In a bid to have a world-class Ship Registry and enhance the Ease of
\nDoing Business in the maritime sector, the Nigerian Maritime
\nAdministration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has concluded plans to set up
\nan automated ship registration process through online and electronic
\nprocedure.<\/p>\n
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, stated this
\nrecently in Lagos at an interactive session with shipowners.<\/p>\n
The forum discussed how to improve the quality of the Nigerian Ship
\nRegister, with stakeholders promising to support the initiative. They
\nspecifically pledged to fund the ship registration automation process.<\/p>\n
Dakuku told the stakeholders that the Agency had acquired software
\nlicence for the automation of the Nigerian Ship Registry, which is rated
\nby the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as the second largest
\nin Africa, by tonnage, after Liberia, and 46th in the world. He said
\nautomation was the only way to boost the worth of the registry and
\nquicken business processes.<\/p>\n
According to the DG, “Our principal aim is to achieve online electronic
\nregistration, accept electronic copies of documents and issue electronic
\ncertificates. Our goal as a Maritime Safety Administration is to create
\na world class Ship Registry, which will be attractive to shipowners with
\nthe aim of maintaining the influence of Nigeria in evolving
\ninternational commercial and regulatory environment for shipping.”<\/p>\n
Dakuku disclosed that in 2018 and 2019, the Nigerian registry attracted
\ntwo high index capacity vessels \u2013 Egina FPSO and MT Ultimate. He said
\nNIMASA was confident that a lot more could be done to assist Nigerians
\nin acquiring vessels, hence its intensified effort to ensure the
\ndisbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). He stated
\nthat the Agency was in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development
\nand Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to drive capacity in the maritime industry.<\/p>\n
The Director-General also highlighted the effort the Agency had made to
\nsecure an internationally competitive ship registry for the country,
\nwhich include auditing the register of Nigerian vessels, redesigning and
\nproducing new ship registry certificates, and automation of the ship
\nregistry. Others are upgrade of the ship registry filing facility,
\nreview of ship registration guidelines, and ISO 9001: 2015
\nCertification.<\/p>\n
Dakuku noted that some of the biggest ship registries in the world, such
\nas the UK Ship Register, currently maintained a second or international
\nregister to attract tonnage, while using the closed register to develop
\nindigenous capacity. To that end, he said the Agency was considering
\nestablishing a second register to help grow Nigerian fleet and enhance
\nthe country’s role in international commercial trade.<\/p>\n
The DG called on stakeholders to assist the Agency’s new computerisation
\ninitiative. “Our esteemed stakeholders, whilst keeping our eyes firmly
\nfixed on the objective of building a world class Ship Registry, we hope
\nto rely on your guidance, experience, industry know-how and cooperation
\nto endow the desperately needed credence and international respect for
\nthe Nigerian Flag,” he stated.<\/p>\n
In his presentation on background and development of ship registration,
\na governing council member of the Nigerian Content Development &
\nMonitoring Board (NCDMB) Mr. Mina Oforiokuma noted that technically,
\nNigeria’s registry was the largest in Africa.\u00a0 Oforiokuma said this was
\nbased on the fact that Liberia operated an open registry, domiciled in
\nthe United States of America. More so, most of the vessels registered in
\nNigeria trade in Africa, he stated.<\/p>\n
Speaking also, the Chairman of the Ship Registry Committee, Engr.
\nEmmanuel Ilori, urged NIMASA to set clear timelines for the
\nadministrative process of ship registration and put in place precise
\nchange in flag instructions.<\/p>\n
Ilori advised the Agency to ensure that qualified tonnage measures were
\nemployed to serve in the safety department. He commended NIMASA’s drive
\nto enshrine full automation of all ship registration processes,
\nrevealing that it is one of the recommendations of the Ship Registry
\nReview Committee.<\/p>\n
The high-point of the event was the unveiling of the new high-tech ship
\nregistration certificates, which comes in various categories namely;
\nCertificate of Nigeria Registry; Certificate of Nigeria Registry
\n(provisional); Nigeria Certificate of Registry (Fishing Vessel); Nigeria
\nCertificate of Registry (Fishing Vessel Provisional). Others are Nigeria
\nCertificate of Registry (Bare Boar Charter Vessel) and Certificate of
\nNigeria Ship Registry (Cabotage).<\/p>\n
The present management of NIMASA began the drive to restructure the
\nNigerian Ship Registry by inaugurating a Committee on the Review of the
\nActivities and Operations of the Nigerian Ship Registration Office on
\nFebruary 27, 2018. The committee headed by Engr. Emmanuel Ilori was
\ngiven the task to examine the status of the Ship Registry in line with
\ninternational best standards and recommend requisite improvement
\nmeasures.<\/p>\n
The committee submitted its report in 2019 with far reaching
\nrecommendations grouped into short, medium and long term measures. The
\nsubmission of the report was followed by the inauguration of an
\nImplementation Monitoring Committee on August 20, 2019 to chart a course
\nfor the implementation of the recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a bid to have a world-class Ship Registry and enhance the Ease of Doing Business in the maritime sector, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has concluded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n