Navy, Maritime Stakeholders at loggerheads over Nigerian Hydrographic Agency Bill

• … As Navy insists non-existence of agency has huge National Security implications

By Christiana Ekpa

The Nigerian Navy and the major stakeholders in maritime industries were at loggerheads on Monday over  the position canvassed by the stakeholders on the proposed House Representatives Bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Hydrographic Agency.

This was just as the Nigerian Navy maintained a strong position that the non-existence of the agency has huge National Security implications for the Nation.

The Stakeholders at the public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, which has the presences of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigeria Ports Authority, (NPA) Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA and National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA were all in agreement that the enactment of a Bill for an Act to Establish the Nigerian Hydrographical Agency was a duplication of law establishing all these agencies.

But the Navy in a memo and oral presentation to the House Committee by it’s Chief of Naval Staff CNS Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo insisted that the enactment of the bill to establish the Nigeria Hydrographic Agency could not have come at a better time than now given the current security situation in Nigeria.

The CNS who was represented by Rear Admiral Chukwuemeka Okafor said that hydrography is a critical operational mandate of the Nigerian Navy and it ‘ll be a grave mistake to allow the proposed agency controlled by the civil populace in which these stakeholders operate.

According to him, the Nigerian Navy had recently acquired some new vessels and ship owners are now using vessels to convey goods due to lack of navigational charts and other security gadgets.

He said that the situation has led to low navigation in the nation’s inland waterways and the bill if passed into law would bridge the gap in the very critical sector.

He also said that there has not been any appreciable increase in the the annual budgets of the Nigerian Navy. The passage of the bill will help to contain, piracy, increase investors confidence and renew regional and international prestige of Nigeria.

Earlier,  Permanent Secretary Ministry of Transportation Ms Magdalene Ajani had told the lawmakers in the Committee that hydorgraphy survey is an academic area that should not be narrowed down to the operational areas of the Navy at all

She further said that the implication of narrowing it to Navy is that a non Naval officer cannot be appointed into the agency as a professional hydrographer.

She said said that in the event that the lawmakers still passed the bill into law, other professionals should be given the opportunity of appointment and career progression in the proposed agency.

The top government official as well as other representatives of some agencies also kicked against the establishment of the Maritime Trust Fund saying that the Ministry of Transportation is totally against it because it is potentially misleading.

Some of the key maritime stakeholders notably Messers Amos Tobon of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA and Naziru Biyankare of National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA also told the committee at the hearing that they aligned with the views expressed by the Ministry on the Bill.

Chairman of the Committee Committee Hon. Yusuf A. Gagdi however assured all these stakeholders and the Nigerian  Navy that the views expressed would be sieved appropriately at the committee level before the bill can be withdrawn or passed into law.