THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has suspended the consideration of applications for waivers on vessel manning for prescribed categories of officers in vessels engaged in coastal trade.
The suspension was disclosed by NIMASA in its Marine Notice, titled ‘Temporary Suspension of Issuance of Waiver on Manning Requirement under the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003’.
The notice tasked ship owners, ship operators, masters of ships and ship agents, it was stated that the agency shall no longer consider the applications for grant of waiver on manning requirements for vessels engaged in coastal trade with regard to 2nd officer, 2nd engineer, 2nd mate down to able seamen, ratings and stewards.
It stated that all applications for grant of waiver to registered vessels on the requirement for manning by Nigerian citizens where the reason is absence of qualified Nigerian officers or crew is temporarily suspended, while cases of ship captain, chief engineer, chief officer or first mate shall be considered on merit on application to the Minister of Transport or the Director General.
According to the notice, such applications are required to be accompanied by a training program and transition plan to hand over the role to a Nigerian within six to twelve months.
It stated that for a period of six months is pursuant to the agency’s ‘New Cabotage Compliance Strategy, NCCS and is to be strictly enforced by cabotage enforcement officers.
Nigeria’s cabotage enforcement has faced criticism for ineffectual enforcement, and the latest effort could be part of moves to restore credibility to the cabotage policy which once held a lot of promise.
The post NIMASA suspends cabotage waiver appeared first on Vanguard News.
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