The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is currently awaiting a ministerial approval to proceed in acquisition of six fast moving platforms for its zonal operations for enforcement of cabotage across the country.
Director-General of the agency, Dakuku Peterside who disclosed this to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY in an exclusive chat shortly after an industry programme in Lagos, said the agency had done its homework on the acquiring the platforms and sent to the Ministry of Transportation for approval.
This is as the NIMASA boss indicated that the much talked about automation of the agency’s operations is being delayed by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE), saying NIMASA is also awaiting a letter of no objection from the bureau to start the automation project.
It will be recalled that the NIMASA DG promised to acquire fast-moving platforms for cabotage enforcement in October after he was confronted with a huge lapse in caboatge enforcement during his recent tour of the zones.
“We have concluded our own part of securing the platform, we are simply just waiting for ministerial approval. All our areas will be covered. We have proposed six for ministerial approval, but whichever number we are able to acquire will depend on the ministerial approval,” he said.
On reforms in the agency, Peterside denied any controversies or issues hampering the reforms as alleged by some sources, blaming the delay on the reforms on “sets of processes” required to carry it through, adding that the agency was also awaiting the letter of approval for the reforms from the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
“We are awaiting the letter of approval for the reforms from the minister. We can’t go ahead without the letter. The reforms are just tied to processes that is all, nothing more. We have decided to do automation but now we are waiting for the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to give us a letter of no objection; they are just due process issues,” Peterside said.
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