{"id":1694,"date":"2019-09-30T06:46:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T05:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2019-09-30T06:46:43","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T05:46:43","slug":"with-sufficient-maritime-security-nigerian-economy-will-blossom-amaechi-dakuku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/30\/with-sufficient-maritime-security-nigerian-economy-will-blossom-amaechi-dakuku\/","title":{"rendered":"With Sufficient Maritime Security, Nigerian Economy Will Blossom \u2013 Amaechi, Dakuku"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2022 10 Students Win NIMASA\nEducational Grants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2022 10 Maritime Women Leaders\nHonoured<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister\nof Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the new maritime\nsecurity infrastructure being built by the Federal Government, the Deep Sea\nProject, would be a major economic trigger for the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amaechi\nstated this in Lagos, while speaking with the media during the World Maritime\nDay celebrations, with the theme, \u201cEmpowering Women in the Maritime Community\u201d,\nin an occasion which 10 women were also honoured for their pioneering\ncontributions to the maritime sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten\nstudents, who excelled in an essay competition organised by the Nigerian\nMaritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as part of the activities in\ncommemoration of the Day were awarded the Agency\u2019s educational grants at the\noccasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amaechi\nsaid the Deep Sea Project, which aims to secure the country\u2019s territorial\nwaters up to the Gulf of Guinea, would inspire greater investors\u2019 confidence in\nthe Nigerian maritime sector and boost the sector\u2019s contribution to the\nnational economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith\nthis security infrastructure, the revenues of the agencies in the maritime\nsector will increase and the revenue to the country will also increase,\u201d he\nstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"World
From right the DG NIMASA Dr, Dakuku Peterside, MD NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, Permanent secretary Ministry of Transportation, Sabiu Zakari, the honorable minister of transportantion Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemi Saraki and the Chairman House committee on Maritime Transport Education and Administration, Hon Linda Ikpeazu at the celebration of the 2019 world Maritime Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrently,\nmaritime sector is returning less than N100 billion; they should be doing more\nthan that. They should be returning above N300 billion. But in terms of the\neconomy, the maritime industry is contributing quite a lot,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also\nspoke on the government\u2019s plan to link the railway system to the seaports, as a\nway of integrating the maritime sector into the rail master structure as\nplanned to make movements of goods to and from the ports more effective to\nboost the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll\nseaports in Nigeria must be connected by rail; that is a policy of government,\u201d\nAmaechi said, adding, \u201cWe have put in place a 25-year modernisation programme\nfor the rail system. With the master plan, we have taken rail from where the\npast government stopped into the seaports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor\ninstance, the current Lagos-Kano rail line began from Ebute Metta. But when we\ncame, we started another line from Ebute Metta to Apapa seaport. With this,\nwhen you bring in your goods, you turn them to the rail that takes them to the\nhinterland. The one from Lagos to Calabar will link the Calabar, Port Harcourt,\nand Onne seaports, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Director-General\nof NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made a presentation on the measures by the\nFederal Government to tackle maritime security in the country, expressed the\nhope that the female gender will play a major role in the execution of the\nanchor security scheme, the Deep Blue Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have\nvarious components in the coordinated maritime security solution and the female\ngender is already part of the project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dakuku said,\n\u201cAside land, air, and marine-based assets being acquired, we have an\nintelligence gathering component where the women are already playing a major\nrole. We recognise gender equality as one of the key platforms on which we can\nbuild a sustainable solution to security challenges in Nigerian maritime\nsector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Deep\nBlue Project is a multipronged approach towards tackling insecurity in the\nNigerian territorial waters and the entire Gulf of Guinea. It involves the\nacquisition of assets, such as fast intervention vessels, surveillance\naircraft, and other facilities, including a command and control centre for data\ncollection and information sharing that will serve the goals of targeted\nenforcement. The project also includes the training of personnel from the\nsecurity services to man the assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nobjective is to build an integrated surveillance and security architecture that\nwill comprehensively combat maritime crime and criminalities in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\non the theme for this year\u2019s World Maritime Day, Ameachi commended the\nleaderships of agencies of government in the maritime sector for their\ncommitment to capacity development. He restated the commitment of the Federal\nGovernment to gender equality based on competence. He said women in Nigeria had\nshown that the female gender had the capacity to assist government attain the\ngoal of lifting more Nigerians out of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nminister stated, \u201cDeputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina\nMohammed, has excelled as a global technocrat not because of her gender, but\ndue to her knowledge and ability to deliver on assignments given to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident\nMuhammadu Buhari is committed to giving capable women opportunity to serve\nNigeria. Nigerian women should commit more to capacity development. Women are\nthe most intelligent creation by God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also\nspeaking at the occasion, Minister of State for Transportation, Senator\nGbemisola Saraki, called for more scholarship and mentorship schemes to boost\nfemale participation in the shipping sector. Saraki noted that the achievements\nof women in the maritime sector had shown that if given the opportunity, the\nNigerian woman will excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want\nmore scholarships for the girl child in Nigeria. Women who have been given the\nopportunity in Nigeria have excelled, just as we have shown with the NPA where\nHadiza Bala Usman has made tremendous difference, being the first female MD of\nthat Parastatal,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\na student of the University of Ibadan, Mr. Toluwalope Ojewola, emerged overall\nwinner of the essay competition organised by NIMASA to mark the World Maritime\nDay. Ojewola was tops in a group of 10 students whose entries were selected by\nan independent panel of judges for the final contest. But all 10 nominees were\nawarded the Agency\u2019s educational grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The essay\ncompetition, which had over 100 entries, was on, \u201cEmpowering Women in the\nMaritime Community,\u201d in line with the IMO campaign focus, \u201cSupporting Gender\nEquality, Empowering Women\u201d in maritime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ojewola\nwas presented with a N500, 000 Education Grant, a laptop and a plaque by the\nHonourable Minister of Transportation at the occasion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miss\nBlessing Omataye of the University of Benin came second, while Alexander\nChikudinaka Nwaegede from the University of Nigeria, Nsuka, came third. Both\nwon educational grants and lap tops. They were part of the 10 students awarded\neducational grants by the Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nannual essay competition, which commenced in 2017 is open to only first and\nsecond year students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and is part of\nNIMASA\u2019s commitment to getting youths, particularly girls, involved in the\nintellectual discourse on harnessing the potentials of the blue economy in\nNigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event\nalso witness the recognition of some women considered as pioneers in the Nigerian\nmaritime sector.  The first female Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, Rear\nAdmiral Itunu Hotonu, First female to Chair the Senate Committee on Maritime\nand now Minister of State Federal Ministry of Transportation, Senator Gbemi\nSaraki, Chairman House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and\nAdministrtion, Hon. Linda Chuba Ikpeazu, Nigeria\u2019s first most senior female\nDirector at the IMO, Mrs Monica Mbanefo, the First Female Managing Director of\nthe NPA Hadiza bala Usman as well as the first female Director General of\nNIMASA Mrs Mfon Usoro. Others include Hajia Lami Tumaka Director special duties\nin NIMASA, Mrs Magaret Orakwusi, Mrs Chinwe Ezenwa, Ms Funmi Folorunso, Dr\nVicky Haastrup, Mrs Juliana Gunwa and Mrs Ify Akerele.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the new maritime security infrastructure being built by the Federal Government, the Deep Sea Project, would be a major economic trigger for the country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,127,145],"tags":[224,37],"class_list":["post-1694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-maritime","category-press-release","tag-dakuku","tag-nimasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1697,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions\/1697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shippingworld-ng.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}