From left: Head of delegation, Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, Hamburg, Germany, Dr. Thorsten Schutz, German Defence Attache, Thomas Brillisauer and Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, during a visit by the German team to the corporate head office of NIMASA in Lagos, recently.

By FRANCIS EZEM

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that no nation can attain sustainable growth and development relying on herself alone and a single source of revenue, saying world economies are now consciously or unconsciously competing among themselves in terms of advancement and development indices.

In another development, the Governing Board of the agency has approved the elevation of a total of 85 management members of staff as well as 553 others of lower cadre to their next grade levels, in line with the current management’s efforts at promoting productivity and efficiency through ensuring workers’ welfare.

Director General of the agency Dr. Dakuku Peterside made this assertion in Lagos recently when a delegation of Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, a leading educational institution of the German armed forces, Hamburg, Germany paid a working visit to the agency.

He stated that no nation can ever be self-sufficient and thus the need for countries of the world to meet one another through trade, however noting that no two nations can engage in trade without recourse to maritime. He stated that easy trade facilitation between nations can only be guaranteed if the maritime domains of the trading nations are safe and secure, insisting that human asset, technology, ideas and intellectuality are key drivers in such trade ventures.

“Technology and globalisation will continue to amaze us, just as Ideas, knowledge and intellectuality are complementary drivers of advancement in our today’s world. No individual or nation has a monopoly of knowledge. So cross-fertilization of knowledge in critical sub-sectors of nations’ economies, particularly in areas of comparative advantage is sacrosanct for growth and development, towards the overall objective of advancing world peace”, the DG said.

He also took the delegation through the mandates, core functions of the agency as well as the human capacity needs of the Nigeria’s maritime industry, assuring the delegation of the safety of the Nigeria’s maritime environment. He noted the various initiatives put in place by the agency to address the projected growth of the industry particularly, in the areas of human capacity, safety and security requirements.

He said: “Human capacity, maritime safety and security related crimes were the biggest challenges we had. They have been addressed and we would continue to address it in totality. We have the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme NSDP, which is an initiative designed to train Nigerian youths in various maritime professionalism. Currently, they are being trained in various countries around the globe. While some of them have graduated as full-fledge professionals, some are still undergoing the necessary trainings. We are partnering with maritime giants around the world to develop our Seafarers. For safety and security, we are collaborating with Nigeria’s military and the Police to ensure that”.

Meanwhile, the leader of the delegation, Dr. Thortsen Schutz, while speaking earlier, informed the NIMASA management that they were at the agency on a working visit, with the objectives to ascertain facts that would aid trade facilitation between Nigeria and Germany; as well as learn new ideas from NIMASA, as regards Africa’s experience, because of the peculiarities of the continent. He noted that NIMASA is strategic in the shipping scheme between Nigeria and Germany, and that it was necessary for the Commercial and Defence Attachés in Germany Embassy in Nigeria to understand the shipping as well as the maritime ideals and dynamics within the context of the Agency’s operations, for ease of trade engagements.

Schutz said: “We are here to understand NIMASA. We know your importance. And we are encouraged by your disposition towards ensuring a safe and secure maritime environment for shipping. You are strategic when it comes to trading in Africa. Be assured that we would encourage our people to come to Nigeria because we know that Nigeria has a lot of maritime potentials. We are ready to collaborate and also partner with NIMASA in the areas of technology, idea and knowledge sharing because the world is fast drifting to knowledge and idea base”.

The Bundeswehr Command and Staff College was established in 1957 as the successor of the Prussian Military Academy founded in 1810. Since 1958 it is located in Hamburg. Being the leading educational institution of the German armed forces, the academy is internationally renowned for its excellence. The academy educates the future elite of not only the German armed forces but also of other member states of the European Union and NATO.

Recall that the promotions were ratified at the meeting of the Board of the agency held in Lagos presided over by its chairman, Major General Jonathan India Garba (rtd).

A breakdown of the exercise shows that two Deputy Directors were promoted to the level of Directors; seven Assistant Directors were promoted to Deputy Directors while 76 grade level 14 officers were promoted to their next grade of Assistant Directors.

Those promoted to full Directors are the agency’s Head of Internal Audit, Mr. Victor Onuzuruike and the Deputy Director in charge of Research in the agency, Mrs. Christiana Budaye.

Similarly, the executive management of the agency also approved the promotion of a total number of 553 non-management staff between grade levels 4-14, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 638.

Speaking on the promotion exercise, the DG reiterated the commitment of the executive management to reward hard work, noting that it is a morale booster.

He said: “It is true that the reward for hard work is more work, but on the other hand, hard work also comes with promotion. On our part as executive management we will continue to ensure that promotion exercises are conducted on a yearly basis and as at when due so that staff can be motivated to give their best to the course of rebranding the Agency and repositioning the maritime sector for greater efficiency. By this we will be able to focus and realize our mandates as an agency”.