DG NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside

The chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administration, AAMA Dr. Dakuku Peterside has said Africa’s maritime industry has all it takes to develop the continent’s economy if the resources are fully harnessed.

Peterside, who stated this when the Secretary General of the Maritime Organisations of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Ambassador Alain Michel Luvambano paid him a courtesy visit in Lagos, said that regional co-operation was required in order to achieve all the goals of the Lome Charter and the African Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy.

The Lome Charter is geared towards repositioning the maritime industry  in Africa, as part of efforts to enable it compete favourably with its counterparts in the other continents, especially Europe, America and Asia.

“The maritime industry is a sure source of growth to Africa’s economy and from the highest point of government we are talking about blue economy; it is also our goal to achieve the dream of our leaders aimed at the development of the maritime industry in Africa and collaboration is the key to realising it” the AAMA Chair said.

Dr. Peterside who doubles as Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, assured the MOWCA scribe that AAMA will continue to champion the course of revitalising the Africa’s maritime industry through various forms of collaboration and will support MOWCA since both bodies have similar objectives and shared vision of attaining a prosperous Africa through its maritime resources.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of MOWCA who was accompanied by the Technical Director of the association, Col.Mariko Mamadou expressed gratitude to the AAMA-boss for the support the sub-regional organisation has received from the association over the years.

He further stated that MOWCA as an organisation is seeking further collaboration with AAMA, stating that both bodies have similar mandates of contributing to the economic growth and the development of the maritime administrations in Africa.

“Promotion of the maritime industry is dependent on performance and Nigeria is seen to be taking the lead in the region, hence the need to co-operate and partner one another. Also, every other continent is getting united and it is good for Africa to also get united so that we can be a formidable force to be reckoned with in the comity of maritime nations”, he said.

AAMA is the umbrella association of heads of maritime administrations in Africa with the sole aim of working together to reposition the maritime sector in Africa in line with global best practices.

The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside who was elected to head the association during the 3rd AAMA conference hosted by Nigeria in April last year, has continued to champion the course for the growth and development of the continent through collaboration with relevant international bodies aimed at developing Africa’s blue economy.