By Richards Adeniyi
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said it is projecting to generate up to N1billion in revenue per month from its multimillion dollar floating dockyard, which is currently idling away in Lagos.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos on Thursday to mark the first 100 days in office of the new management of NIMASA, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said to actualise this, the agency has opened discussions with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and a prospective managing partner to put the facility into operation.
He said NIMASA is also expecting a job creation of about 350 Nigerians under five segments of the operation.
He said, “We have been discussing with the Managing Director of NPA to move our floating dock from its present location at the Naval Shipyard to the Continental Shipyard owned by the NPA. Though, we found out that there is an existing joint venture partnership between NPA and another company managing the authority’s dockyard but because of our own floating dock, the NPA decided to move its dockyard to somewhere in Snake Island, and the NPA is also winding up its joint venture agreement with the company as we speak,” he said.
Jamoh said NIMASA has also signed a memorandum of understanding with international oil companies (IOCs) that are doing business with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to be taking patronize the floating dock when it becomes operational.
He stated that NIMASA would be filling in an application with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to approve the public private partnership (PPP) arrangement for the management of the dock.
Jamoh said NPA would come in as the owner of the Continental Shipyard, NIMASA as the owner of the floating dockyard while an independent player would be the technical managing partner.
On maritime security especially as regards the agency’s deep blue project, Jamoh said NIMASA is at 75 percent stage in the acquisition of the platforms required for the complete takeoff the project.
He said the agency in the past three months has been receiving several commendations for its strict fight against piracy, sea robbery and other illegalities on the waterways as well as the entire Gulf of Guinea region.
“The major problem of maritime security is lack of platforms. That is why NIMASA is investing heavily in the acquisition of special intervention vessels, special mission aircraft and helicopters that are due to arrive in August (2020) and January 2021 while some are already in Nigeria,” he said.