The Director-General (DG) of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dayo Mobereola has said that he is working to raise maritime industry’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mobereola also said he is repositioning NIMASA support development of Nigeria’s blue economy.
He spoke on efforts towards enhancing seafarers capacity development, vessels acquisition, Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF), security and safety on the waters.
The NIMASA DG, during a media engagement in Lagos also said improving on maritime contribution to the GDP requires that every aspect of local maritime industry is productive, beginning with a very robust cabotage trading through vessel acquisition by local shipowners and availability of cargo for them to lift.
According to the DG, the country needs to improve on what the maritime industry is contributing to the GDP and theagency intends to achieve this by a set of enforcements including deployment of the modular floating dock, seeking the appropriate and relevant trainings for cadets and boosting cabotage trade.
He said: “We are reviewing the process of how vessels crew are being engaged. We are also working to ensure that the cadets we produce under the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) are good products after training. All these issues are on our table. There’s no single day we don’t deliberate on them.
“We are also working on deploying the modular floating dock. We have many proposals on the table but we want to make sure that a good decision is reached on it. We want to put it on use as soon as possible. It will create employment for ourtrained cadets, earn revenue and improve the sector, but we want to do it right.
“On the issue of CVFF, the fund is safe with the government and we are looking out for the right opportunity to start its disbursement, in a sustainable manner that will ensure that only those actively playing in the industry gets it. There are many considerations in the disbursement of CVFF These factors are not only within Nigeria but international factors and there has to be cargo for the vessels to lift after they have been acquired.”
Highlighting the significant foreign exchange Nigeria could earn from seafarers exportation, the NIMASA DG said proper capacity development for local seafarers is not negotiable.
“I am aware of the benefits of seafarers in the Philippines where seafarers repatriate $26 billion to the country annually. Their seafarers are not better humans than our own. It is a matter of good training. Many countries are looking for good seafarers and we don’t want to send out half-baked seafarers. We are working on it,” he said.