Dakuku Peterside reveals new coastal security secrets to fight piracy

• Secret cameras that show the entire coastal outlay at once

• Navies of neighbouring countries now work with Nigeria to track pirates

• NIMASA to lead Africa: 65 of every 100 ships to Africa come to Nigeria

• Agency to host US Coast Guard, targets 90% IMO compliance rating

• NIMASA Tower to rise in PH, Warri; Onne port gets action

Introduction
Barely one week after opponents of Dakuku Peterside and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi issued press statements asking the duo to tell Rivers people what they had done for the state since they landed federal appointments, Peterside has led the board and management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA) which he heads as Director-General to Port Harcourt ostensibly to give account of his stewardship in the maritime agency.

Amaechi, immediate past governor of the state and a hated name in the government of his state, is the minister of Transportation while Peterside was a top contestant to the seat of power in Rivers State, an Amaechi die-hard.
The DG came with a retired Army General, Jonathan Indie Garuba, who is chairman of NIMASA Board accompanied by Gambo Ahmed, Executive Director, Maritime Labour & Cabotage Services; an engineer, Rotimi Fashakin, Abdulsalam Suleiman, and a deputy director who is head of media unit, Isichei Osamgbi.
Peterside can be a comedian when he wants, and so, though the master of ceremony ha done a full introduction, the DG chose to help the Port Harcourt press understand the kind of personalities that now lead the charge in the reformation of the maritime agency that is pivotal in boosting shipping and international trade in favour of Nigeria.
Peterside began: “Our chairman is a retired but not tired Army General who knows the in and out of the Niger Delta. He has traversed all the nooks and crannies of the Niger Delta and opened many military formations in the region. Fashakin is more of a media man than maritime man.

He was spokesman for then General Muhammadu Buhari, now President Buhari for a very long time from CPC days. His pen is as sharp as he looks. Mallam Gambo Ahmed has been everything a man can be; chairman of a bank, executive director in a bank, etc. Suleiman is our Director of Legal Services with huge experience”.
He said the Board and Management of NIMASA were in the eastern zone on familiarisation visit to Calabar, Oron, Eket, Onne, PH, (in C/R, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa), and this zone coincides with the oil/gas zone which he said annot be toyed with.
He said many persons including media people mix up the functions of NIMASA and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), and so, he set off to explain.
His lecture: “NIMASA is the agency of Government charged with the responsibility of regulating shipping, promoting indigenous participation in shipping and ensuring that our ocean is safe and clean. The implication of the two mandates is that we have the responsibility for maritime safety and security, for seafarers’ standards, marine requirement management, for security and rescue, for ship registration, and added responsibility for the enforcement of the Cabotage (Act pf 2003).

These run around the asset called the vessel. By regulating the vessel, we regulate the personnel (and build capacity of the personnel), we regulate the marine environment to ensure that the vessel has minimal negative impact on the ocean environment. We regulate the registration of that ship, the standard of safety of the vessel, etc. All of this is around the asset called ship.

Even if you talk of the coastal and inland (Cabotage Act) trade, it is about vessels within our coastal territory, not inter-national territories.
“On the other hand, the NPA is in charge of the ports where the vessels berth. Some vessels do not berth in our terminals. You can say the NPA is in charge of motor parks (ports) while NIMASA is like Road Safety Corps (FRSC). NOSREA is in charge of environmental regulation. Our own duty is to manage the environment relative to vessels. The ocean needs to be safe and clean for vessels to travel around.

“In addition, we have the responsibility to make more Nigerians to board a ship, either as personnel or investment side and other technical areas”. He named the various Acts that gave powers to NIMASA from 2003 to 2007.
What the new Board met
The DG said: “We met a huge and very knowledgeable workforce with the best education and knowledge about the maritime industry, but they were demoralised. It came with leadership gaps. The next situation is that the structure was dysfunctional. For instance, the law brought the Cabotage and Jomalic to the new NIMASA but the structure did not accommodate this change. We met a dysfunctional structure. We met an agency that had veered off its core mandate, now getting into distractions, such as setting up maritime institutes in various universities. They were accused of getting into politics (I do not know). We also had the challenge of decaying infrastructure”.
What the new team did
He went on: “We gathered ourselves in a room for four days to think our way out of the troubles. We could summarise the needs thus; To restructure, reorganise, reform, and reposition (the 4Rs) of NIMASA. This is how we interpreted our mandate. Our principal task was to do the above four and make NIMASA the foremost maritime administration agency in Africa. We have reason to declare this mandate. Of every 100 vessels heading to Africa, 65 will come to Nigeria.

