… says Relegates this core function to background 

Chief Isaac Jolapamo, Chairman BOT, NISA

Chairman Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) Chief Isaac Jolapamo, has blamed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for the poor development of shipping in Nigeria.

Jolapamo who was speaking at the recent Breakfast Meeting organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) at the Rockview Hotel, Apapa, Lagos, said that the agency has left shipping development worse than it used to be.

He noted that NIMASA’s core function is shipping development but regretted that the agency has lost focus, and has relegated this responsibility to the background to pave way for other frivolous matters now taking the centre stage in the agency.

Jolapamo also criticised the seafarers development programme as it is being done by NIMASA, saying that, Nigeria is not doing the programme the way other countries are doing it.

He said: “Today, the creation of NIMASA had left Shipping Development in Nigeria worse than it used to be, most shipowners of the past today do not have anything to show.

“What NIMASA should be doing today is shipping development, but when you see what they are doing today, shipping development is number six, at the bottom, meanwhile the ship is central.

“If you are going to develop the maritime, until you perfect the centre before every other area can come into shape.”

“We need to train seafarers, we are doing it, but we are not doing it the best way that other people do it, this is why we are not getting results. Instead of us going forward, we are going backwards” he lamented.

Jolapamo also reiterated that the shipping sector is underdeveloped because the resources meant to develop it are being wasted by the government officials.

He wished the shipowners were allowed to have input into the running of NIMASA, to move shipping development upward on the agency’s agenda and the sixth item it is currently. 

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