The Federal Government has charged the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to remain committed to the training and retraining of port state control officers in a bid to aid effective and efficient examination of substandard ships in West and Central Africa.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, who spoke on Wednesday on behalf of the government at the regional workshop for heads of maritime administrations in West and Central Africa, enjoined port state control officers in the region to acquaint themselves with new trends, innovations, inventions, and topical issues in their field.
The workshop was organised by the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African Region and IMO in Lagos.
“You will all agree with me that one of the yardsticks for measuring an effective MoU is its ability to ensure a harmonised system of port state control, strengthen cooperation as well as information exchange amongst members with the ultimate aim of preventing the operation of substandard ships within the MoU region.
“This workshop/training which will keep participants abreast of current events, innovations, inventions, and topical issues in the industry couldn’t have come at a better time than now when the Abuja MoU is striving to become the enviable MoU in terms of quality of service and performance amongst the nine regional MoUs. To this, I commend the Secretary-General and secretariat of the Abuja MoU.
“As we are all aware, the essence of port state control is to inspect foreign ships in national ports to verify the condition of the ship and its equipment and ascertain that she is manned/operated in compliance with the requirements of international conventions/regulations to ensure maritime safety and security and prevent pollution of the marine environment.
“To this end, regular training and retraining of port state control officers are key in ensuring that they display a high level of professionalism and skill in the conduct of inspections on board ships calling at their ports.
“I, therefore, wish to urge the heads of maritime administrations here present to ensure that similar training(s) as this is replicated for Port State Control Officers in your respective administrations.
“It should be noted that the Abuja MoU is not tied to one Member State alone, all Member states here present are critical stakeholders of the MoU. Therefore, we must all join forces and strive to ensure that we constantly uphold the ideals and objectives upon which the MoU was established. For this reason, I urge all member states to play their part in contributing to the growth of the Abuja MoU, so that we can constantly meet expectations and safeguard our marine domains.
“I wish to encourage every member state that has not ratified and domesticated the Abuja MoU relevant instruments, which include the IMO and ILO conventions/codes for PSC to do so promptly, so that we can move with the tide of the IMO,” Ajani noted.
