BY MIDAT JOSEPH.
Three years ago, precisely on the Friday, March 10, 2020, Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh was appointed Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Dr. Jamoh, a seasoned administrator, took over from Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside whose four-year term ended March 10, 2020. He became the 6th Director General of the maritime regulatory Agency since the merger of National Maritime Authority with Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council.
Dr. Peterside who handed over to Jamoh was excited that a professional was taken over from him, he could not wish for a better person to take over from him than Jamoh, whom he described as a man with vast “institutional knowledge” of the industry.
“I am happy that President Muhammadu Buhari has chosen Dr. Bashir Jamoh to succeed me in office. I cannot wish for a better person to succeed me because Dr. Bashir’s immense knowledge and commitment to the growth of the sector cannot be over emphasised and I am sure he would continue our good works,” Dakuku stated
On taken over the mantle of leadership at the maritime agency, Dr. Jamoh left no one in doubt of his determination to turn around the agency to greater and enviable heights. In fact, he told everyone at the handing over ceremony of his unwavering dedication to the progress of the industry, adding that the maritime sector offers a major platform for economic development. He also pledged to focus on areas of effective Maritime Safety Administration, Maritime Labour Regulation, Marine Pollution Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue, Cabotage enforcement, Shipping Development and Ship Registration, Training and Certification of Seafarers, and Maritime Capacity Development using modern tools that guarantee efficiency and effectiveness.
Three years down the line, Dr Bashir Jamoh, popularly regarded as the “System Boy”, having rose through the ranks at NIMASA, has not disappointed, despite heavy criticism and unfounded allegations.
It is on record that Nigeria was able to defeat the hydra-headed monster called PIRACY in the Gulf of Guinea, even as the country has recorded zero attacks on ships in the past one year under Dr Jamoh’s administration at NIMASA.
Since the security of the Maritime Domain was very critical to the day-to-day operation of the sector as well as boost investors’ confidence, Dr. Jamoh launch of the Deep Blue Project which led to the significant reduction in piracy and Kidnappings, arrests and successful prosecution of criminals.
Signing of SPOMO Act
It is a known fact that before 2019, Nigeria did not have law, separate law that tries offenders and criminals that are arrested for being involved in piracy and kidnapping. Therefore, NIMASA came up with the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Related Offences (SPOMO) Act which was signed by Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2019. As of today NIMASA has secured convictions under this Act. This has also served as a deterrent to would-be criminals. To further deter these criminalities on the waterways and make Nigerian youths gainfully employed, the Agency established and engaged the Marine Litter Marshals working on the waterways.
The Agency observed that shipping is critical to global trade, yet it is the most vulnerable in terms of safety. This explains the reason the International Maritime Organization adopted the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention to ensure the safety of those involved, consequently, empowered by enabling legislations, NIMASA takes this as a critical aspect of its job to ensure safety of ships and those on board, through proper enforcement of maritime safety conventions.
Wreck Removal Exercise
The Federal Executive Council, at the end of the last quarter of 2021, approved the wreck removals from Badagry axis up to the Tincan Island, this project has gone very far. Again, in the first quarter of 2022, the Federal Executive Council approved the removal of the entire wrecks also in the other zones of Nigeria, comprising Western zone with headquarters in Lagos, Eastern zone headquarters in Port Harcourt and then central Zone headquarters in Warri. All these projects have achieved major milestones.
Search and Rescue Operations/ Flag and Port State Administration
Under the watchful eyes of Dr. Jamoh, the agency engaged the Nigerian Navy Naval Dockyard in Lagos to repair its operational vessels, Millennia 1 and Millennium 2. Today both vessels and five others are almost ready for deployment for enforcement purposes. This will also enhance it’s search and rescue operation, port and flag state administration amongst others.
In other to attend to the emergencies that may occur after a Search and Rescue Operations, the Agency has built two brand new Search and Base clinic of international standard at Azare Crescent, Apapa and Kirikiri. The agency is hopeful of commissioning it soon. The hospital is not for NIMASA or Nigeria, but original Regional States, as NIMASA is in charge of nine countries in terms of Search and Rescue. The hospital is of high international standard, it is hoped that the facility would treat all calibers of patients locally, and internationally, with the state of arts equipment the facility will possess, when completed.
