Marine and Blue Economy Minister, Chief Adegboyega Oyetola, will today in Abuja inaugurate a high powered ministerial committee as Nigeria pushes for a seat in the International Maritime Organization, IMO.
The inauguration of the Committee is coming in the wake of calls by critical Stakeholders who have described the move as a waste of time and scarce resources. Although the terms of reference of the Committee was still skirchy as at press time, usually dependable sources at the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy told our correspondent that the the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Oloruntola Olufemi, would lead the Committee of “Wise Men” who have been given a marching order by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to return Nigeria to Category ” C” of the IMO .Other members of the Committee include Mr Babatunde Bombata, the Director of Maritime Safety and Security in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, who will serve as Deputy Chairman. Also invited to serve on the Committee are the MD/ CEO NPA, MD/ CEO NIWA, the DG/CEO NIMASA, CEO the Nigerian Shippers, Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron as well some critical Stakeholders.
The last time Nigeria ever won a seat at the Council was in 2009 when Dr Ade Dosunmu was the Director General of NIMASA. Given the dismal performance of Nigeria in the past decade, Stakeholders have advised both NIMASA and the Ministry to shelve this year’s election given the myriad of unresolved infringements in her Maritime domain. A couple of weeks ago and during a visit to Spain, Chief Oyetola had indicated the intention of Nigeria to run for the election, an announcement which was greeted with uproar back home in Nigeria .Oyetola had hinged Nigeria’s hopes on ” our active participation in upholding key conventions such as Safety of Life at Sea( SOLAS), and the International Ships and Port Facility ( ISPS) Code reflects our dedication to ensuring Safety of international Shipping “, insisting ” there has been no incidence of piracy in the last three years. But regrettably, Oyetola’s optimism is devoid of any specific interventions (s) to address the myriad of issues thrown up during the IMO audit visit to Nigeria in 2014.Since 2011, Nigeria had witnessed a serial failure at successive IMO Council elections, having won the coveted seat only on three occasions;2004, 2007 and 2009 in the over 76 years history of the IMO.
The Council is the Executive organ of IMO and is responsible for supervising the work of the organization. The last time Nigeria submitted its Independent Evaluation (IE)to IMO under the STCW Convention 1978, as amended was in 2009. The second cycle of IE was due in 2014. Nigeria is behind its STCW obligation by 10years and still counting. The implications of this default is that
(a) Nigeria stands the risk of being delisted from the IMO White List which is a register of complaint member States of IMO on the STCW. (b) If Nigeria is not on the White List, it means that Nigerian trained SEAFARERS are unlikely to be employed onboard foreign going vessels. (c) Not being on the IMO Whitelist will certainly affect the quality of SEAFARERS trained in Nigeria.