At The Public Hearing held by the House Committee on Maritime safety Education and Administration at the National Assembly On 24 July 2018. Our Principal Counsel, Mr. Mike Igbokwe (SAN) FCIArb spoke on why the Maritime Security Agency (Establishment etc) Bill 2017 should not be passed into Law.
He gave the following reasons for the position he took namely:-
-
Wrongful creation of duplication and multiplicity of Government Agencies, functions and costs.
-
Escalation of Administrative costs/Waste and harm to the Economy recovering from Recession.
-
Increased Cost of Shipping Services that will adversely affect the Nigerian Economy.
-
The Bill is an aberration to the Nigerian Maritime Industry.
-
The Bill is a deviation from the Maritime Stakeholders’ Recommendations at the International Conference on Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea, Abuja, 2008.
-
Bill is Not IMO-Compliant.
-
Avoidable Conflicts, Uncertainty and Absurdity in applicable laws
In conclusion he asserted that “bearing in mind the above-stated grave implications of the Bill, I appeal to the Honourable members of the House not to pass it into an Act.
Rather than be taking away or duplicating the powers, functions and objectives of NIMASA under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transport, NIMASA and other security agencies with which it would collaborate in ensuring maritime security, should be strengthened capacity-wise and funding-wise etc. The Bill would create more problems for the maritime industry, economy and Nigerian masses than it gives the impression it wants to solve, as pointed out above.”
Click the link below to Download Paper
