Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992, as it seeks ways to improve on the implementation of the convention.
This was the focus of the 7th Meeting of the Sub-Committees of the National Standing Committee (NSC) on International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund Implementation (NSC-IOPC Fund) in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a party to the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1992 and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Damage 1992.
By this, it became binding on Nigeria to implement the conventions, hence, in a bid to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of these conventions which have been domesticated, the NSC was constituted in October 2004 while the five sub-committees were constituted in October 2016.
Since inception, the committees have held seven meetings, with the 7th held 18th and 19th of May, 2022, in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Secretary of the National Standing Committee, Mrs. Aishatu Jiddah, while speaking at the 7th meeting, stated that since the inception of the meetings by the sub committees, the deliberations of each plenary has yielded positive results.
According to her, the meetings have furthered “the review and approval of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the IOPC Fund Secretariat, developed an action plan for the SOP and facilitated the implementation of the terms of reference for the sub-committees.”
Chairperson, Sub- Committee on Pricing Index, Mrs. Oma Ofodile, on her part, opined that sensitisation of oil receiving organisations would culminate in mass registration and contribution towards the IOPC Fund.
She regretted that Nigeria is one of the fourteen nations yet to send reports of its receipts to the IOPC Fund Secretariat, describing it as an indictment to the country’s reputation as an oil receiving state.
Ofodile said: “NIMASA has a register for contributing oil receivers in Nigeria. If you are one, it is expected that you put your name there, reason being that we have an obligation. We are meant to receive your receipts, to see and ensure that you report it in a very good manner.
“It is good we have a record as a contributing oil receiver and it is important because it is our obligation to ensure that we give the IOPC Fund the names of all contributing oil receivers in Nigeria.
“Also, Nigeria is one of the fourteen countries that have not reported its receipts and it is an indictment to our commitment towards the cause.”
Meanwhile, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and a member of the Sub-Committee on Fish stock and Fisheries, Mrs. Olaobi, stated that although recommendations from the last meeting have been submitted to the Chairman of the NSC, that approval was yet to be given for implementation.”
Jiddah in response to the contributions noted that in line with organisational procedure, the sub-committees should await the approval of relevant authorities.