The
multimillion dollar floating Dockyard owned by the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) which arrived the country
recently will save the Country millions of dollars in capital flight
once operational noting that efforts are being made to create
enabling environment for the growth of indigenous participation in
shipping.
The
Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside who made this
known during an interactive session with Journalists in Lagos said
that the facility which would be operated on a Public Private
Partnership model will be located at a facility of the Nigerian Navy.
The
NIMASA DG said that the Floating Dockyard would commence operations
immediately after the commissioning by President Muhammadu Buhari. He
added that when fully operational, Nigerian Shipowners and their
foreign counterparts would no longer need to take their vessels
outside the country for dry docking.
According
to him, “Nigeria looses up to $100m annually simply because when
our shipowners need to dry dock their vessels, they mostly take them
to neighboring countries like Ghana and Cameroun thus spending
avoidable forex. When this facility is fully operational it has the
capacity to drydock any vessel incountry and save the much needed
foreign exchange”.
Speaking
further Dr. Peterside noted that the facility would be operated in
conjunction with the builders as technical partners. He also assured
that it will create thousands of jobs for teeming Nigerian youths as
well as provide training opportunities for seafarers, adding that the
NIMASA floating dockyard would also be available as a training
facility for the students of the Nigerian Maritime University,
Okerenkoko and other maritime institutions in the Country.
“we
are planning to ensure that the permanent location of this facility
would benefit our students for training and we have also engaged the
builders to manage the facility for a one year period at a Naval
facility” while further arrangements are being worked out”, he
said.
Speaking
on other issues, Dr. Peterside said that the Agency is working on a
special foreign exchange intervention for vessel parts acquisition
and loan repayment processes to enable indigenous operators compete
favourably with their foreign counterparts. He added that there is a
team working with the Central Bank of Nigeria on how best this policy
can be implemented. He said this is aside
working towards the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing
Fund (CVFF) which will give room for a full-fledged Cabotage regime
with more job opportunities created.
Commenting
on the Agency’s Survey, Inspection & Certification
Transformation Programme, Dr Dakuku Peterside disclosed that
3,752 Certificates of Competency (CoC) were issued in 2017 to
successful Seafarers. Representing a 149 % increase from the CoCs
issued in 2016.
Dr.
Peterside said that the impact of this is the confidence of
stakeholders who now willingly verify certificates without prompting.
He further informed that a total of 1,880 certificates were
authenticated for stakeholders in 2017 alone, a significant rise when
compared to the 1013 CoCs verified in 2016.
The
NIMASA DG further informed that the number of Nigerian Seafarers
placed onboard vessels from January to June this year is
2,337 representing 58.9% increase in the number of
seafarers employed stating that this move has led to job and wealth
creation in line with the Federal Government Economic Recovery and
Growth Plan, ERGP.
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