The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr Bashir Jamoh, has said that the agency will be saving N8.7bn yearly being money spent from the rental cost of fast intervention vessels.
Jamoh tweeted that the agency had begun moves to rehabilitate its fast intervention vessels, which were down when he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 10, 2020.
According to him, when the platforms are eventually deployed for anti-piracy activities, it will save the nation huge rental cost on the current six fast intervention vessels.
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The Nigerian government, through its transportation ministry, is proposing to spend N8.7bn for the rental of six fast intervention boats to tackle maritime crimes.
In a memo dated July 2020, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, proposed six companies that would be contracted to supply the boats. The include Pearl HPW Limited, Thamson Energy Services Limited, Fairway Offshore Limited, Aquashield Oil and Marine Services Limited, XPO Marine Services Limited and Peace Marine and Energy Limited.
Also, before the current proposal on boat rental, a similar approval was granted for the same number of vessels, for same amount and for the same purpose in December 2018.
The call up points of the vessels are Lagos – Badagry offshore, allocated to Peace Marine and Energy Limited; Calabar – Eket offshore, allocated to Fairway Offshore Limited; while Aquashield has its location at the Warri-Escravos offshore.
Others are Koko –Sapele offshore operated by XPO Marine Services Limited; Onne – Bonny offshore, allocated to Pearl HPW Limited; and Nembe-Brass-Yenagoa-Sagbama offshore, allocated to Thamson Energy Services Limited.
But in the tweet, the NIMASA DG said the vessels would soon start operation, adding that the agency tends to acquire additional platforms for security of the nation’s waters.
The tweet reads, “#ProgressReport. We are reviving our vessels for enforcement purposes. When we came in, our boats and outgoing platforms were down; immediately sent them for drydocking at the naval dockyard. They will soon be fully back in service; saving us huge rental costs. Plan to acquire more.”
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