African Leaders Gather In Egypt for 4th AAMA Conference
Key to Realizing Robust Economy – NIMASA DG
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has stressed that regional collaboration is key
to developing Africa’s maritime sector, stating the Agency’s commitment to
continue to reposition the Nigerian maritime sector in order to make it viable
and compete favourably with its counterparts in other climes, as Nigeria,
S/Africa, Ghana and Kenya get set for collaboration.
The DG who made this known in Lagos recently while receiving a delegation from
the Gambian Maritime Administration, led by the Director-General, Mr. Mustapher
Maroung said that NIMASA would continue to drive regional collaborations in
order for Africa to reap the benefits of the blue economy.
Dr. Dakuku who is also the Chairman of Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA)
also informed that the upcoming fourth conference of the Association with the
theme “protecting the African Marine Environment to Support Sustainable
Development”, scheduled to hold from 16th -19th of
September 2018 in Sharmel Sheikh, Egypt would provide an avenue for
African Maritime leaders to chart a way forward for the continent which can be
tagged the biggest Island of all the continents.
“We cannot walk this journey alone; partnership is crucial to achieving a
robust economy. The beauty of partnership is that everyone brings their
expertise to the table where ideas are shared and considered as a way forward
to achieving a particular goal; it is not only here in Nigeria, it has become a
global trend and this is what AAMA seeks to achieve for the continent” Dr.
Dakuku stated.
Speaking further, Dr. Dakuku said that the Agency was in discussions with the
Maritime Administrations of South Africa, Ghana and Kenya to acquire and
jointly operate a training vessel for Cadets.
He also noted that discussions
are still at the early stages but he is hopeful that such partnership
agreement will be beneficial to the countries, adding that the AAMA
conference would be an avenue to continue discussions in the proposed
agreement.
stated further that the partnership with the United Arab Emirate on free
training of 100 cadets would support the country, noting that the pact provides
for the training of 10 cadets per annum spread over 10 years, making it a total
number of 100 cadets to be trained in 10 years, contrary to the negative news
making the rounds.
The NIMASA DG also used the opportunity to shed more light on the issue of the
disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), assuring that in the
shortest period of time, the guidelines for the disbursement of the fund will
be publicised for qualified shipowners to be duly considered. He however
maintained that the power to grant approval for the release of the funds was
vested in the Federal Ministry of Transportation.
Earlier in his remarks, the DG of the Gambia Maritime Administration, Mr.
Mustapher Maroung commended the activities of NIMASA.
Gambian Maritime has come to learn from the Agency and are willing to
collaborate with Nigeria for the growth of Africa’s blue economy.
It would be recalled that the NIMASA DG at a Press Conference held in Lagos
recently addressed topical issues on the activities of the Agency intended to
ensure the growth of the maritime sector, where he assured the public that
NIMASA will remain focused on its mandate of ensuring a robust economy.
Also, since inception of the Dr. Dakuku Peterside’s led administration, NIMASA
has embraced collaboration as a means of realizing its mandates, which has
helped in achieving several strides in growing the nation’s maritime sector and
by extension the Nigerian economy.
