Navy, NIMASA strengthen ties

22.07.2008

The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye, has paid a working visit to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

According to a statement by Head, Public Relations of NIMASA, Hajiai Tumaka, the visit was part of moves to further strengthen the collaboration between the two organisations.

During the visit, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, expressed appreciation to the CNS for the successes achieved so far from the collaboration.

He said the contribution of the naval officers and men deployed in NIMASA was invaluable as the incessant piracy and armed robbery at sea earlier reported in the year had been reduced due to regular patrol of the sea.

According to Dosumu, the agency had, on a regular basis, been sending the naval personnel working with it on training programmes within and outside the country to keep them in top shape for the challenges in the maritime sector.

The agency, he said, was working hard to complete the upgrading of the facilities in the naval dockyard.

Adekeye, in a remark, said the collaboration between the two organisations was working and could only get better if it was sustained.

The president of Indigenous Ship Owners Association (ISAN), in his comment, expressed appreciation on the agreement entered into by NIMASA and the Navy, stressing that it had succeeded in curtailing the excesses of pirates and armed robbers at sea.

He spoke on the need for Nigeria to replicate the Malaysian experience where ship owners were involved in the activities of the the Navy.