The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stated that NIMASA and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are partners in progress in bringing the desired growth and development to the Nigerian maritime industry and by extension the Nigerian economy.
The Director General who made this statement when he led NIMASA top Management on a courtesy visit to the Comptroller General of Customs Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.) at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja described the leadership of both Agencies as sticklers for transparency while doing things that will serve the best interest of the country.
In his words, “the Nigerian Customs and NIMASA are both working to accomplish one purpose, which is to facilitate trade to our country, enhance the revenue of government and ensure that those who do business with us respect the laws of our land and that ultimately they don’t take advantage of our people. As we are all working towards a common purpose, this even becomes more glaring with the new leadership of our both Agencies”.
He also seized the opportunity to inform the Customs Service boss that NIMASA has started a process of restructuring and repositioning for the good of the sector in order to make it more business friendly, thereby attracting more investors to the country.
“In NIMASA there is a new wave of change in the same direction with the Customs. We are focused on delivering on our mandate to promote the participation of indigenous people in shipping in our country, give every Nigerian an opportunity and as well as ensure that our waterways are safe for business to thrive.
In the course of doing our work, we have realized that it is inevitable that we must work with the Customs, that is the major reason for the visit”, the Director General said.
The proposed areas of partnership are; Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS), the National Single Window Project and Maritime Security all geared towards enhancing productivity in the sector, transparency, plugging revenue leakages and ensuring maritime security among others.
In his response, the Comptroller General, Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd.) expressed optimism that the renewed partnership between both organs of Government will bring about the growth of the sector and the economy as a whole.
“Gone are the days that we feel we should do it alone, today the dynamics have changed, technology has given us a platform whereby we can achieve a lot, share information and also distribution of responsibility, I therefore feel NIMASA is one of the organizations we need to partner with so your coming is to strengthen the already existing relationship,” Ali said.
He also assured NIMASA of the readiness of the NCS to partner with NIMASA in the aforementioned areas, noting that “no single government agency can work alone; we all need to work together for the good of this country.
Meanwhile, in another meeting with maritime stakeholders, Dr. Peterside urged Nigerians to partner with the Agency in order to ensure a virile maritime industry as the activities of the Agency impact on the lives of all Nigerians.
He emphasized that such partnership was crucial, given the fact that virtually every product used by Nigerians comes through the Sea and NIMASA is the government Agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring seamless and secured sea transportation, without negative impact on the environment.
The Director General said that the essence of the Agency’s continuous interaction with the media was in recognition of the role they play in dissemination and in educating the public. He charged them on professionalism to generate sufficient and accurate information on issues to advance credible and reliable reportage to elicit trust and hope in the public.
He further urged them to use their platform to educate the public on the activities of NIMASA stating that it will create awareness on the Agency’s strides to advance the maritime industry for the growth of the Nigerian economy.
According to the Director General “A lot of Nigerians have various misconceptions about NIMASA and its activities, hence the need for synergy with the media. We are regulating the maritime sector on behalf of Nigerians with the backing of the Federal Government to ensure that we advance our maritime sector. NIMASA is charged with the responsibility of regulating shipping activities and the promotion of indigenous shipping in Nigeria. 90% of world trade is by sea and 65% of vessels heading to Africa visit Nigeria. By this we have the responsibility of ensuring safe and secure transportation of goods and services to Nigeria”
Dakuku also stated that the Agency is in the process of rebranding and that the New NIMASA brand would be unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 20th of April, 2017.
This would coincide with the meeting of the Association of African Heads of Maritime Administrations to be hosted by the Agency in conjunction with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in Abuja from 19th -21st of April 2017. The DG said with the hosting of the event, Nigeria is set to become a leading voice in the comity of maritime Nations especially as the country seeks election into the category C of the IMO Council seat in November, 2017.
Responding to the Director General’s comments, the Chairman of the Association of Radio News Managers, Mr. Charles Kalu commended Dr. Peterside for his achievements within a short time of assumption of duty, he said that as a pressure group, meetings of this nature would help them during their reportage. He also appealed to the Director General to look for avenues on the various media platforms to reach out to the public.
In another recent meeting, NIMASA’s Director General solicited support of traditional rulers around the nation’s maritime domain to assist the economic diversification drive of the President Muhammadu Buhari led Administration.
Dakuku made this call when he led members of the Management team of the Agency on a courtesy visit to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu at his palace at the Isale Eko area of Lagos as part of his stakeholders engagement.
The Director General said his visit to the Oba is informed by the critical role the traditional institution plays in Nation building, being custodians of culture and tradition.
He noted that Lagos is the economic gateway of Nigeria with enormous maritime resources adding that the state is the hub of maritime activities in Nigeria as it is the only state in the country that has two international sea ports.
“Lagos plays a very important role in the economic development of Nigeria because it is the hub of Maritime activities in the country, therefore there is need for all stakeholders in Lagos to work with Government and its Agencies for the economic diversification of the Nigerian state”.
Dr. Peterside who highlighted the roles of NIMASA to be regulation of shipping and shipping activities as well as promotion of indigenous shipping craved the support of the Oba for an enabling operational environment stating that in the course of carrying out its regulatory functions the Agency may need the support of the traditional institution in one way or the other.
In his words “we will come hard on erring operators and stakeholders and will need your support where necessary in order to achieve our aims for the benefit of Nigeria”.
In his response, Oba Akiolu commended the Management of the Agency, stating that he is impressed by the good works being done to revolutionize the maritime sector in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s change agenda. He said that the Agency can count on him and his traditional council to provide a conducive environment for maritime activities to thrive. He also stated that he had instructed his chiefs around the operational bases of the Agency in Lagos to ensure that the place is secured for people to carry out their legitimate businesses.
