Shipwrecks: Can LASWA Succeed Where Others Failed?
With provisions in the NPA and NIMASA Act inhibiting both agencies from removing shipwrecks despite the danger they pose to Nigeria’s maritime safety, LASWA’s promise to remove them from inland waterways is a welcome development, writes Eromosele Abiodun
The United Nations (UN) estimates show there are more than three million shipwrecks on the ocean floor globally. These wrecks sometimes contain vast amounts of crude oil or other hazardous substances that pose a threat to the marine environment.
It was on the back of the realization of the risk which ship wreck pose to humans and aquatic creatures that the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks came into force on the 14th of April 2015, providing a framework for wreck removal.
Nigeria is not unaware of the danger that these wrecks pose to its maritime activities, especially for a country largely dependent on imports, the bulk of which are ferried by sea.
The country’s commercial hub, Lagos has been touted as one of the major cities with many shipwrecks on their seabed. In fact, statistics pegged the shipwrecks at over 200, with Lagos accounting for about half of that. For mariners and security operatives tasked to protect the waterways, the dangers posed by the menace of shipwrecks have reached frightening proportions.
A few years ago, authorities of the Nigerian Navy (NN) raised the alarm over the presence of such shipwrecks in the country’s waters and the security and safety risks they posed.
From Lagos to other states where seaports are located, ships find it difficult to navigate as a result of the wrecks. They have also made it difficult for maritime security operatives to respond to distress calls in good time without the wrecks standing on their way. Remarkably, Nigeria is a party to the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (Nairobi Convention 2007). The Convention is a treaty of the IMO with the purpose of prompt and effective removal of shipwrecks located in the parties’ territorial waters including its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that may be hazardous to navigation or environment. The convention gives States’ Authority to remove wrecks and in Nigeria’s case the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
However, there are conflicting provisions in the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Act and NIMASA Act as to who has responsibility for the removal of wrecks. Section 22 of the NIMASA Act gives the agency power to remove wrecks from the country’s waterways, while section 9 of the NPA Act also gives it powers to remove wrecks. Section 7 of the NIWA Act also gives it similar powers.
Aside the security threat and navigational challenges, many lives have been lost over the years to boat mishaps caused by wrecks. Notwithstanding, government agencies responsible for the removal of wrecks have made promises over the years to have them removed, but nothing concrete has been done. But recent revelation that Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) is committed to ensuring that wrecks are removed from the waterways is a welcome development.
The LASWA Promise
Last week, the Managing Director of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel announced that the authority has marked 108 wrecks on the lagos Waterways which are inhibiting safe navigation of boats.
The LASWA boss said the agency is making the map available online for every operator to have access to it.
Emmanuel who was speaking at the 1st Annual Conference of Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN) in Lagos, said that LASWA has commenced two major channelisation projects along Ikorodu-Falomo routes as well as Ojo-Badagry routes.
Specifically, he stated, “Late last year, LASWA was able to mark the entire waterways and all the wrecks, and we found about 108 wrecks which the map is currently in our office, and we are also going to make that available online for people to have access.
“Every year, we identify strategic wrecks on our waterways which NIWA and LASWA remove on yearly basis, this is jointly done by us because of budgetary constraints. In terms of channelisation and other capital ventures, we are in discussions with the private sectors to dredge and pick up the sand and sell it, as opposed to waiting on the state government to dredge the channel.”
“This year alone, the state government is doing two major channelisation projects. There is Ikorodu to Falomo the bariga area. There is also the Ojo to Badagry” he said
According to the LASWA boss, out of the 20 local governments in Lagos State, fifteen of them are assessable by water. Apart from passenger jetties, there is also room for cargo jetties in some of these terminals.
He said that creation of cargo jetties is in the transportation plans of the state government, which is currently being reviewed in line with modern realities.
Speaking in terms of safety of Waterways in Lagos and mishaps, he said: “We have a monitoring and enforcement team that goes onboard, one of the things we realised was data, how do you identify the operators? In other sublime climes, they have a control centre that enables them monitor passenger boats or cargo boats.
“This year has been approved for us to set up a control room in order to track passenger operations and cargo operations. This is not to just generate revenue; it is principally to ensure safety, the several incidences that have happened to passenger boats, we find it difficult to ascertain what happened. We are currently upgrading our emergency and rescue units, we already have them on Falomo, we want to extend them to Ojo and Ikorodu, from these location they can get to anywhere.”
Notice to Owners
On April 2, 2017, the management of NIMASA sent a notice to owners of abandoned ships/vessels to urgently remove same from the Nigerian territorial waters on or before April 28, 2017, or risk sanctions ranging from forfeiture or removal by the agency at the owner’s expense.
This, NIMASA said, was in a bid to ensure safe and secure shipping on the Nigerian territorial waters, adding that all abandoned vessels littering the waterways and the shoreline of the country are affected by the directive.
The then Director General of the agency, Dakuku Peterside, had in the notice stated that it was instructive to ensure that Nigeria’s waterways remain safe for navigation in order to advance the country’s maritime interests.
He therefore, warned that all abandoned ships would be declared as wrecks and the agency would ensure that nothing impedes safe navigation in Nigerian waters by removing them.
“In line with our mandate on the protection of the marine environment and safety of navigation within Nigerian waters and our powers as the receiver of wrecks; owners of all abandoned ships, vessels and derelicts are sternly warned to seek removal plan permits from the Agency and ensure the removal of these wrecks and derelicts from our waters on or before April 28th, 2017 failure of which would attract appropriate sanction,” Peterside said then.
