ratified MARPOL but, unfortunately, Nigeria could not be classified as a shipping nation even with the ratification.

According to her, many countries in Africa, though party to MARPOL, are not shipping countries.

“Maritime transportation in Nigeria and in the West and Central Africa is grossly under developed.

“Majority of the ships providing maritime transportation services in West and Central Africa region are from Europe, Asia and the Far East.

“It is a cause of great concern to maritime industry watchers that maritime transportation with so much potential for economic emancipation and the development of the coastal countries is virtually in the hands of non-Africans and solidly in their control,” she said.

She noted that goods could not move from one country to the other along the coast of West and Central Africa without first passing through Europe to be trans shipped to Africa.

“Whereas, if the maritime transportation is well developed, even if it is within the region, there should be ships plying these routes stopping in almost all the ports of the region with shorter period of transportation, not exceeding two to five sailing days en route,” she said.

She said that being party to MARPOL was a good step in the right direction, at least, African countries would not be turned into the dumping ground for maritime waste, garbage, toxic and hazardous waste.

Ukonga said if Nigeria’s maritime transportation sector really picks up, stakeholder would know what standards to aspire, keep and respect for them to be competitive.

“I will like to encourage our entrepreneurs to really invest in maritime transportation, either for goods transportation or for people transportation, especially in inter-state maritime transportation.

“Our African countries are seriously missing in this sector.

“African countries should be involved in the regional maritime transportation sector even if we do not yet want to go to Europe or USA or Asia or the far East,” she said.

Ukonga also notef that there would not be a vibrant maritime transportation if there is no maritime security or safety.

She added that on maritime security and safety in the GoG region, the commission was involved in the important aspect of ensuring piracy attacks, robbery at sea, kidnappings, oil theft, smuggling, trafficking in arms, were addressed.

“The organisation has been a strong advocate with member states for cooperation and collaboration amongst their navies, coast guards and other maritime security agencies to ensure the security and safety of their maritime domain.

“Member states are being encouraged to harmonise their legal texts to enable them arrest and prosecute persons engaged in criminal activities in the maritime domain of the region.

“Member state are responding positively and there is now a greater cooperation and collaboration among the Navies and Coast Guards of Member States,” she said.

She, however, said there was need for more concerted efforts to be made to encourage indigenous investors to become more interested and more involved in the maritime sector of the economy.

She urged governments to create the enabling environment by providing the necessary infrastructure and enacting legislation that would protect local investors.

“We should stop being content at having remnants from the table. We should help to bake the pie and have a fair share of the pie,” she said.

Earlier, Chairman, Zoe Maritime Resources Ltd., Mrs Oritsematosan Edodo-Emore, noted that the sustainable development of the ocean economy was key to African growth.

According to Edodo-Emore, the cleanliness of the body of waters surrounding Africa and the state of its inland waters, creeks and rivers are critical for her survival.

“Its now 50 years since the enactment of MARPOL that deals with prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships and this event seeks to examine its effect on maritime transportation, security and others.

“We also welcome the creation of a seperate ministry to take charge of maritime affairs and we look forward to active engagement with the new ministry as she seeks to bring solutions to challenges,” she said.

LIMweek is a platform for learning, networking, expanding ones scope and others in the maritime sector.

Lagos, Sept. 8, 2023: The Maritime and Offshore Award (The OMIS) has announced inclusion of a technical summit aimed at addressing maritime industry challenges.

Mr Femi Da-silva, Chief Executive Officer of The OMIS, in a statement in Lagos on Friday, said that the summit would feature in the 2023 edition of the award.

According to Da-silva, the summit will be moderated by Dr Alban Igwe, Member, UN Advisory Committee on Trade and Transport.

He noted that the annual award recognised and celebrated excellence in Nigeria’s maritime industry.

“The technical summit is a pivotal addition to The OMIS Award this year.

“While appreciating the laudable efforts of industry regulators, we believe that convening experts and stakeholders in the maritime industry will foster a collective approach towards tackling the challenges we face and drive the industry forward.

“The summit, which is also in celebration of the World Maritime Day (WMD) by International Maritime Organization (IMO), is scheduled to take place on Sept. 23.

“It aims to bring together prominent maritime experts, industry leaders and regulators, and other stakeholders to collaboratively address the pressing challenges confronting the nation’s maritime industry while formulating innovative solutions,” he said.

He said that the theme of the inaugural summit, powered by Prime Atlantic Safety Services and Hybrid Group, would be ‘Safety and Security in Maritime’.

“Among the panelists expected at the event to share their expertise and insights are representatives of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Navy, TotalEnergies, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Customs Service, and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

“The maritime industry plays a crucial role in Nigeria’s economy and faces  complex challenges.

“The organisers hope that the technical summit will facilitate productive discussions and innovative problem-solving strategies,” he said.

