The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stated that professionalism has a key role to play in the development and growth of the maritime industry in Nigeria.
Peterside, who made this assertion when members of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) paid a courtesy visit to the Headquarters of NIMASA in Lagos, described the role of the body to the sector as indispensible and called on them to bring to the fore their expertise in helping the Agency actualize its core mandate of regulating the industry.
While describing them as highly skilled and focused professionals that cannot be brushed aside, the DG intimated them that the current Management of the Agency is working hard and leaving no stone unturned to reposition and rebuild the maritime sector to make it world class.
“We are building a maritime administration that will keep pace with modern maritime thinking and to do that we need everybody onboard, especially the highly skilled professionals like your association.
In the industry, it is good to have assets. You can have ships, have other assets, but the greatest asset we can have in the industry is manpower. So we need manpower to drive the industry and that is where the marine engineers and the surveyors come in”, the DG said.
Earlier in his remarks, the President of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES), Engr. Charles Uwadia commended the Peterside-led administration on its strides in getting the maritime sector to the right path and assured the Agency of the Association’s unflinching support to its developmental initiatives.
He also expressed the willingness of the body to partner with the Agency in contributing meaningfully on Nigeria’s policies to raise the international profile of the country in the comity of nations.
In his words, “The Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors are Stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime and shipping industry and we are concerned about the success of the Nigerian maritime shipping industry and its fundamental contribution to the overall economy of Nigeria. We therefore assure you of our continuous support in your efforts to reposition the Nigerian maritime sector”.
It is worthy to note that the present Management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is committed to focusing on its core mandate. This it has done through various collaborative efforts geared towards the development of the sector and by extension the Nigerian economy. These include delivering excellent service in the areas of Maritime safety, making the maritime domain safe and navigable, providing adequate supervision for our marine environmental management, averting and reducing pollution at sea. Others are meeting relevant International Maritime Organisation (IMO) mandate as well as helping to grow indigenous shipping and also carry out port and flag state responsibilities.
