Headlines

NIMASA begs NLNG to fly Nigerian flag on its vessels.

Eyewitness reporter

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has appealed to the management of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, (NLNG) to consider the Nigerian Flag as the first option for her vessels.

Dr Jamoh made this appeal while playing host to the Managing Director of the Gas Company, Dr. Philip Mshelbila and his team.

He noted that having the Nigerian flag hoisted by the NLNG vessels would boost Nigerian tonnage and accord the Nigerian ship registry international recognition and respect.

“NIMASA needs the NLNG, we desire to have vessels of the NLNG fly the Nigerian Flag.

”Just imagine that vessels of the NLNG are on the Nigerian Registry, our tonnage will increase exponentially, the Nigerian flag will earn much more respect globally and we will get better recognition”, he said.

Despite the controlling shares held by the Nigerian government in the NLNG, none of the tanker vessels of the company flies the Nigerian flag, instead preferring to fly foreign flags such as the Liberian flag which has an international reputation.

However, the two bodies have agreed to set up a working committee that will be meeting regularly to ensure improved liaison between both organizations in the interest of Nigeria.

Dr Bashir Jamoh noted that a better working relationship between NIMASA and the NLNG would greatly enhance operations in the maritime sector of the country.

He assured the NLNG management that NIMASA would extend the already existing working relationship the agency has with the NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML) to the parent body.

“This is a new beginning; our focus should be what is best for Nigeria and not just for the NLNG or NIMASA”

While commending the NLNG for providing platforms for Sea time to train Nigerian Seafarers, the NIMASA DG noted that the Agency is committed to attaining best global practices, so that Certificates issued by Nigeria will be recognized globally.

“We are working to ensure that the Certificates of Competency issued by the Nigerian Maritime Administration are of international standard.

“This will make it easy for the NLNG and other international organizations to accept them”.

The Managing Director of NLNG, Dr. Philip Mshelbila noted that the management of the NLNG is committed to the deliberate indigenization of the human component of its operation, adding that they are ready to partner with NIMASA to enhance the safety and security of lives and assets in the Nigerian maritime domain.

He noted that they are on the same page with NIMASA regarding capacity development and the quest to ensure Nigeria attains internationally acceptable standards in her operations in the maritime sector.

“We at NLNG have realized that to fulfill one of our key vision elements, which is helping to build a better Nigeria, it is important for us to work with all our stakeholders, including NIMASA.

“We are aware that NIMASA and our subsidiary, NMSL are working hand in hand for the progress of this country and we desire that same spirit of partnership and collaboration should be extended to the NLNG”.

“I believe that for NLNG to fulfill its mission as a business, it needs to partner with NIMASA.

“NIMASA is an important stakeholder for us; we don’t just see it as a regulator only.

“I know we have various training programs, working closely with NIMASA, being explored by NMSL to provide sea time training for Seafarers, which has enabled the seafarers to fulfill their qualifications and get certifications”.

He expressed appreciation to NIMASA for the active management of the activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

“We can certainly testify from the report that we get both locally and from international bodies that there has been a huge success in the war against criminal activities in the Gulf of Guinea and we know that the Deep Blue Project is instrumental in attaining this success”

“Based on the information at our disposal; I don’t think there has been any case of abduction since this year and that’s a testament to the success of the Deep Blue Project initiative that NIMASA has driven and this has been in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy, Regional and non-regional bodies”, he said.

NIMASA and the NLNG have agreed to urgently look into areas including Port Charges and how best to make Nigerian Ports competitive, effective implementation of the Cabotage Law, Stevedoring charges, CoC recognition, and Registration of NLNG Vessels on the Nigerian Ship Registry amongst others.

The Nigeria LNG Limited is jointly owned, as the Federal Government owns 49 percent; Shell gas B.V owns 25.6 percent; Total LNG Nigeria Limited owns 15 percent; and Eni International 10.4 percent, culminating in 51 percent ownership by the NLNG.

Related Topics:featured NIMASA begs NLNG

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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.