If we could generate such level of cargo in Africa, we ought to take large share of the maritime trade. You know that at least 90 per cent of trade is conducted through sea transportation (shipping). So, we have no reason not to be number one in Africa. Based on this understanding, we decided to take a number of bold steps that are yielding results. These steps are encapsulated in one single document called the NIMASA Medium Term Strategic Plan (NMSTP); a result of the brainstorming”.
Since then, he went on they did a number of things;
Restructure: We started in earnest the restructuring of NIMASA. The idea is to devolve more powers to the zonal operational areas. So, you can start an action in a zone and end it there. The prevailing practice is that every matter comes to Lagos, even for minor payments. In the new structure, you do not need to come to Lagos. The zones will be given targets and free hand to operate.

We have made a lot of progress in this regard. The new structure will accommodate the added responsibility given to NIMASA. In this, we have received the necessary ministerial approval, waiting only for the final approval from the Head of Service (HOS). What we have done in the interim is
As NIMASA Board meets the press in PH:that Directors (with adequate powers) now head the zones.

Reform: To reform NIMASA, we agreed on five pillars, the first is the Survey and Certification Programme. That speaks of how we conduct our various functions. The second is Security, Environment, Search/Rescue, Emergency and Transformation Initiative. This speaks of how we conduct our operations. We admit that our asset is not in oil and gas but our marine investment. If we can secure our marine investments, we will be strong in Africa. In Lome in October in 2016, heads of states came together to sign a memorandum and we now care about how we secure our maritime environment.

The Digital Transformation Stragegy: It is our attempt to digitalise all our processes in NIMASA to eliminate human contact. We have made remarkable progress. We have got the necessary approvals. Soon, you do not need to know anybody or the DG, just work on your laptop and get your vessel registered, like elsewhere. There will be no need to come to submit all manner of papers. For now, you need to submit and the DG needs to sign 72 documents. The DG will have to sit all night signing papers. He cannot pick his phone. He has to sign about 15 of such papers every night.

I do no think anybody can survive that. So, the digital system will reduce all that drudgery through a checklist approach.  For payment, you do not need to come to anybody. You generate your online teller and pay.
Capacity Building and Promotional Initiative: The aim is to get more persons to board vessels and to play active role on vessels. That is our core mandate.

For now, we have not more than five seafarers of ocean-going vessels globally when China and Philippines have 500,000 each. For every vessel that comes to Nigeria, there will likely be one Philippine. In terms of officers, China has more than any country in the world.

Cultural Reforms: This deals with our attitude to work. Our strategy is; Change the structure, change the attitude.

Repositioning: We want to make NIMASA a global voice in the maritime industry. It is an international industry and operates with international rules. No vessel leaves one country and ends in that country, it must end in another country. So, it involves more than one jurisdiction. A vessel stops over from country to country to pick cargo. That is why the rules and standards are international. So, Nigeria must play at such standards. The international agency that regulates shipping International Maritime Organisation (IMO), is a UN agency and you must play at that scene. We subjected ourselves to IMSAS such that IMO can assess us and rate us. In 2016, we were highly rated though there were gaps which we are closing.

The other is for us to return to the governing council of IMO. We simply left such an important stage. We are optimistic that under the leadership of the new board led by Garuba, we will be elected into council. We are hosting all the maritime administrations of Africa in April 2017. This is to stamp our feet in Africa and re-launch Nigeria as the authority of maritime in Africa. This will give Nigeria a strong voice in IMO.

The fruits so far:
The DG said these actions are beginning to yield fruits in six particular areas In terms of maritime safety, before last year, NIMASA boarded 12 vessels that called on our ports pr year, but now we boarded more than 15 per cent of the 5021 that called in our ports last year, while Singapore recorded over 300,000 calling at their ports. In terms of percentage, we exceeded 15 per cent which is the minimum standard given by IMO. This is a huge achievement by IMO standards. It is a mark.
Piracy: Last year, we recorded a sharp drop in piracy cases. We adopted a number of steps and worked with the Navy. This is at a time there is a global drop due to decline in oil and gas and drop in importation, but we were able to achieve.
Seafarers: We developed the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme by sending over 2000 persons to the best institutions in the world UK, Egypt, India, Philippines, Singapore. This is to ensure that our young men and women return with good training to go on board of vessels around the world. We have continued to give support to local training. We are about to train 800 dockworkers because they are the helping hands in the industry. This has not been done for a very long time.