At the inception of the administration, there was no single vessel for enforcement. Today, the agency has built seven brand new bullet proofs boats and they are expected to have been completed. They are being built in Spain, and it is hoped that before the end of March, NIMASA will receive and commission the vessel.
As soon as the vessels are commissioned, the agency has assured that there will be enhanced enforcement performance; and it plans to divide the use of the vessels; not only in Lagos, but also to other zones of the Agency. All these will cater for the issue of safety.
The critical aspect of shipping development encompasses fleet expansion, shipbuilding and ship repairs. Shipping is responsible for over 90 percent of international transportation of goods that sustain the global supply chain, which is a significant component of the global economy, enhancing import and exports of goods and services.
NIMASA is poised to advance shipping by ensuring a conducive environment for commercial shipping and encouraging more indigenous participation in the global shipping trade.
Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF)
The CVFF Fund before Dr Jamoh’s appointment into office has become a mirage, many past DG’s tried to disburse the fund, but it was too shrewded in secrecy with a lot of politics and bottlenecks.
However, today, President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for disbursement of the fund. Subsequently, Dr Jamoh is holding meetings and consultations with Primary Lending Institutions (PLI) that were appointed for the disbursement which is likely to take place in second quarter 2023.
Manpower Development/ NSDP/ Training Seafarers
In the area of education, the Agency introduced the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP). The Nigerian NSDP development program is a capacity development programme, initially funded by NIMASA in collaboration with some State Government’s, but currently wholly sponsored by NIMASA.
Under the NSDP, scores of Nigerian youths are sent abroad to the Philippines, Greece, India and Egypt for maritime training. Many of them have graduated today and are gainfully employed as seafarers.
In order to ensure that Nigerian training institutions are not abandoned, the Dr Bashir Jamoh led administration has improved the agency’s interface with the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron. The agency’s statutory funding of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron has been on point since 2020.
MAN Oron aquired state of the art Simulators, among other state of the art facilities, this is because the funding by NIMASA has been unhindered.
This is in addition to other private maritime institutions like Charkins, they are now also coming up with a lot of accreditation of diplomas and other short-term certificates that is done locally, thereby saving foreign exchange.
In addition to this initiative, the Agency created skill acquisition centres across six geopolitical zones. For the South-West we have Lagos, in the South-East we have Anambra, for South-South we have Bayelsa, for North-East, we have Maiduguri, Borno state; for North-West we have Kaduna State for North Central we have Kwara.
All these skill acquisition centers have the capacity of training younger Nigerians on different aspects of professionalism. This is to help trim the number of criminality on the territorial waters. Records therefore show that from third quarter of 2021 until date, Nigeria has never recorded one single attack on its territorial waters.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Dr. Jamoh has achieved tremendous success in the areas of restructuring, reformation and repositioning of the Agency, improvement of revenue generation and steady remittance to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government. He has trained over 1,650 various personnel locally and internationally in diverse subjects and skills. He has established, equipped and managed NIMASA’s ultra-modern training centre with capacity to accommodate 200 participants at a time. Successfully planned, managed and appraised capacity development of the largest maritime organisation for about a decade. Improved and engaged the Agency’s training to world-class standard. Budgetary management of over N117 billion with commensurate value for every Naira spent. Accidents and incidents-free management of Agency’s protocol and logistics portfolio for local and international operations. Efficient research and data management for actionable maritime planning and administration in collaboration with vessel/cargo related MDAs. He has effective co-ordination of revenue generation from operations with a monthly budget of up to $40 million.
Other achievement includes effectively managed the operations of incoming and outgoing vessels in major ports across coastal Nigeria. In Kaduna State, sound planning, procurement and management of agricultural supplies as well as produce with increased profits for farming enterprise and its value chain. Spearheaded and managed the process leading to the passage of the bill for the establishment of the charter status for the Chartered Institute of Transport Administrators (CIoTA) in 2019.
Indeed, no one was better qualified to enthrone NIMASA to the global best practices than Dr. Jamoh, who is well grounded in the maritime industry with over 32 years of both professional and technical experience in the sector and has an exceptionally close working relationship with stakeholders in the industry. He has done great things and he is still in the business of doing great things for Nigeria.
Midat is a former Assistant National Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and is based in Abuja.
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