Nigeria’s Alternate Permanent Representative (APR) to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Captain Ibrahim Olugbade has been elected Chairman, Governing Bodies of the IMO London Convention and Protocol.
Olugbade was elected to the prestigious seat on Thursday 6th November, 2014 during the meeting of the governing bodies at the IMO headquarters in London.
Olugbade is a highly respected Master Mariner and member of the International Federation of Shipmasters Association (IFSMA), London and a fellow of both the Nautical Institute of Technology and Institute of Shipping Technology Nigeria.
He holds various professional and academic qualifications from the Australian Maritime College; the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, Egypt; Rivers State University of Science and Technology; and the Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron.
The purpose of the London Convention is to control all sources of marine pollution and prevent pollution of the sea through regulation of dumping into the sea of waste materials. The purpose of the Protocol is similar to that of the Convention, but the Protocol is more restrictive: application of a “precautionary approach” is included as a general obligation; a “reverse list” approach is adopted, which implies that all dumping is prohibited unless explicitly permitted; incineration of wastes at sea is prohibited; export of wastes for the purpose of dumping or incineration at sea is prohibited. Extended compliance procedures and technical assistance provisions have been included, while a so-called transitional period allows new Contracting Parties to phase in compliance with the Protocol over a period of five years, provided certain conditions are met.
Contracting Parties are bound by the Protocol to take effective measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment caused by dumping at sea.
Dr. Felicia Mogo, an assistant director in the Marine Environment Management department of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was also appointed Chairman of the Compliance Group under the London Convention and Protocol.
Olugbade’s election and Mogo’s appointments are seen as a boost for Nigeria’s standing and respectability in the comity of maritime nations.
It would be recalled that Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Senator Dalhatu Tafida was elected first Vice President of the 28th IMO Assembly in London in November 2013.
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