In this interview, Abdullai Tony Dania, a legal practitioner told Maria Yusuf that the federal government need to do more by prioritising maritime industry issues.
He talked about the National Coast Guard bill before the National Assembly and how best to approach the subject
Q:In your view, how did the Nigerian maritime industry perform in 2024?
I’ve not really seen any serious thing that has been done, but what I’ve seen is wide consultation and probably trying to identify issues in the maritime industry and then maybe work on proffering solution.
I have seen a lot of consultation, I’ve seen the maritime sector trying to identify problems and I hope they have representatives at this seminar so that they find out about working on improving engagement of host communities .
Q:What area of priority would you want the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to focus on in 2025?
Like I said, if the maritime industry is well harnessed, it has a lot of untapped opportunities and income. I will advise the ministry to prioritise the regulatory agencies and try to prevent duplicities of functions among the regulatory agencies.
I’ve talked about water hyacinth being turned to gold, they should encourage such opportunities. Like I talked about stevedoring, licenses are granted by Customs, and then you are granting license to those who will be supplying items to a ship.
Ship is under maritime, they should look at such issues and such licenses should not be given for just a year , it should be for a five year setting or more.
There are a lot of other issues like exploiting deposit in the water, like hydro, where you generate electricity from. It is also from water . They can look into it and also the law, like I suggested.
The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy is separate from the Ministry of Transportation now, but the law that created transportation is still there.It has not been amended, things like these are what the Minister for the Marine and the Blue Economy have to look into.
Q:What’s your take on the ongoing debate for and against the creation of National Coast Guard?
The National Coast Guard has been opposed more by the Nigerian Navy, but National Coast Guard exists in the United States of America , they have a National Coast Guard, and then NIMASA has also established what we call an Operation and Enforcement Wing.
They are using the Navy to enforce it but if we have a National Coast Guard it will help a lot, but are we ripe enough for it?
The communities that they are supposed to be patrolling are seriously underdeveloped, What would the National Coast Guard be doing ? There will be a clash between the functions of the Navy and those who call themselves National Coast Guard. We have other paramilitary bodies who are already acting as if they are Coast Guards, we have the Maritime Vigilante Group and they are acting as if they are Coast Guards . Government should streamline alll of these
Some states have consulted me, they wanted to set it up , I told them it is an exclusive position of the federal government, so the National Coast Guard is good, but are we ripe enough for it? That’s the question we should be asking ourselves.
Q:What areas do you think the National Assembly should focus on in the amendment of the NIMASA Act?
NIMASA is charging dollars for both Nigeria activities and international activities, that must be stopped. Because it is adding to the scarcity of dollars in the country , does every business one way or the other connect to maritime?
If you expect them, Nigerian man brings in something here, you expect the person to pay in dollars, you start looking for dollars, why? They should price in Naira, and I think the president has directed a certain part of international transactions that has to do with our activities here should also be priced in Naira.Crude oil is sold in dollars, but it can be priced in dollars and paid for in Naira.That is one aspect .
We also have to note that the DG of NIMASA is too powerful, everything falls on the table of the DG. They need to look at that. Then, I heard that NMASA has a new headquarter in Victoria Island or somewhere within the Island, where is the maritime activities based in Lagos state?
So what are they going to do in Victoria Island ? I see it as a white elephant project, but because any person that becomes the DG can do anything.They have a befitting headquarter in Abuja, that is okay, but saying they want to go and build another Lagos office base that will control the Southwest is not a good thing to do. If the Navy is forming a strong part of NIMASA for operation and enforcement, the Navy should have a section, just like the police.We have a section for very important persons.We have a different section, form up a section and say this is to help NIMASA operation when they need it, not putting your office at NIMASA.
Now, NIMASA has been saying under the former DG that they have trained over 5,000 sailors .I was the only person that challenged him. I asked him to bring proof. Others were commending him, I demanded for proof, I asked him some questions like where are the sailors you trained? Where are the equipment like vessels you have for training ? Does the Maritime University in Oron, have a maritime vessel for training of cadets? No, they don’t have a single vessel.
The maritime sector needs to be taken much more seriously than the way the federal government is taking it.
