Nigerian maritime agencies and parastatals under the Ministry of Transportation have agreed on modalities for handling areas of overlap in their responsibilities, as they crave deeper synergy.
Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said in Lagos after a meeting of heads of the parastatals at the headquarters of the Nigerian Shippers Council, that the agreement followed the work of a ministerial committee, stressing that the meeting was necessary to build synergy and create the right atmosphere for the overall progress of the economy.
His words, “We have held the inaugural meeting for improved synergy and we hope to hold it monthly for the next four months. Due to the proximity of our corporate headquarters to each, a lot will be achieved in a short while without the usual official bureaucracy.
“From our deliberations, we have decided on so many issues that concern national development, overlapping functions and others.
“We have a committee inaugurated by the Ministry of Transportation and we have been working for close to a year now. We have decided on who should take what responsibility and we are going ahead with that.”
According to the NIMASA, there is no better time to improve synergy among agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation than now when the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying disruptions to business and economy placed great responsibility on the maritime sector as a vital support to the economy and key medium for the movement of essential supplies.
Those who attended the meeting via Zoom include Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello; Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman; Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority, Dr. George Moghalu; and Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Cdre. Duja Effedua (rtd).
