FG declares NIMASA regulator not revenue agency

The Federal Government has frown at insinuations in certain quarters that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was set up, both as regulator of maritime safety and security and a revenue generating agency against what was enshrined in the Act establishing the body.

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi bemoaned the situation where people continue to put NIMASA under pressure to make money and affirmed that NIMASA is a regulatory authority and not one that should go about looking for money.

The Minister made the disclosure at the final session of a 5-day National Council on Transportation (NCT) in Kano where he reiterated that “The People that should be making money and they must hear it now are the NPA. It is their responsibility to make money”.

Amaechi charged NIMASA to ‘focus on being a regulatory authority on the issue of safety and security of our waterways”.

Whilst he expressed dismay over the inability to convene the NCT for three years due to economic downturn and advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, he expressed optimism that critical decisions bordering on transportation will be addressed at the summit.