Headlines

Jamoh raises hope on removal of war risk insurance on Nigeria- bound cargo

— as Lloyd’s of London meets September with stakeholders

Eyewitness reporter

The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has given assurance of early resolution of the vexed issue of war risk issuance slammed by the international shipping cartel on Nigeria- bound cargo.

The surcharge was imposed on Nigeria-bound cargo during the heady days of piracy on Nigerian waters.

But due to the efforts of NIMASA with the collaboration of other sister agencies, pirate incidents were brought down to a minimal level so much so that Nigeria has had zero piracy attacks since the beginning of 2022.

This has led the country to be removed from the red list of pirate nations in March 2022.

However, despite this feat, the international shipping cartel still maintains the war risk insurance on Nigeria- cargo.

This has made NIMASA embark on a campaign to make the shipping cartel drop the surcharge.

However, Dr. Jamoh, while speaking during the tour of NIMASA facilities in Lagos by the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, gave an indication of early removal of the surcharge.

According to him, the Lloyd’s of London, which are the coordinators of insurance surcharges on Nigeria- bound cargoes, will meet in September to deliberate on Nigeria’s request for review of the surcharge.

” Our hope is that by September this year, the issue of War Risk Insurance will be addressed when the Lloyd’s of London, coordinators of insurance surcharges on Nigerian bound cargoes meet to deliberate on our position paper which highlights the short, medium, and long term plans to sustain the achievements in our war against piracy in Nigeria” NIMASA DG declared.

Meanwhile, Senator Gbemisola Saraki has expressed satisfaction with the management of NIMASA while she was on a tour of the assets and equipment of the agency in Lagos on Wednesday.

Among the assets inspected included the NIMASA Command, Control and Computer Centre (C4i), the NIMASA Modular Floating Dockyard, the NIMASA E-library and Vessels belonging to the Agency undergoing dry docking at the Naval Dockyard Victoria Island.

The Honorable Minister expressed delight at the equipment and assets of NIMASA, stating that it underscores the importance the Federal Government attaches to combating maritime crimes and ensuring zero tolerance for illegal activities on the nation’s territorial waters.

While commending the synergy and collaboration amongst agencies of Government in the maritime sector, the Honorable Minister expressed delight at the fact that Nigeria has witnessed piracy-free waters since 2022.

Accordingly, she said; “for over 28 years, we have been in the press for the wrong reasons, over the piracy issues at the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

” We were there when Mr. President commissioned the DEEP BLUE PROJECT last year and within that short frame of time, we have broken the jinx, and for the last five months zero attacks, so I think that says it all for my assessment of NIMASA”.

Furthermore, Senator Saraki noted the need to sustain the momentum to ensure Nigeria remains attractive to investors, adding that the Ministry is delighted at the steps NIMASA is taking to address the issue of War Risk Insurance premium on Nigerian Bound Cargoes.

“The most important thing now is that we don’t rest on our oars. The Free Trade Agreement and how it affects Nigeria is our focus.

“We hope to create an enabling environment to be very attractive and highly competitive when compared to neighboring countries and collaboration amongst all maritime agencies of Government in terms of information gathering and sharing is key in achieving this”. she said.

However, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh disclosed that the focus of the agency is sustaining the achievements in recent times, adding that the plans are in three categories of short medium and long term.

“Our focus now is to sustain the tempo

“We are very optimistic that the clamour for the removal of war risk insurance premium on Nigerian bound cargos will soon yield positive results.

” The international community desires sustainability of Nigeria’s war on piracy and maritime crimes. The good thing is that they are part and parcel of our processes and procedures.

“We have the Nigeria Join Industry Working Group where all stakeholders including the INTERTANKO, the largest owners of tankers in the world, the INTERCARGO, the largest owners of Cargos in the world and the major oil marketing companies meeting regularly discussing developments in the Nigerian Maritime industry.

” We have also strengthened our collaboration with the Nigerian Navy.

” The SHADE Gulf of Guinea is another platform where inter-regional organisations such as the ICC and the European Union foster collaboration to secure the Gulf of Guinea.

“Though Nigeria was removed from the red list of piracy nations on the 3rd of March this year, it is natural that the international community will desire sustainability.

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Headlines

MWUN threatens to picket shipping companies, terminal operators over manipulation of pension remittances of seafarers, dockworkers

Gloria Odion

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN) has accused terminal operators, shipping companies and ship owners of shortchanging dockworkers and seafarers in their employment in the remittance of their pensions to the appropriate authorities.

In a statement by the union led by Comrade Francis Bunu Abi, the erring service providers were allegedly either holding back the deductions made from the salaries of their staff into the pension funds scheme or under- remitting the deductions.

The union warned of dire consequences for such act which it regarded as unethical and illegal and threatened to shut down any service provider found culpable in this illegal act.

“The leadership of the Union recently got the wind of these employers of labour and terminal operators over their acts of irregular remittance of their employees pensions to its appropriate quarters.

“Thus shortchanging the Seafarers and the Dockworkers, both categories of workers from the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.

