NIGERIA and 18 other countries from West and Central Africa have finalised plans to implement a uniform policy on port security, which is part of the West and Central African Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Ports State Control.
Already, arrangements have been concluded to develop a “White List” to be adopted by member countries, which is expected to serve as a benchmark for enforcing maritime safety and security among member countries.
Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman, who disclosed this at the first Extraordinary Meeting of the Bureau of West and Central Africa MoU on Port State Control in Abuja, said that Nigeria was committed towards the implementation of the Abuja MoU on Port State Control and urged member countries to put more efforts to ensure its successful implementation.
Suleiman explained that as part of efforts to enhance safety, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) had recommended the establishment of Regional Port State Control Organisations and Agreements across the world with a view to inspecting foreign ships in national ports to ensure that the condition of the ships meets international standards.
The minister observed that the critical objectives of the MoU was to reduce and if possible eliminate the use of sub-standard ships and unqualified crew, thereby minimising the risks to life, property and the maritime environment.
He identified challenges facing the speedy actualisation of the objectives of the MoU to include poor funding; lack of uniform coordination of port state control processes, inadequate flag and port state control officers and non-domestication of relevant IMO instruments by member states.
Also speaking, Deputy Minister of Transportation of Ghana, Mrs. Dzifa
Attivor, said the implementation of the uniform policy on port security would help boost the economy of member countries.
She said: “The Abuja MoU aims at harmonising the efforts of all the countries under it to eliminate sub-standard ships within the region thereby ensuring maritime safety and security. This is necessary for the development of our economies.”
The countries covered by the Abuja MoU include Nigeria, Angola, Guinea, Benin, Liberia, Cameroun, Mauritania and Cape Verde. Others are: Namibia, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gabon, South Africa, The Gambia, Togo and Ghana