ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR DANGOTE REFINERY IS OUR PRIORITY - JAMOH

... AGENCY, DANGOTE PORT WORK OUT MODALITIES FOR CABOTAGE ADHERENCE. 

Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh (Left), OFR presenting a souvenir to Managing Director, Dangote Port Operations, Akin Omole

The Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR, says the Agency is committed to ensuring that the business of the Dangote Ports and refinery are not hindered by the implementation of the regulatory instrument under the provisions of the Cabotage law.  

L-R: Executive Director Operations, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Engr. Fatai Taye Adeyemi; Managing Director (MD), Dangote Port Operations, Akin Omole; Director General NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR; Snr. General Manager, DPRP, Dangote Group, Bukar Abba and GCSO Dangote Group, Aliyu Suleiman

Dr. Jamoh, according to a press release signed by Assistant Director, Public Relations, NIMASA Ossgie Edward FNIPR, made the assertions during a courtesy visit by a delegation from Dangote Port operations, led by the Managing Director Dangote Port Operations, Mr Akin Omole to NIMASA, said that the Agency will work with Dangote Ports to also ensure the Group does not breach any regulation of the Federal Government as regards Wet Cargo afreightment. Both parties agreed to set up a working committee to address the operational concerns at the refinery within 14 days.

“I suggested a joint committee with membership from NIMASA and Dangote to sit down and look at issues objectively. Our priority is to ensure regulatory implementation does not impede the operations of Dangote Ports and by extension, Dangote Refinery. Though the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery would lead to a drop in NIMASA revenue, because ships importing petroleum products would reduce drastically thus reducing the 3% freight levy collected by the Agency. However, Nigerian economic growth and long term benefit to the Nigerian masses is far better than immediate revenue for NIMASA”. He said.

R-L: Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR: Managing Director (MD), Dangote Port Operations, Akin Omole and Executive Director Operations, NIMASA, Engr. Fatai Taye Adeyemi 

On his part, the Managing Director Dangote Ports Operations, Mr. Akin  Omole, said his team will ensure that the refinery is not in breach of the Cabotage Act.

In his words, “We talked about business being done in a way that there is no obstruction, no delay. “In shipping, a day’s delay is a huge cost, we have an average of over $50,000 demurrage on a ship per day, so we want to be sure that these kinds of delay are not experienced. All bottlenecks, hindrances that will cause the delay will be addressed jointly and collaboratively with our team and NIMASA team,” Omole stated