Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration Safety Agency
(NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has assured maritime stakeholders that the
Agency’s modular floating dock is in the process of being deployed.
Jamoh disclosed this during a visit to Managing Director of Nigerian
Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala-Usman at the NPA headquarters, Marina,
Lagos.
Jamoh stated, “I am here to affirm that the modular floating dock has
come to stay. We have concluded arrangements for its deployment and
operation. The date for its commissioning would be announced soon.”
In an interaction after the meeting with the NPA Managing Director, the
NIMASA Director-General recounted the process of securing the NPA
Continental Shipyard for the floating dock, and getting approval from
the Federal Ministry of Transportation as well as the Infrastructure
Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC). He emphasised that obtaining
these approvals were important preliminary conditions “because of the
need to engage managing partners and ICRC is in charge of the mode of
operations and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.”
In her remarks, Bala-Usman stressed the need to promote the NIMASA local
dry dock to the maximum capacity by placing the NPA’s Continental
Shipyard at the Agency’s disposal as a preferred location. She said NPA
would go into an agreement with NIMASA on the handover of the
authority’s dockyard, jetty locations, and warehouses within the area to
facilitate the installation of the modular floating dock.
“We believe the floating dock is an integral part of the maritime sector
and we like to commend NIMASA for starting this and NPA will continue to
provide the necessary support as it relates to the aspect of our
shareholding within the SPV being guided by the Infrastructure
Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC),”Bala-Usman stated.
She added, “As it is, NPA has confirmed and reiterated that it will
support and hand over those facilities within the next few weeks to
enable NIMASA to conclude the movement of the modular floating dock from
the Naval Dockyard to the Continental dockyard. This is a very welcome
development for the sector and we look forward to patronising and using
the dockyard facility for our vessels and other vessels of government
agencies.”
Responding, Jamoh said, “You have heard from the MD of NPA, within the
next few weeks the Continental Shipyard will be ready to house the
floating dock. The second aspect is the issue of operation; we have
obtained the approval of the ICRC and we have been directed to move to
the Federal Executive Council.
“As far as we are concerned, the confirmation of certain aspects of the
operations will be run concurrently. While we are seeking the Federal
Executive Council approval, the issue of a managing partner will be
considered and Expression of Interest will be published. So, we are good
to go.
When fully operational, the NIMASA floating dock, which arrived Nigeria
in 2018, is expected to provide a lot of benefits to the maritime
industry, ranging from conserving foreign exchange, to providing
employment and boosting indigenous capacity, developing shipping, and
providing training exposure for students of the Maritime Academy of
Nigeria, Oron, and the Maritime University, Okerenkoko.