Sustaining Strides on Deep Blue Project

Francis Ugwoke

As the apex maritime agency, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agenc (NIMASA)  has a lot of statutory obligations.  With core mandate in deepening indigenous shipping development, NIMASA indeed has its hands full. Apart from checking  piracy on Nigeria’s  territorial waters and  in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), NIMASA is  currently championing the blue  economy project, human capital  development, among others.  While   stakeholders applaud the  agency  for its performance so far,   they  believe that there is still more to be done. And it is in respect of this that the agency appears not to be resting as far as  shipping  development  is concerned.   .

Deep Blue Project

  To the  Nigerian  stakeholders  and   the international community, the agency  has done well  in the area of Deep Blue Project  or   the war against piracy. The rate of piracy incidents in both territorial and Gulf of Guinea has all gone down. What is however expected is that piracy should not be allowed to rise again for whatever reason.

For  a decade, piracy has been like an albatross on the neck of shippers in Nigeria and West Africa.  This has   given Nigeria and indeed other West African countries bad image. But beyond  that is the cost implication to shippers as they have to pay more in shipping charges  to cover  the cost of security  being claimed by multinational shipowners who hire security onboard  vessels to secure  shipment  to the region.  At a point, piracy in the region had overtaken the popular Somalia where years back activities of pirates were nightmare to ships.  But Nigeria did not fold her hands and allow the ugly situation to continue.  In the past few years,  NIMASA  has made every effort to address the problem , a development that has yielded good results. As part of the efforts to stop  piracy and  armed robbery at sea,  NIMASA introduced deep blue   project   leading to the  acquisition of a number of equipment, including   two unmanned aircraft system, nine interceptor patrol boats and   10 armoured vehicles.  The  NIMASA DG, Dr. Bashir Jamoh,   believes this will fight piracy. The agency had earlier in June last year held Gulf of Guinea Maritime Collaboration Forum (GOG-MCF/SHADE) in Abuja  where   international support  was sought for  the suppression of maritime insecurity. NIMASA’s DG   had during that programme  restated Nigeria’s commitment to fight piracy.  He said,  “Nigeria is improving on her capacity to fight maritime crime by procuring state of the art technology, upgrading human capacity for effective service delivery and deployment of the assets for round the clock patrol, interdiction and reconnaissance with the support of Nigerian Navy and other security agencies we signed MoU”.

 CVFF and Shipping Devt

One of the latest national assignments for the apex maritime agency  is the disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) which total worth is about $350m.  CVFF replaced the Ship Acquisition and  Ship Building  Fund (SASBF) suspended following the failure of beneficiaries of the fund to pay back their loans given to them to acquire vessels.  There is high optimism that this will improve indigenous shipping capacity.

With high volume of trade, Nigeria as a maritime nation cannot boast of her own fleet  that are involved in international trade that can travel all over the world to carry goods. The liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) in  July 1995  created a huge gap.  So, Nigeria has always depended on international shipping liners to transport her goods, including wet and dry cargo. The argument has been that the terms of trade in the area of wet cargo which allows only the owners    to determine who carries the goods has been part of the problem. The argument is that if trade  terms allow  Nigerians to be involved in affreightment of crude oil,  they  would have been into the trade even if it means entering into partnership with foreign firms. Yet,  the other argument is  that if their  hands are tied on crude oil transportation, what of involvement of Nigerian fleet in transportation of  dry cargo or imported fuel. Many of the tankers involved in affreightment of  imported  petroleum products  are foreign-owned.  The only areas where  Nigerian  tankers are involved  is in the movement  of such goods from one point to another within the territorial waters under the Cabotage law.     Even at that, there have been complaints that Nigerians are being discriminated against in preference for foreign shipping companies who have waivers from the Ministry of Transport. Again the argument by sources close to NNPC  is that most of  the Nigerian vessels may not be good enough. This explains why government intervention in the disbursement of CVFF becomes imperative in indigenous shipping development. After about two decades to the suspension of SASBF, the   federal government in December last year   gave approval for the disbursement of the fund.

