Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) are working together to provide safe voyage for vessels on the nation’s sea towards closing gaps identified by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) during its last mandatory audit of the country’s maritime industry.
This was the fallout of the meeting between the Director-General of NiMet, Professor Mansur Bako Matazu and the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, at the NIMASA’s headquarters in Lagos.
Auditors from IMO had in 2016 conducted a mandatory audit of Nigeria’s maritime industry to, among other things, ascertain compliance level with IMO’s maritime security and efficiency protocols on the country’s waters
Both agencies of the Federal Government agreed to immediately set up a working committee to develop an action plan and implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the provision of the things recognised as missing from the maritime sector.
Dr. Jamoh stated “Collaboration with NiMet is a necessity; it is not for convenience. IMO had during the audit of the Nigerian Maritime Administration some years ago identified some gaps, which we believe can be closed with effective collaboration among critical stakeholders.
“Cooperation between NIMASA and NiMet is vital for the documentation and filling of the gaps. We have established a platform for action and devised various strategies for the achievement of our set goals.”
In his own remarks, Matazu said, “We desire to provide services to aid the movement of vessels on Nigerian waters. With climate change and its increasing intensity, this is the time for collaboration. NiMet weather forecasts are over 95 percent in accuracy.”
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