Indigenous shipowners have accused the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) of encroaching into the regulatory space of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) by collecting $2,000 Coastal Vessel License (CVL) levy from operators

Speaking during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting in Lagos, recently, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Temisan Omatseye, said the $2,000 levy is a newly-introduced charge collected by NMDPRA from shipowners, while a separate N2 million is equally levied on shipowners by the oil regulatory agency.

However, Omatseye described the development as an abnormally, alleging that the NMDPRA has been encroaching into the regulatory functions of NIMASA by licensing tanker operators in the country.

Omatseye said, “The responsibility of oil regulatory agencies should be focused on the petroleum products conveyed by the tankers and not the vessels.

“Each shipowner pays $2,000 to register with NMDPRA and they are equally asking now another N2 million from ship owners. These are for Coastal Vessels Licence and they even issued a regulation in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to give them that power.

“Nonetheless, there are international provisions governing these activities and they are vested in NIMASA as Nigeria’s maritime regulator. The major conventions include the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), among others, are enforced by NIMASA. The ministry should ensure that NIMASA implements these international conventions already domesticated.”

Omatseye urged the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to immediately take up its role because most of the conventions that are supposed to be domiciled in NIMASA are being taken over by other agencies.

He said the ministry has to look into the issue by addressing it holistically and engage the other agencies and let them know the conventions that are domiciled in NIMASA. (Nigerian Tribune)