Modular floating dockyard: ICRC delivers business compliance certificate to NIMASA

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has issued a Certificate of Compliance for an outline Business Case (OBC) for the operation of the Modular Floating Dockyard acquired by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Acting Director General of the commission, Mr. Michael Ohiani, led a team of ICRC officers to the NIMASA headquarters in Lagos to present the certificate.

Ohiani said the Agency’s outline business case for the Modular Floating Dockyard’s management contract to be operated, maintained, and transferred under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement was in compliance with the ICRC Act 2005 and the National Policy on Public Private Partnership.

Speaking while receiving the Certificate of Compliance, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said the Modular Floating Dockyard was a national asset. Dr. Jamohassured that the Agency was committed to the careful deployment of the dry dock in line with relevant regulatory instruments to ensure wealth creation, job creation, and revenue generation for the Federal Government.

He also said issues, such as security, accessibility, and existing complimentary infrastructure on ground, were considered in the development of a business case for the dockyard, which will be managed on a PPP basis with NIMASA and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), on the one hand, and a management company, on the other. ICRC would closely monitor the entire implementation process to ensure equity, fairness, and profitability for the Federal Government.

Dr. Jamoh stated, “It is one thing to have the Modular Dockyard, and another for it to enjoy patronage and be a profitable venture for government. So many funds have been invested in the project and it cannot serve just as a workshop for an institution of learning, as being inferred in some quarters.