Senate Backs OMSL on Safe Anchorage Area Operations
The Senate Wednesday okayed the establishment of Safe Anchorage Area (SAA) at the Lagos pilotage district which for weeks has remained a big tussle between the Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The position of the Senate followed the presentation of the report of the public hearing on the issue by the Senate joint committee on Navy, Marine Transport and Finance on the activities of OMSL in operating the SAA.
Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator George Thompson Sekibo, in the report said the increasing spate of insecurity on the nation’s waters necessitated the need to have SAA.
Sekibo said the security issue which started in 2012 on Lagos waters led to the establishment of SAA.
He said that the security issue forced shipowners bringing goods to Nigeria to hire armed security at $7,500 per day, adding that with the OMSL, the charge has been reduced to $2,500 for the first day and $1,500 until the ship left.
The Senate also commended the OMSL for investing as much as $400million in the SAA operations.
Noting that what led to the NPA to request for SAA was to promote ease of doing business and reduce cost, Sekido said this has not in any way contravened any national or international maritime laws.
He said, “The existence and operation of the SAA cannot in any way be a threat to national security as it is being operated and supervised by the Nigerian Navy and not by Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL).
“The allegation that the SAA pose a security threat to the country is an indirect indictment on the Nigerian Navy as it is the one operating on the platforms with the logistics provided by OMSL”
The report while noting that the Navy needs as much as 150 patrol boats to protect the waters from piracy, added that even the two patrol boats provided by NPA through NIMASA to the Navy were not functioning.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarked said the issue was that of a matter for the National Assembly or government to deal with, adding that this was because Nigerian Navy “is this incapacitated, it is a big issue for us”.
He added, “it is unfortunate that we are discussing it in plenary that we have only one functional ship. As a giant of Africa, we should be talking of maybe hundreds of ships. So, this is a challenge to us, the National Assembly particularly. We have to do something for the Navy.”
The NPA had been opposed to the establishment of the SAA and its operation by OMSL.
About Post Author
