The Minister of Transportation, Mr. MuazuJaji Sambo, has charged the Management of the

Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to ensure prompt deployment of the Modular Floating Dockyard acquired by the Agency recently.

The agency’s Director-General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, who disclosed this while speaking with the newsmen in Lagos, said that the Minister described the deployment of the Modular Dockyard as one of the low hanging fruits he hopes would be delivered to the nation within the next few months.

“When we met with the Honorable Minister last month, he made it clear that we need to deploy the Modular Floating Dockyard for the benefit of Nigerians. The truth is that we are working round the clock daily to ensure that the Dockyard is put to use. We are working closely with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), using lessons from past mistakes, to ensure a productive and sustainable deployment of the Modular Dockyard.

A statement by the Assistant Director, Public Relations, NIMASA, Osagie Edward, quoted Dr. Jamoh as saying that both NIMASA and NPA were set to complete the operationalization of the NIMASA Modular Floating Dockyard with the installation of dolphins and repair of facilities at the NPA Continental Shipyard facility, where the floating dock would be operated from.

He noted that NIMASA has completed the ongoing discussions with its co-partner, NPA and other managing partners to provide the Continental Shipyard for the anchoring of the Dockyard. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is closely providing guidance for the deployment of the national asset on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, adding that the floating dock needs to go through an installation process before it starts functioning or be put to use.