Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Dalhatu Seriki Tafida, has said that his election as the first Vice President of the 28th Assembly of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) more than compensates for Nigeria’s absence on the IMO Council.
Nigeria declined to seek election into the IMO Council which is the executive arm of the global maritime organisation.
While speaking with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY in London, Tafida, who doubles as the country’s Permanent Representative at IMO, said: “Nigeria enjoys a lot of goodwill at the IMO and that can be seen in our election as the Assembly’s first Vice President. Even though we did not seek election into the Council, the position I was elected into is an important one as we will be part of the decision-making process at the IMO.” Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, who also spoke with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY in London, said that the decision not to contest the IMO Council seat was taken at the “highest level.”
“Nigeria is not contesting for the IMO council elections. We have decided not to contest for this session. In the next session, maybe we will decide to contest. It was a decision taken at the highest level that we should not contest for this election. Certainly, it was in our best interest but we decided not to seek for the election this time around,” he said.
The 28th Assembly of the IMO met at the organisation’s headquarters in London from 25th November to 4th December, 2013. Tafida was elected into the exalted position during the opening ceremony on Monday 25th November, 2013.
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