The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has inaugurated the boards of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Amaechi asked the boards of both agencies to sustain harmonious working relationships with the managements.
He asked members of the boards of both agencies to bear in mind that they were not management and so must find a way to work well with the managements, adding that their duties were to make policies, which the managements will execute.
“We are in unusual times but we can’t afford to shut our seaports. The activities must continue so that the trade can take place and the people can feed,” he said.
Amaechi charged the new NIMASA board to speed up completion of the Federal Governmet’s Deep Blue Project.
The maritime security project, also known as the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, aims to comprehensively tackle insecurity on Nigeria’s territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone, up to the Gulf of Guinea.
He said 60 per cent of the project’s cost had been paid by the Federal Government stressing that the success of NIMASA is, to a great extent, dependent on completion of the project.
In his remarks, Chairman of the NIMASA board, Asita O. Asita, pledged to work harmoniously with the management to deliver the agency’s mandate.
“If we must trade as a country, we need the waterways to be safe,” he said.
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