ISPS Code implementation: Stakeholders see improved security level at Nigerian ports

Nigerian ports have recently improved their compliance level to the provisions of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code, according to stakeholders who took turns to appraise the implementation of the code in the country 10 years after its domestication.

The stakeholders said compliance to the provisions of the code in the country took a U-turn recently following the Federal Government’s appointment of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as Designated Authority (DA) for ISPS Code implementation on May 21, 2013.

Abiodun Omotesho, a master mariner and former consultant to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), said NIMASA had succeeded in implementing the ISPS code since the agency took over.

At a one-day seminar organised by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos at the weekend, Omotesho explained that there were initial hitches surrounding the implementation of the code in Nigeria. He noted that a committee set up by the Federal Government in 2004 to implement the ISPS code got it wrong from day one, which made the implementation to become problematic, adding that DA ought to be the flag state administrator like in other maritime nations of the world.

Listing the efforts of the DA towards increasing the security standards in Nigerian ports, the master mariner, who noted that NIMASA was training some professionals to oversee the implementation of the code, also stated that the agency had ensured that ships coming into the country were properly inspected to ensure compliance to the international security standards.

He further observed that the agency had been at the forefront of inspecting and defining Nigeria’s port facilities which had interface ships involved in international trade.

“One of the major jobs of NIMASA is to evaluate the security standards of the port facilities in Nigeria so as to carry out a port facility plan that is capable of blocking the occurrence of emergencies, he said.”

On the challenges facing NIMASA as the DA in the ISPS Code implementation, Omotesho said that all Nigerian ports were river ports, which made security implementation very tough, unlike other ports of the world that are ocean ports.

He said the continuous placement of Onne Port, the oil and gas terminal located in Rivers State, on Security Level 2 of the ISPS Code was having an adverse multiplier effect on the economy of the country while also creating apprehension among shipping lines and crew members.

“The Onne Port for over two years now has been on Level 2 and I wonder the damages it would have done to the economy of this country because such security standard scares international ships from calling the port,” he said.

He further noted that the insurance premium and freight rates on ships coming into the Onne Port as a result of the heightened security level were on the high side while ships departing the port experience delays because they would be required to undergo “serious security checks”.

“The crews will have to increase their insurance; they will say Onne Port is not safe for us because they are not operating on Level 1. Also, if a ship sails from Onne to another facility, the ship may not be allowed to berth until it satisfies further security checks. This is the implication of security level change,” he said.

George Ubana, port facility security officer (PFSO), Greenview Development Terminal (GDNL), operators of Terminal E at the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, noted that terminals and port facilities across the country could not all be on the same security level, adding that the stepping up of security level at Onne Port, especially before the arrival of any vessel, was because of the incessant pirate attacks in the region.

GDNL, according to him, is one of Nigeria’s port facilities that have been operating on security level 1, such that the terminal pays serious attention to persons entering and leaving the terminal, noting that quality access control of the port facility was a good way of enhancing security level at the ports.

Uzoamaka Anagor