Since the approval was  announced by  the  Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Muazu Sambo,  many industry operators have been  looking forward to this. The former Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, had  promised  to do this  but could not as he   resigned to contest the presidential election. However,   Sambo  on assuming office  mounted pressure on  President Muhammadu Buhari  who finally gave his approval that was conveyed to  NIMASA.  Already,  the process has started. NIMASA  had met with five Primary lending institutions (PLIs)  as part of the efforts to disburse  the  fund. What is not clear   is whether the   fund can be disbursed before the end of the present administration.

Jamoh recently met with the five banks, including  Union Bank,  Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank and United Bank of Africa (UBA) on the issue. 

The apex maritime agency   during the meeting with the banks cautioned against unnecessary collaterals that will be difficult for the shipping companies to provide. 

Jamoh explained, ”We don’t want a situation where  the banks will be asking for the father and mother of the ship owners and other collaterals that may make the prospective beneficiaries of the funds get scared” However,  Jamoh made it clear that the government wants to avoid the mistake of the past in which some  beneficiaries of  the  SASBF  could not repay the loans. Many believe that when disbursed,  the CVFF is  capable of  improving on indigenous shipping capacity as more fleets would be added to what is on ground. 

Indigenous  shipping stakeholders  pleased with these developments have  commended   Jamoh  for display of transparency  and steadfastness in the process currently being carried  out to disburse the  CVFF   since the approval was given by the federal government.

Members of  the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA),  Ship-Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) and maritime lawyer  who spoke to SHIPPING DAY  separately  said they were pleased with the efforts of NIMASA so far.  

Similarly, a maritime lawyer, Mr Kasarachi Opara, described the steps taken by Jamoh as commendable and reassuring, adding that the decision of this administration to  give out   cabotage fund  to indigenous shipping operators, though  belated, should be applauded and Kudos given  to the Buhari led federal government for taking that bold step unlike the past administrations.

Opara however expressed concerns  on the implementation of the necessary guidelines by the designated banks as required by the apex maritime body.

He said, “ I must commend the present  DG of NIMASA  for his outstanding performance that has raised the hope of practitioners in the industry”.

Blue economy

The agency is also championing the blue economy project. In 2021, the agency had visited lithoral  states as part of the efforts in pursuing  the blue economy strategy expected to replace the current oil economy in about 10 years. In a visit to the River state Governor, Nyesom  Wike, the Director General,   Jamoh,  had called on  lithoral states  to collaborate with the agency  by setting up a committee to work with the agency to identify the state’s areas of comparative advantage in harnessing its vast ocean resources. Jamoh had said,  “The Agency commenced the issue of Blue Economy to ensure that we have something that we will fall back on.  Let us give ourselves at least within the next 10 years, so we can develop our ocean resources.” 

Jamoh had also in January   called for deeper private sector participation in the blue economy initiative to harness greater benefits from the maritime industry. At a recent forum, he gave   an expository discourse on the many untapped opportunities in the maritime industry. He disclosed that 28 out of the 36 states of the federation have navigable inland waters carrying huge resources that could generate wealth. He identified opportunities in  shipbuilding, ship repairs and recycling as open areas that will benefit the economy and boost foreign exchange earnings. He added that  vessel ownership, chandelling, stevedoring, freight forwarding, haulage, fishing, marine biology, marine geology, underwater engineering, ship brokerage, import and export were  areas that have openings for more investments.

Capacity Building

The current effort of NIMASA to improve on human capacity building is taking many forms. The agency has trained so many cadets overseas, notwithstanding myriads of challenges. Early last year,  the agency    renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with the World Maritime University, (WMU) Malmo,  Sweden, in a bid to enhance capacity building in the maritime sector.

 Jamoh had explained this  when an MoU was signed. He said,

  “The collaboration with the World Maritime University by NIMASA is to advance maritime interest while addressing the changing needs of the maritime industry based on sustainable capacity development; as education, training and capacity building play a major role in developing shipping in any nation.

  “Graduates from the WMU who are in the employ of the Agency will serve as Researchers and Resource Persons, Sharing knowledge and hopefully develop a research based sustainable framework to provide solution to issues of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea”.

Under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), NIMASA  said   from inception to 2020, “the programme has enrolled 2,041 students, while 892 are now licensed deck and engine officers including naval Architects, the rest are in their final stage of the programme. About 486 of the graduates are now gainfully employed and sailing in both coastal and ocean-going vessels, he said.

Ugwoke is publisher, Shipping Day Online.Magazine