TELL Magazine

There are indications that the controversial Modular Floating Dock acquired by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA in 2018 will commence operations before the end of this year. This hint was dropped over the weekend by Dr. Bashir Jamoh, director general of the agency during a media parley. He was briefing media men on the activities of his agency in the past year. According to him, the usage of the dock would be done through a public/private arrangement.
While explaining the delay in putting the facility to use since its acquisition in 2018, Dr. Jamoh said it was because other agencies of government were involved. He stated that the delay was necessitated by the involvement of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC, which is concerned with the privatization of government property.
The confidence of the agency derived from a recent development that saw the agency receiving a certificate of approval from ICRC to privatize the modular dry-dock. Mr. Michael Ohinai, acting director of the Commission had in September last year led a team to NIMASA headquarters in Lagos to present the certificate. He said then that “The project is bankable and sustainable.”

Dr. Jamoh informed the media men that when the operation begins, the country would be saving about N36 billion annually in capital flight. That is the amount that would have been paid to foreign companies to dry-dock vessels operating into Nigeria. This is because it costs between $300,000 to $500,000 to dry-dock a vessel in the international market.
On the performance of NIMASA, Dr. Jamoh also informed the media men that the agency generated N31.8 billion in 2020. It hopes to increase its contribution to national covers with the anticipated privatization of the modular dry-dock.

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