The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Dr. Bashir Jamoh has said that the agency under his watch would continue to seek synergy with relevant stakeholders both locally and internationally with a view to sustaining the decline in piracy attacks not only in the country but also within the Gulf of Guinea region

The DG also assured of the agency’s commitment towards ensuring that Nigeria attains the status of not only the hub of maritime activities in the West and Central African region but also a major maritime player globally.

Speaking during an interactive session with media stakeholders in Lagos at the weekend, Dr Jamoh noted that the agency is doing everything possible to sustain the steady progress in terms of improving maritime safety and security as well as growing capacity for the maritime industry.

The NIMASA DG said that the statistics released by the International Maritime Bureau, IMB, showing piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea dropping from 81 in year 2020 to 34 in 2021 representing 58.02per cent was not by accident, but a product of conscious collaborative efforts by the agency, the Nigerian Navy and other stakeholders in the region. He also noted that the IMB report further shows a 62per cent decrease in the number of crew kidnapping incidents in the Gulf of Guinea which reduced from 150 in 2020 to 57 in 2021.

Commenting on statutory levies stakeholders pay to the Federal Government through the agency, Jamoh reaffirmed that the levies are in accordance with the provisions of the enabling Act which set up the agency.

“The NIMASA Act 2007 which is our guiding principle only states that our charges must be a component of the gross freight and must be paid by shipowners not in terms of product to marketers or any other entity” the DG said.

Speaking further, the NIMASA Chief Executive said that all the payments either in hard currency or naira, are made into the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government adding that in the long run it was for the benefit of all Nigerians that the country does not further lose any source of her revenue through underpayment in statutory charges or levies.

Commenting on the recent explosion which occurred on Trinity Spirit Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), the NIMASA DG described the incident as unfortunate. He said the NIMASA team is working with other relevant organs of Government to establish the immediate and remote causes of the fire explosion.

He noted that the issue of environmental pollution was highlighted in the preliminary report and the agency will work with the International Maritime Organisation IMO through the use of the International Oil Pollution Compensation IOPC funds for compensation of all the losses within and around the facility. He said that the public will be informed of every detail concerning the incident as the situation unfolds.

The DG then used the opportunity to reel out some of the achievements of the agency in the year 2021 including improved contribution to the Consolidated Revenue Fund CRF of the Federal Government, from 31 billion in 2020 to about 37 billion in year 2021, increase of 43.6per cent in condition survey for Flag Registration by the agency in year 2021 as against the performance in year 2020; reactivation of the online certificate verification platform to reduce falsification of Nigerian Seafarers Certificate and enhance the employment of Nigerian Seafarers; improved strategic collaboration with the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Airforce, the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army and the office of the National Securiry Adviser a move, Jamoh noted has helped to reduce piracy attacks off the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, as there were no single attack on Nigerian waters in the 3rd quarter of 2021, as reported by the IMB.