Shipping Development: We have contributed substantially to the revenue base of Nigeria. For a very long time, NIMASA had never done this much. In 2016 alone, we contributed into consolidated revenue more than two previous years put together.

International Engagement: We have participated in a number of international engagements. We have engaged top investors in the UK to lay out investment opportunities. We have partnered with the Fed Min of Transportation to float a shipping line (Nigeria Fleet Initiative). We are providing technical support to this scheme initiated by the Min of Transportation. The difference is that it will be owned by Nigerian investors with core partners or technical partners from Singapore (Pacific International Line of Singapore PIL).

Maritime Labour: NIMASA recently concluded the Joint Industrial Council (JIC) that had not been done before. It will regulate the workers in ports and vessels to ensure that their welfare and wages are protected to the type around the world. We have mandated the Cabotage section to handle that. They are well paid. They will continue with the seafarers training, dockworkers training, etc.

Cabotage: People say Cabotage has not been enforced. No, it has been enforced. Before the Act in 2003, there was only 12 per cent of Nigerian participation but now it is over 65 per cent of Nigerians operating vessels in Nigeria. It is not easy to get 100 per cent because some competences cannot be built overnight. We have more Nigerians in local vessels. That is one major accomplishment.

In terms of vessel ownership, about 60 per cent of vessels trading in our coastal waters are owned by Nigerians and about 60 per cent are flagged Nigeria. The challenge has been in ship-building. By last year, it was three per cent built in Nigeria. It is difficult to build in Nigeria because of special aluminum and cost of finance. They prefer to build outside because if you build with funds with over 20 per cent interest rate, how will you recoup? It is a long term loan. Building ships is purely a business decision and not policy. Our steel and aluminum industry is still at elementary level. Lifespan of a ship is over 100 years, so nobody is going to give such money that takes many years to return. We have done very well in Cabotage sector. We intend to advance further in the years ahead.

Modular Floating Dockyard: To support the industry, NIMASA initiated the acquisition of a floating dockyard. It will be the largest in Africa. Last year, we visited Romania. This year, we are determined to complete the dockyard and bring it to Nigeria so that every vessel will be dry-docked (serviced) in Nigeria. We will take a business decision when we are through but it is very expensive and must be managed by the private sector.

ISPS Code: It was passed after 911(Sept 11) episode when it was realised that nations can be endangered by the shipping industry. So, there was the need to adopt extra security measures. Before now, Nigeria was rated 9 per cent compliance. Now, we have moved to 79 per cent compliance with the ISPS Code, making us one of the four topmost nations in Africa in terms of compliance. We have an agreement with the Coast Guardx of the US to asses our level of compliance with the ISPS Code.

I am convinced beyond any doubt that by the time they are through with us, we would be rated above 90 per cent after the visitation. We are determined not to have security incidents. For this year (2017), we have had only one piracy attack on a vessel coming from Lagos to PH, it was foiled by the vigilance of NIMASA personnel working with Nigerian Navy. We want to record that by 2017, there would be no piracy attack, offshore and onshore on any vessel, at our ports, at our various facilities. This is to ensure that our facilities are safe for shipping.

We are working very hard to ensure that we enhance the shipping registrar. This is to enhance the quality administration. We are working closely with the South Africa and Malta Ship Registration Offices to achieve this.
Another important accomplishment is decision to build a multi storey building in PH to serve as NIMASA zonal headquarters. We owe the chairman huge gratitude. He is regarded as a Port Harcourt boy and it was easy to get him to see the rationale of this project. The board also approved one in Warri for the central zone. The board also approved a centre for Onne because it is an important centre in the zone.
Promotions: For the very first time in many years, over 300 staff were promoted. Some have stagnated for over 14 years. The process of promotion in NIMASA is very tedious, but under our watch, we are determined to get it right despite the tedious process. Again, it is another credit to our board chairman. In this exercise, the Director of Legal Services (Suleiman) is a direct beneficiary. He would have remained a deputy director.

We have technical training more than all the previous years put together. If you do not have confidence in your experts, they do not achieve much. We have attracted more technical trainings than in previous years outside the country. There is no month without NIMASA workers going for IMO-certified training.

Conclusion:

So, our reform is on course, the restructuring and our repositioning are on course. When we are one year in office, we will give full account of our activities in office. The board chairman has been very instrumental. He is a father. He is fighting a battle for maritime development.