From right: Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh and interim Sole Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme PAP, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.), in an elbow greeting when Jamoh paid a working visit to the Amnesty office in Abuja, recently.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has declared its intention to work in partnership with the Presidential Amnesty Programme PAP in its determination to the country’s maritime domain of piracy and other crimes. Director-General of the agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, who spoke in Abuja recently during a working visit to the interim Sole Administrator of PAP, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.), also disclosed that the agency was evolving some empowerment programmes for coastal communities in the country.

Under the scheme, NIMASA plans to introduce educational, entrepreneurship training, and skills acquisition programmes in the areas of fishing, clearing and forwarding, and legal bunkering, for people in the coastal communities as a way of empowering them and discouraging criminal tendencies.

He noted that it was necessary and expedient for all relevant agencies and communities to collaborate with one another in the quest to curb maritime insecurity.

Jamoh said: “We should be working together in partnership to help us appreciate and evaluate the challenges from our various perspectives and collectively come up with solutions that would work for all of us, and the country at large. 

“Security problems more often than not have a local content. So, as the country’s maritime regulatory agency, we want to partner the amnesty programme, which interfaces with the littoral communities, to nip the security challenges in the bud, and stand our nation in good stead for the optimisation of our huge maritime resources.”

Jamoh has prioritised advocacy for inter-agency cooperation in the fight against maritime insecurity since his appointment last year.

He stated, “We cannot proffer solution to the issues and crisis in the Niger Delta without the collaboration of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.” 

It was gathered that the agency recently established an Intelligence Unit to help in the identification of early warning signs in order to prevent security breaches in the littoral areas. He revealed that many of the assets being installed and deployed under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure (the Deep Blue Project) had intelligence gathering capabilities through air, land and sea surveillance.

Also speaking during the visit, Dikio commended Jamoh for his vision and commitment to enhancing maritime security in the country. He also praised the NIMASA Director-General for his passion for inter-agency coordination and collaboration in the security of Nigeria’s maritime environment. 

He said detecting the early warning signs and engaging early responses to prevent security challenges at their early stages would be vigorously pursued. 

The PAP- boss expressed the willingness of his agency to partner with NIMASA, especially in the empowerment of the locals. He suggested that the people’s knowledge of the local communities should be leveraged in the area of information gathering.

Dikio advised that the training programme being planned by NIMASA should target subjects relevant to the Niger Delta in order to impact them directly and get to the root of the problem. He also suggested the appointment of nodal officers from PAP and NIMASA to interface and harmonise action points to fast-track the actualisation of the partnership for the overall good of the maritime industry.