The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) may be fine tuning conditions for the repayment of funds expended on ships repaired for the local ship owners who are members of the Indigenous Ship owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN).
NIMASA Director-General, Mr Patrick Akpobolokemi, gave an indication of this at a meeting Wednesday of the NIMASA /ISAN Joint Technical Committee on Indigenous Capacity Building Development at the Agency’s MARITIME HOUSE headquarters in Apapa, Lagos.
Represented by the NIMASA Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr. Obi Callistus Nwabueze, Akpobolokemi, explained that 21 vessels have been shortlisted for repairs.
These vessels, according to him, would be inspected by ship surveyors before taken to ship yards for repairs.
He said that the cost of repairs would be paid by NIMAS, noting that conditions for repayment would e discussed in the next meeting of the committee.
Declaring that no single hull vessels would be repaired, because they have been phased out by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Akpobolokemi stressed that NIMASA was concerned with double hull vessels only.
The NIMASA boss listed a number of companies that are beneficiaries of the ship repairs funding scheme, stressing that NIMASA had awarded contract for the survey of the vessels to ensure that they are commercially viable before embarking on repairs.
“We want to have control of the shipyards where the vessels would be repaired, and the Agency has the right to determine where the vessels would be repaired,” Akpobolokemi said.
The NIMASA boss assured that transparency would govern the execution of the project, noting that it would not be a case of wasteful spending.
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