He also hoped that the technical summit would not only shed light on challenges but would also pave the way for transformative solutions.

He added that the summit would  provide a networking opportunity for attendees to establish new partnerships and collaborations, fostering a stronger maritime community in Nigeria.

Lagos, Aug. 23, 2023: Prof. Pat Utomi, founder Utomapp., on Tuesday called for a change of approach that would ensure Nigeria get smart regulators and good policies that would aid the maritime industry.

Utomi made the call at the maritime roundtable workshop in Lagos, organised by the Utomapp Ltd. and the NLNG Ship Management Ltd. (NSML).

The workshop had the theme, ”Emerging Technology and Regulations in the Global Maritime Industry of the Future and the Impacts on the Nigerian Maritime Sector.

According to Utomi, there should be a focus on understanding the potential of emerging technologies and regulatory frameworks on the Nigerian maritime sector.

He spoke on the need for smart regulatory bodies and policies to possess advanced knowledge and expertise in emerging technologies that could transform the global maritime industry further.

“There is so much that the maritime can offer the country, but which we have not tried to explore. We need to change our approach, get smart regulators and good policies and then, we will make a lot of progress.

He noted that the creation of the blue economy ministry could be an eye opener to the potential and possibilities in the sector.

“But the truth is that for a long time, Nigeria has not, in terms of policy making, fully understand the advantage of long coast line and the possibilities flowing from there.

“I have personally struggled through the years to get people to understand this. We do this breakfast meeting, bring people together, sector leaders to discuss on what problems that are in the sector, energise it and make it progress.

“But the regulatory side has lagged behind and they have not managed to stimulate the possibilities. Part of the reason is that people see this as a cash cow place.

“They will send their boy to go and run and make money. Instead of finding the talent that fits in the area. When you have an area that can transform your economy, you don’t send boys to make money there,” he said.

He urged the government to ensure that people who are capable of opening and transforming the industry should be deployed to the sector.

He noted that it was unfortunate that regulators very often do not understand what they were doing because there was challenge of purpose.

“The maritime sector is a place where we can solve the problems of this country because the possibilities are very tremendous,” he said.

Utomi listed some of the new technologies that would affect the maritime industry as: Blockchain technology for corruption reduction, big data analytics to help optimise sail routes, innovate paths to reducing carbon footprint, internet of things and others.

Also commenting, Dr Abdulkadir Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, NSML, said Nigeria needed to imbibe a forward-thinking culture that would enable it embrace emerging regulations and technological advancements.

According to him, the culture must be in a worthy manner that propel the Nigerian maritime industry towards sustainable growth and prosperity.

He noted that stakeholders had significant and important roles to play in ensuring that Nigeria was not left behind in the new global maritime economy.

He said that further steps should be taken by developing clear actions and guidelines for stakeholders, especially regulators that would place the country in a pathway to success, safe, reliable and globally competitive maritime industry.

“The theme was carefully curated to review two topical issues that stakeholders in the global maritime industry are devoting serious attention and resources to: technology advancement and regulations.

“These two issues are fully anchored in the treble objectives of ensuring a safe, reliable and sustainable industry.

“We believe that it is vitally important we start analysing these issues within the context of applicability to the Nigerian maritime industry, as they are bound to change the operations and dynamics of the sector,” he said.

In a panel session, Capt. Ladi Olubowale, Director, Seamate Group, said that in implementing some of the regulations from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), there was need to ensure the technology available meet up with the regulation.

“We need to ensure that the regulation is localised and fit into what the country has,” he said.

Ms Iroghama Ogbeifun, Managing Director Starz Investment Company Ltd, speaking on decarbonisation, said the regulations were over arching, no clear strategy, roadmap for indigenous shipowners to measure their emmission.

“We know what the issues are, profer solutions but unfortunately, we are speaking o ourselves here because the people that are supposed to act are not here.

“ There is need to have the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and others here to discuss, but they are not here,” she said.

Lagos, Aug. 18, 2023: The Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) and the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron have expressed readiness to collaborate on human capital development in the maritime sector.

AMES President, Mr Isreal Obadan, said this while speaking with newsmen shortly after his inauguration in Lagos on Friday.

Obadan described the short supply of young professional marine engineers and surveyors as “one of the biggest challenge” his administration would seek to address.

He added that a strategic alliance with MAN Oron would be explored for manpower development.

“As a body, AMES is going to interact with training institutions so that we can have knowledge and technology transfer outreaches.

“We have to explore modalities to get this knowledge transferred to the younger ones,” Obadan said.

The AMES president also promised that his leadership would intensify effort to acquire a befitting national secretariat for the association, even as AMES takes strategic steps to increase its membership.

“There shall be positive advocacy bothering on national issues. Let us also continue to advocate for the federal government to appoint only maritime professionals to be in-charge of maritime affairs,” the president said.

