Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the report of the Ministerial Committee on the Restructuring and Reformation of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), would inform the basis of any government decisions on the agency.
Receiving the final report of the committee on Monday in Abuja, Amaechi said that the restructuring of NIMASA had become imperative so that it would serve Nigerians better.
While thanking the committee for doing a good job, he however, said that he needed to study the report carefully before approval.
“The reason why we set up this committee is to see how to reposition NIMASA to perform its responsibilities for the benefit of Nigerians.
“If they are raising revenue and collecting revenue, we need to ensure that the remaining funds should be discharged and sent back to the Federal Government.”
Earlier, while presenting the report, the Director-General of NIMASA, Mr Dakuku Peterside, said the committee was charged with the task of establishing a framework for the restructuring and reforms of the agency.
“The committee was inaugurated in acknowledgement of the fact that NIMASA was not operating in an effective manner and that there was urgent need to restructure it.”
“We need to reform and reposition NIMASA if our dream of making Nigeria a hub of maritime industry in West and Central Africa must be realised.”
According to him, the committee, within two months, 18 meetings and searched libraries to do a comparative analysis across the globe, with series of stakeholders’ engagement.
He said that the committee was divided into three groups — on governance structure, image and perception, core functions of NIMASA.
He said that the committee concluded that for NIMASA to be repositioned, there must be a change in the current structure of the agency and that power should be syndicated to zonal offices.
“We acknowledged as a fact that NIMASA derived its powers from three principal legislation — the Merchant Shipping Act, the Cabotage Act and the NIMASA Act.
“We also looked at those Acts and reviewed them intensively.
“At the end of the day, the committee is of the opinion that if NIMASA would perform optimally, we need to change the current structure of NIMASA and we also recommended that NIMASA disburse more power to zones,” Peterside said.
