International collaboration imperative for maritime growth- NIMASA DG …Meets a delegation from Bundeswehr Command, Hamburg

International collaboration imperative for maritime growth- NIMASA DG

.Meets a delegation from Bundeswehr Command, Hamburg

By Udeme Clement

«No nation can attain sustainable growth and development relying on its single source of revenue, as world economies are now consciously competing among themselves in terms of advancement and development indices », said the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ,NIMASA,  Dr. Dakuku Peterside.

Peterside made this known when a delegation of Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, a leading education institution of the German armed forces, Hamburg, Germany paid  a working visit to the Agency, in Lagos..

According to him, «No nation can ever be self-sufficient on it own. In that capacity, the need would always arise for countries to meet through trade. Also, no two nations can engage in trade without recourse to maritime. Therefore, easy trade facilitation between nations can only be guaranteed if the maritime domains of associated nations are secured with human asset, technology, ideas and intellectuality as key drivers».

His words, “Technology and globalisation will continue to amaze us, just as Ideas, knowledge and intellectuality are complementary drivers of advancement in our today’s world. No individual or nation has a monopoly of knowledge. So, cross-fertilisation of knowledge in critical sub-sectors of nations’ economies, particularly in areas of comparative advantage is sacrosanct for growth and development, towards the overall objective of advancing world peace”.

In his explanation, Dr. Peterside took the delegation through the mandates, core functions and the human capacity needs of Nigeria’s Maritime industry, even as he assured them on safety of Nigeria’s maritime environment. He noted various initiatives put in place by the Agency to address the projected growth of the industry, particularly in areas of human capacity, safety and security requirements.

He stressed, “human capacity, maritime safety and security related crimes were the biggest challenges we faced. They have been addressed and we would continue to address them in totality. We have the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme ,NSDP, which is an initiative designed to train Nigerian youths in various maritime professionalism. Currently, they are being trained in various countries around the globe. While some of them have graduated as  professionals, some are still undergoing necessary training. We are partnering with maritime giants around the world to develop our Seafarers. For safety and security, we are collaborating with the Nigerian Military and Police to ensure that”.

In his response, the leader of the delegation, Dr. Thortsen Schutz, informed NIMASA that they were at the Agency on a working visit, with the objectives: to ascertain facts that would aid trade facilitation between Nigeria and Germany; as well as learning new ideas from NIMASA, as regards Africa’s experience, because of the peculiarities of the continent. « NIMASA is strategic in  shipping scheme between Nigeria and Germany. It would be necessary for the Commercial and Defence Attachés in Germany Embassy in Nigeria to understand shipping as well as maritime ideals and dynamics within the context of the Agency’s operations, for ease of trade engagements », he said.

He added, “We are here to understand NIMASA. We know your importance and we are encouraged by your disposition towards ensuring a safe and secured maritime environment for shipping. You are strategic when it comes to trading in Africa. Be assured that we would encourage our people to come to Nigeria because we know that Nigeria has a lot of maritime potentials. We are ready to collaborate and also partner with NIMASA in areas of technology, idea and knowledge sharing because the world is fast drifting to knowledge and idea base”, he said.

Accordingly, the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College was established in 1957 as the successor of the Prussian Military Academy founded in 1810. Since 1958 it is located in Hamburg. Being the leading education institution of the German armed forces, the academy is internationally renowned for its excellence. The academy educates the future elites of not only the German armed forces but also of other member states of the European Union.