The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has said that the agency’s 2016 budget targets a strategic growth programme for the maritime sector.
This is contained in a statement by the Head, Public Relations Department of NIMASA, Hajia Lami Tumaka, on Friday in Lagos.
According to the statement, Peterside stated this during the defence of the Agency’s 2016 budget before the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration.
The director-general said that the Agency was committed to growing the maritime sector for the benefit of indigenous operators and the nation at large.
He informed the Committee that NIMASA targeted strategic growth in five key areas in the year 2016, including maintenance of maritime safety and security; maintenance of a clean maritime environment and an enhanced Port State Control.
The director-general mentioned other areas like: human and infrastructural capacity as well as sanitising the maritime environment to eliminate corruption, while increasing revenue generation for economic growth.
According to Peterside, NIMASA aims to tap into the vast potential of the Nigerian maritime industry by growing indigenous capacity with a view to making Nigeria a hub of maritime activities in the West and Central Africa sub region.
He said that this process would include a radical restructuring of NIMASA with a view to repositioning it for greater efficiency and service delivery.
The director-general also assured the legislators of the NIMASA management’s commitment to ensure transparency, accountability and probity in the discharge of the agency’s mandate.
He also mentioned that there would be zero tolerance for corruption.
Earlier in his remarks, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Mohammed Bago, commended the spirit of industry and commitment of the director-general.
Bago said that he had no doubt in the ability of the director-general to succeed.
He urged the director-general to utilise all the resources at his disposal to restore safety in the Nigerian maritime domain and to also revamp the image of the agency which had been badly damaged in the last few years.
The lawmaker assured NIMASA of the cooperation and support of the committee for the director-general’s programmes for 2016.
Bago said that the committee would monitor the implementation of the budget very closely.
