Nigeria on Friday lost its bid to get re-elected into category ‘C’ of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for the third consecutive time. Recall that the last time Nigeria won its IMO Council bid was in 2007, under Ade Dosunmu, the then director-general of NIMASA, and every attempt made since 2011 to return to the council had failed.
It was about 40 countries elected into the IMO Council in three categories for the 2017/2018 biennials. The successful countries were listed as China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States in Category A.
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates were elected in Category B while Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey were elected in Category C.
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Category A council members are countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, while Category B are countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade: Category C, which has 20 countries are those with special interests in maritime transport or navigation” and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world,” according to IMO.
But, in the election, which took place in London on Friday, had Nigeria as one of the countries seeking re-election by scoring 98 points in an election that saw five African countries of Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya and Liberia joining the group at the expense of Nigeria.
A breakdown of the votes showed that Morocco scored 134 votes; Egypt – 133; South Africa -121; Kenya – 120, and Liberia – 116.
It was gathered that Singapore came top with 142 votes to beat 20 countries.
Category C is the executive organ of the IMO that takes decisions in the absence of the Assembly and coordinates all activities of the organs of the organisation. It has 20 member countries with a special interest in maritime transport or navigation.
Maritime stakeholders have expressed shock at the inability of Nigeria to get re-elected into the policy-making body of the IMO, citing policy somersaults, shoddy preparation and inexperience by the federal government as represented by FMOT, NIMASA. Donald Adebola, a London-based Nigerian maritime analyst, who spoke shortly after the election, attributed Nigeria’s loss to “inexperience and shoddy preparation” by the handlers of the country’s bid.
He said, “It is clear that both Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, and Dakuku Peterside, director-general of NIMASA, are not knowledgeable about the workings of IMO, and while that is not wrong in itself, their inability to mobilise knowledgeable people on board to drive the process is confounding.” Also speaking, Ferdinand Agu, a former director-general of NIMASA, said, “Politicians don’t have a clear idea what the maritime sector is all about. How can you contract maritime safety to a private company when the Nigerian Navy is there?”
Nigeria sent a 36-man delegation to the Council meeting in London and by estimation, the estacode spent on 36 members of the IMO team, which includes air tickets, accommodation, feeding and entertainment, costs the taxpayers more than N200 million for what evidence has been a jamboree. At an average of $600 daily as estacode for the 36-man delegation, which spent five days at the IMO Council meeting and an average £500 for a return ticket for each of the delegates, one can only imagine the cost of this ego trip on the Nigerian taxpayer.
