From left: Chief of Naval Staff representative, Rear Admiral Sunday A.G. Ababa, Board Chairman NIMASA, General Jonathan India Garba, Director General, NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside and the House Committee Chairman on Maritime Safety and Education, Hon. Umar Mohamed Bago at the harmonized NIMASA Stakeholders Forum.
As part of the initiative to reposition the maritime sector for greater efficiency in line with International best practices, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will release the empirical forecast that will determine the outlook of the industry in Nigeria by the first quarter of 2018.
The Director General of NIMASA Dr. Dakuku Peterside who said this in Lagos also said that the Nigeria forecast will deal with how developments on the international scene will affect the industry in Nigeria, which will also serve as a guide for investors and Stakeholders in the maritime sector. Dr. Peterside noted that the forecast will be released from a holistic perspective in order to know areas of advantage that will be of immense benefit to Stakeholders and industry players, both locally and internationally.
In his words, “on the positive side it will look at where the opportunities will be in the year 2018 & 2019; will greater investment in oil and gas translate to more demand for offshore support vessels? What are the industry perspectives? What government and her agencies should do to attract more investment in the industry amongst other salient issues.”
Furthermore, the NIMASA DG noted that the maritime industry forecast will also look at whether there will be improvement in maritime security especially in the Niger Delta and what impact it will have on shipping; The expected impact of NIMASA’s partnership with the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Cabotage implementation and international shipping will be another area the forecast will focus on. The various projected impact of shift to digital shipping in Nigeria and its attendant effect on Nigerian shippers will also be analysed in details.
Dr. Peterside also noted that the maritime forecast to be released by NIMASA will look at the impact of global emphasis on Blue Economy and how Nigerians can benefit from it.
In the area of capacity building the DG pointed out that the effect on the industry will be considered as two new specialised Universities; Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko and the Admiralty University are expected to begin academic calender next year, in addition to an already repositioned Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron. Other areas of focus in then forecast includes; the government decision on investment status in port and maritime infrastructure, the impact of emphasis on reduction on environmental footprint arising from shipping.
From the regulatory perspective it will also consider the impact on coming into force of the Ballast Water Management Convention, International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) mandatory compliance, among other conventions and regulations. The most likely impact of greater safety compliance enforcement by the Maritime administration of Nigeria will also be on the front burner in the report. On the market side, Dr. Peterside posited that it will analyze how demand and supply will evolve in the industry. “This report will be the most informative documentation on the future of the maritime industry in Nigeria”. The 2018 Nigerian maritime industry forecast is a set of predictions based on study of trends and patterns and it is intended to serve as a guide for investors and stakeholders in the industry.
