The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is set to create a world-class ship registory that will be competitive and attractive to local and foreign ship owners to fly Nigerian flag, generate employment and boost the economy.
The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Dakuku Peterside, disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday, at a stakeholders’ interactive forum organised by the agency.
The theme of the event was: Repositioning the Nigerian ship registry for sustainable growth.
Addressing over stakeholders at the forum, Peterside said the country has commenced arrangements to upgrade its ship regestory to meet international certification standards, and compete favourably in the global maritime trade.
Last year, the Director General said, constituted a committee to review the activities and operations of the nation’s Ship Registration Office to meet international best practices.
“The management began the drive to restructure the Nigerian Ship Registry by inaugurating a Committee on the Review of the Activities and Operations of the Nigerian Ship Registration Office on February 27, 2018.”
Part of the terms of reference given to the committee, Peterside said, were to examine the status of the Ship Registry in line with international best standards and recommend requisite improvements.
Based on the support given to the agency by Buhari, Peterside said, “NIMASA will create a world class Ship Registry which will be attractive to shipowners with the aim of maintaining the influence of Nigeria in evolving international commercial and regulatory environment for shipping.”
The NIMASA helmsman said the country is currently operateing a Closed Registry with about 2, 725 active vessels of various capacity.
In 2019, he said, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ranked the Nigerian Ship Registry number two in Africa after Liberia (which operates an Open Registry) and 46 in the whole world.
According to him: “Our desire is to have Nigerian flag vessels involved in international commercial trade and that is why we are making every effort to build capacity and ensure that Nigerians acquire high capacity vessels that will not only be involved in the lifting of our hydrocarbons but carry our cargos to other parts of the world.
“As you are all well aware, Nigeria operate a closed ship registry, however, most renowned ship registries in the world such as the UK Ship Register, today maintain a Second or International Register to attract tonnage whilst using the Closed Register to develop indigenous capacity and for domestic trade similar to our cabotage regime. We are therefore considering establishing a second or international register to help grow our fleet and input our footprints in international commercial trade.
“IIn 2018/19, we attracted into our Register two high index capacity vessels – “Egina FPSO” and “MT Ultimate”. We have no doubt that a lot more can be done to assist Nigerians in acquiring vessels and that is why we are making effort to disburse the Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund (CVFF). We are also partnering with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to drive capacity in the industry,” Peterside said.
The Director General added that the agency has embarked on constructive steps that will help in repositioning the ship registry office.
The Federal Government, Peterside said, has put in motion, measures that will enhance the reputation of the Nigerian flag and constitute a deterrent to the prospective customers.
The Committee Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Ilori said that the committee was constituted to ensure that the nation’s Ship Registry is responsive to the business needs of shipowners.
Ilori added that there was need to reduce the bureaucracy of the ship registry’s process because it is promoting delays and inefficiency.
Nigeria, he said, needs to move beyond the current Registry type and offering alternative registration models in order to attend to the differing needs of shipowners.