He also reeled out the sanctions to include removal of such wrecks at the owners’ expense as well as forfeiture of the vessels stating that the agency is empowered to do so in line with the powers vested in it by the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 and other enabling Acts and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) instruments.
Another Promise
Following public outcry and pressure from shipping companies, NIMASA recently announced that arrangementhas been concluded for the flag-off of an intensive wreck removal exercise in Nigerian waters by the agency.
The Agency’s Director-General, Dr Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this during a ministerial retreat organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT) in Lagos.
Jamoh also said arrangements had been concluded for the recycling of wrecks and derelicts recovered from the waters in partnership with the Bayelsa State Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), which already has a foundry in Lagos for wrecks’ recycling, with the ultimate aim of creating wealth from waste while providing jobs for Nigerians.
The NIMASA DG commended the Minister of Transportation, Hon Rotimi Amaechi for approving the creation of the Maritime Intelligence Unit and the NIMASA Maritime Stakeholders Experience Contact Centre (MSECC), which are both initiatives to improve intelligence gathering and enhance stakeholders’ communication to ensure sustainable growth of the country’s maritime industry.
He also disclosed that the automation drive in the Agency had led to the integrated use of technology in the Certificate of Competency (CoC) verification process, which has seen a fall in manual verification practice.
Jamoh said, “In 2020, the number of manual verification of CoCs dropped from 4,112 in 2019 to 2,750, representing 33 per cent drop in manual certificate verification. There was a total online verification of 9,723 in 2020.”
The NIMASA boss also commented on the NSDP programme, saying 446 beneficiaries of the programme are currently undergoing sea-time training, while 351 have been assigned to maritime training institutes and are in the process of boarding for sea-time.
He added that 93 beneficiaries of the NSDP were currently undergoing CoC, 360 had completed sea-time training and were awaiting CoC issuance, while 368 beneficiaries of the NSDP project were already fully employed.
On the issue of Vessel Monitoring and response to distress calls in the sub-region, Jamoh stated that the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) equipment at Tarkwa Bay and Kirikiri, both in Lagos, were fully installed with the capacity to cover nine countries in the West and Central African Region.
The Ministerial retreat, the second this year, had in attendance the Honourable Minister of State for Transportation, Senator GbemisolaSaraki; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani; Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko; and Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council, Emmanuel Jime. Directors from the FMOT and the three Agencies also attended.
Agencies Collaboration
Another major obstacle that made the removal of wrecks impossible was the inter-agency rivalry and the arguments among the agencies in the maritime industry as to whose responsibility it is to remove the wrecks.
To resolve this, the Nigerian Ports Authority and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), early this year transferred their wreck removal functions to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
Heads of both Agencies made this disclosure at the meetings of the Chief Executive Officers of Maritime Agencies held at NIMASA headquarters in Lagos.
Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said the functions of the three institutions as regards wreck removal were overlapping.
“Section 22 of the NIMASA Act gives the agency power to remove wrecks from its waterways while section 9 of the NPA Act also gives it powers to remove wrecks. Section 7 of the NIWA Act gives similar powers. During our last meeting we agreed that NIMASA should go ahead and commence the process of removing wrecks within the nation’s territorial waters,” Jamoh said.
He said the Federal Ministry of Transportation has been briefed and awaits the Public Bureau of Procurement (BPP) for a certificate of no objection.
He added, “We will go to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and then obtain approval to commence the removal of wrecks. What we could not achieve within the last decade, we achieved within the last two months.”
Lokoja Agreement
At another meeting of the government agencies in the sector in Lokoja, they resolved to ensure security and safety on waterways for improved water transportation through adequate collaboration and synergy.
Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Dr George Moghalu, disclosed this at the end of the meeting of Chief Executives of Maritime Agencies in the Kogi State capital.
Moghalu said the Chief Executives of the agencies discussed issues relating to maritime security and safety, capacity building and enforcement of security protocols, to reduce the carnage on the nation’s waterways.
He said, “This is our routine meeting which from the point when we started, is aimed at building synergy by coming together, taking our policies together, to see how we can work together for the benefit of our nation, Nigeria.’’
According to him, the CEOs at the meeting constituted a committee on the multimodal approach to cargo delivery, to enhance seaport and dry port operations.
“We are looking at what we can do to harmonise the operations of all maritime agencies in the country to better the maritime industry, especially in the area of movement of cargo between the river ports, “he added.
He said that there was a need for effective water transportation in view of the positive impact it would make on the economy, in reducing ports congestion and haulage of heavy-duty goods through the roads.
On frequent capsizing of boats and mishaps on the waterways and safety measures, he noted that only last week, NIMASA organized, “a world-class safety and security conference” in the country.
“The Safety issue is not peculiar to our Waterways, we also have security challenges on land but the important thing is that government is conscious of this fact. Agencies of government are also conscious of this fact. Gunboats have been acquired, NIMASA is also doing a lot in that direction.’’
Moghalu urged the citizens to play roles expected of them and obey basic rules and regulations laid down by NIWA, as he attributed the incessant boat mishaps to non-compliance by boat riders.
Agencies present at the meeting included NIWA, NIMASA, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigeria Shippers Council and the Federal Ministry of Transport, among others.