Earlier, in his goodwill message, the Rector of MAN Oron, Commodore Duja Effedua, called on AMES members to avail themselves as lecturers, to enable MAN Oron students benefit from their vast experiences.

Effedua, represented by Dr John Adeyanju, said that the academy was flexible to accommodate distant learning via online classes, and disclosed that modern equipment had been acquired by the institution.

Mr Kuzi Onyibe, AMES Treasurer, expressed optimism that the academy would produce world-class scholars.

“I schooled in Ghana and they produce first class engineers there, my own colleagues are provosts and principals, there. They are helping to produce the first class engineers, so why can’t we do it here?

“If we knock out politics, tribalism or whatever, we can produce the best that can work worldwide. We are shooting ourselves in the leg, if we don’t have the right people.

“Right now, the country is importing and when we bring any ship in the country, they put foreigners as ship engineers and  captain, because they have first class and we don’t. So, that is work for foreigners.

“If we have it we can retain the space and occupy the whole vessel. Right now we are loosing a lot of money. A captain is being paid 15,000 dollars.  You can see how much we are loosing,” he said.

He said that he would want to coordinate, cooperate with MAN Oron to prepare the people for exams.

On sea time for seafarers, he said there was need for collaboration with shipowners, adding that Philippines had no ships, yet had the highest seafarers in the world.

“If we have proper maritime policy that will help develop maritime manpower with the right international level, all these things will be a thing of the past.

“Owing ships is federal government policy and they should make it possible for us to own ships, they should give us cheap mortgage rate to buy ships,” he said.

Mr Richard Owolabi, Head Technical, Abuja Memorandum of Understanding (Abuja MOU), said that every part of shipping business was bounded by stringent regulations, which prompt companies to act in a disciplined and organised manner.

Owolabi, who discussed on the topic, ‘Safety – The Main Pillar of the Future Shipping’, said shipping companies should resort to safety as their first tool for streamlining processes.

“This is to ensure that all operations are carried out in an efficient and smooth manner at sea.

“Safety in all types of operations is the key factor in ensuring that the company always maintains its position about the profit line, both efficiently and ethically,” he said.

Lagos, Aug. 18, 2023: The Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) and the United States Consulate, Lagos, have expressed partnership on new technologies that would improve the security situation in the Nigerian maritime domain.

The President of NCS, Mr Aminu Umar, said this when the Maritime Advisor to the United States Consulate, Lagos, Lt. Commander Patrick Moon led a delegation to the NCS’s headquarters in Lagos on Thursday.

According to Umar, the introduction of new technologies to maritime security will create a higher level of efficiency.

“We are looking at the U.S as a strategic partner that is already utilising these technologies and advanced security systems.

“We hope that they can partner with the Nigerian operators and security agencies to improve the security situation in the maritime domain,” he added.

Umar noted that as part of efforts to attain global best practices in shipping among Nigerian operators, the US Consulate and the NCS would begin a partnership geared towards capacity building.

The chamber boss said that both organisations flagged maritime security as the major area of interest because it affected all shipping stakeholders, especially the nations within the Gulf of Guinea (GOG).

“The meeting was primarily to meet Moon and the Economic Adviser, Ms Jordan LaChance.

“We were able to discuss and have an engagement on how we can collaborate in terms of advocacy and policies that we can improve.

“We also looked at areas for capacity development and capacity building. United States of America is the biggest country in the world in terms of shipping and they assist the rest of the world in manpower development for shipping.

“ In Africa, US has played a crucial role in ensuring that maritime security is improved, especially within the GOG region,” he said.

The NCS president, noted that although the security situation in the Nigerian maritime sector had improved in the last few years when compared to 10-15 years ago, there was need for continuous improvement and deployment of new technology.

Responding, Moon observed that the Nigerian maritime industry was actively involved in ensuring safer and secured shipping in an international business that affected people around the world.

Moon, who is also an officer of the U.S Coast Guards, noted that safe and secured shipping were something that was important to the U.S Coast Guards and the U.S Mission.

“One of the reasons the U.S Coast Guard was asked to come to Nigeria is to provide that connection and greater understanding between the maritime industry and regulators in Nigeria with the U.S. Mission,” he said.

Speaking on the relationship between U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, Moon stated that both were sister services with a long history of cooperation.

“The U.S Coast Guard is distinct in that it is a military service that also performs regulatory functions, such as search and rescue coordination, commercial vessel inspections, and waterways management,” he said.

Moon was accompanied by the Economic Adviser to the U.S Consulate, Ms Jordan LaChance and Ms Ngozi Nkwoh

The meeting was also attended by NCS’s Governing Council members; Mrs Jean-Chiazor Anishere (SAN) and Ms Ifeoma Nwagbogu; and the Director General of NCS, Mrs Vivian Chimezie-Azubuike.