“It was also learnt that some Ship Owners and Terminal Operators have allegedly stopped the remittance of Dockworkers and Seafarers’ PSA in their employ, which is a gross violation of labour laws.

” As a result, the President -General of the Union, Comrade Bunu, stated that the Union will have no other option than to descend heavily and bring to book all the earring managements of these companies working against the ethics and practices of labour rules in their various companies.

“The Delta State- born labour leader made this point known, stressing that it’s unlawful to deny workers their pensions rights either by crook or hook,; and may not hesitate to call out these Concessionaires and Shipping Companies that have defaulted in the payment of the statutory pensions of the Union Members.

“Comrade Bunu also said that these erring companies in the Maritime sector would be shut down if this ugly trend is not reversed to status quo.” the statement concluded.

Headlines

Tantita Security to bankroll 2025 OTC in USA

Gloria Odion

The foremost security provider in Nigeria, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL) has been confirmed as the official sponsor of the 2025 Offshore Technology conference scheduled to hold in Houston Texas, United States on 5-8 May , 2025 .

Executive Director, Technical and operations , Tantita security services Limited, Captain Wareddi Enisuoh in an interview with journalists on Friday, said the company attracted the OTC conference lucrative sponsorship deal in recognition of its capacity to deliver on the conference.

Founded in 1969 , Offshore Technology conference is a series of conferences and exhibitions, focused on exchanging technical knowledge relevant to the development of offshore energy resources , primarily Oil and Natural Gas.

The conference also serves as the meeting place for the brightest minds to share ideas , discuss, debate and build consensus around the most pressing challenges and innovations in the offshore energy sector.

This year’s exhibitors , speakers and attendees represent some of the highest calibre professionals from more than 100 countries .

Customs

Customs shuns N12 trillion inflated revenue target imposed by National Assembly

— focuses on realising N6.5 trillion 2025 target

Funso OLOJO

The Nigeria Customs Service may have tactically shrugged off the imposition of the N12 trillion revenue target by the National Assembly.

It could be recalled that government gave the NCS ₦6.5 trillion revenue target for 2025.

This followed the impressive revenue performance of the service in 2024 when it surpassed that year’s target of N5.07 trillion by 20.2 percent.

However , in January, 2025, the National Assembly joint committee on Finance led by its chairmen, Senator Sani Musa and Hon. James Faleke, believed that the projection of N6.5 trillion revenue target given to the customs was conservative and encouraged the NCS to aim higher.

Consequently, the joint committee slammed a whooping sum of N12 trillion as revenue target, doubling the initial N6.5 trillion projected revenue.

This humongous target sparked off an outrage among perplexed stakeholders who felt the target imposed by the law makers was outrageous and unrealistic which they feared may stretch the capacity of the customs to a breaking point and put unnecessary pressure on the men and officers of the agency.

Indication that the Customs authority may not be well disposed to the imposed target of N12 trillion by the National Assembly emerged recently when the Comptroller -General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, was giving account of the activities of the service in the first quarter of 2025.

While giving the analysis of the revenue performance of the service during the period under review, Adeniyi benchmarked the revenue generated by the service during the first quarter of 2025 by N6.5 trillion revenue target given by the Federal Ministry of Finance, thus jettisoning the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly.

“ Against our annual target of ₦6,580,000,000,000.00, the first quarter’s proportional benchmark stood at ₦1,645,000,000,000.00.

“I’m proud to announce we’ve exceeded this target by ₦106.5 billion, achieving 106.47% of our quarterly projection.

” This outstanding performance represents a substantial 29.96% increase compared to the same period in 2024, where we collected

₦1,347,705,251,658.31″ Adewale stated, while giving the analysis of the performance of the service in the first three months of the year.

Analysts believed that from the analysis of the revenue performance of the NCS in the first quarter of the year which was predicated on the N6.5 trillion revenue target, it was obvious that the service was not paying much attention to the imposed N12 trillion, but rather focusing on how to meet the more realistic target of N 6 .5 trillion.

” You can see that the CGC did not make mention of the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly which presupposes that the unrealistic amount is not in the reckoning of the Customs” a customs broker who plies his trade at Apapa port, said, pleading for anonymity.

” Where on earth do they want the Customs to realize such an humongous amount of money in a depressed economy, in a country where importation has plummeted due to the unfriendly policies of government?

“It is unfortunate that these people (the law makers) have lost touch with the current economic realities in the country.

” All what they are after is to witch hunt government agencies to go and hunt for money for them to share.

” If not, how could they sit down in the comfort of their air conditioned offices and imposed such amount of revenue for customs to realize.

” Of course, the pressure would be on the men and officers of the service who will in turn go after the hapless importers and their agents in the most brutal way to raise the imposed target.

” It is unfortunate that the lawmakers, who are expected to make laws that will encourage export drive of the Federal government, are those asking the customs to focus more on the import goods where such money could be realized” another freight forwarder, who did not want his name in print but based at Tin Can Island port, declared.