From Anthony Nwachukwu, Lagos
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has charged member-states of the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African Region (Abuja MoU) to achieve full ratification and domestication of all relevant instruments.
Doubling as the Vice Chairman of the Abuja MOU, Oyetola spoke at the 13th edition hosted by Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan. He emphasised the need for regulators and stakeholders in the member-states to ensure that their maritime domains remained safe, secure and environmentally friendly.
He further reiterated the need to achieve full ratification and domestication of all relevant instruments, as well as compliance with the requirement for member-states to inspect at least 15 per cent of vessels calling at their ports.
Other areas identified include the imperative of recruitment and subsequent training of the Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) to avoid overburdening the few in the field, and the need to collaborate and ensure that no substandard vessel is allowed to trade within the region.
The Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Bashir Jamoh, assured the audience of the agency’s commitment to effective implementation of regulatory instruments in Nigeria.
He noted that the agency, as Nigeria’s maritime administrator, has ensured the ratification of no fewer than six international maritime conventions for proper governance of the country’s maritime space.
According to him, these ratified conventions spell out proper mode of governance for various areas, such as standards of training, certification and watch-keeping for the fishing sector, pollution management and carriage of passenger luggage by sea.
On his part, the Secretary-General of Abuja MoU, Capt. Sunday Umoren, assured of continuous engagement sessions to ensure regional collaboration in order to attain globally acceptable PSC in the West and Central African region.
The performance of member-states on PSC inspections and financial status, among others, formed part of the deliberations, while Women in Maritime West Africa (WIMOWCA) attended the event as observer.
Nigeria has ratified the Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009; International Convention on Standard of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW–F) 1995; and Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties (Intervention Protocol)1973, among others.
