On Nigeria’s re-election bid into the IMO Council

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the United Nations specialized agency for the safety and security of shipping, and prevention of marine pollution by ships. Available records show that Nigeria became a member of the IMO on 15 March 1962. And on a few occasions, the country has been elected as a member of the IMO Council. Since 2009, Nigeria has made several attempts to be re-elected into the IMO Council without success.
On 27 November 2017, 45 countries including Nigeria took part in an election to be a member of the IMO Council, but Nigeria did not get re-elected. The team from the Ministry of Transport that represented Nigeria had high hopes that the country would get a seat in the IMO Council which has three categories. “Category A members are those nations with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, while Category B are countries with the largest interests in seaborne trade. Category C, which has 20 countries are those with special interests in maritime transport and navigation” and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world,” according to IMO. Looking at the criteria in each category, it is not surprising that Nigeria lost and came second to the last position.
Although, the country prides itself as the first to enact a Cabotage Act in the West and Central African sub-region, the underdevelopment of the country’s maritime industry starts with bureaucracy in port operations. Despite reforms over a decade ago, port congestion stifles the economy instead of boosting it.
Specifically, maritime safety involves the aversion of human losses and injuries, the preservation of marine and coastal environment and the protection of vessels and their cargoes. When the nation’s maritime safety record is appraised, there is a lot to be done in protecting lives, ships and the environment.
Similarly, Nigeria lacks a strong marine accident reporting culture as a result of which the country is regarded as one of those without a credible marine accident data. From maritime administration perspective, most owners of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels and other types of ships find it problematic to register their vessels on the country’s flag register.
People are an essential component of maritime safety and they run the system. Despite a marginal level of success in developing maritime education in Nigeria, serious questions are being asked about the quality of human capacity within the industry. This is due partly to the poor quality of education in the country and lack of government-owned sea training ships for maritime students to develop practical skills in navigation and seamanship.
Most ship repair yards are not functioning properly within the country while a large number of ships operating in Nigeria, particularly within the oil and gas sector are of single-hull and are very old. In fact, the number of shipwrecks is of major concern to maritime experts in the country. This is a clear demonstration of NIMASA’s inability to cope with its mandate as an enforcer of maritime safety. The IMO is aware of these challenges which those in the federal government have not been able to resolve for several years.
With aforementioned challenges in the maritime industry, will the nation get a seat in the IMO Council? Negative! If some of these challenges had been resolved overtime, perhaps a council membership of IMO would have been conferred on Nigeria as a maritime nation. This is because Nigeria’s membership of IMO Council is likely to give Africa a voice globally on maritime issues as the country aspires to promoting and implementing maritime safety, and pollution prevention and regulations at national, regional and international levels.
Unfortunately, Nigeria wants to be re-elected as a council member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) without demonstrating to the world that it holds exemplary capability in the maritime sector. This writer is of the view that Nigeria cannot lay claim to a seat in the IMO Council without significant improvement in safety and administration of the country’s maritime industry.
Even the Director General NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside knows that it is impossible for the nation to be re-elected into the IMO Council. Hear him: “We cannot wake up as a country and say we are going to contest IMO elections. The rules of engagement require that we get the approval of the Federal Executive Council and that takes a process. After we got the approval, there are also budgetary processes to go through. All of these take time and affected our early preparation.”
With the justification, the DG NIMASA and his principal, the honourable Minister of Transport, still led a team of Nigerians to London. What followed were accusations by observers within the country’s maritime industry that “after spending N300 million, Nigeria loses IMO Council election.” But amusingly, the DG NIMASA replied by saying that “Nigeria wasted only N100 million on IMO Council bid.”
With “prayer” on one hand and “hope” on the other, Nigerian officials marched leisurely to the international environment in order to canvass for re-election into IMO Council. You may wonder how this writer got this information. It’s from the Honourable Minister of Transport’s remarks: “About 45 nations would be in the executive and we pray that we are part of the 45 nations because it would mean that we are part of the decision making body and would no longer be outside like we were two or three years under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. This is another opportunity and we hope we win.”
It is good for maritime nations to “pray” and “hope”, but they must be backed with significant actions. A lot needs to be done in Nigeria’s maritime industry in areas of regulation, safety of shipping, port administration, inspections and search and rescue services. Without any fear of ambiguity, NIMASA has to roll up its sleeves so that Nigeria’s quest for IMO Council membership will not be a delusion.

MA Johnson