A petition has been submitted to the National Assembly urging the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to establish skills acquisition centers in its operational regions within five Niger Delta states – Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers. This call comes after NIMASA constructed similar facilities in Kaduna State, which lacks maritime access.
In 2023, NIMASA, a regulatory body overseeing the maritime sector, constructed a skills acquisition center in Zaria, Kaduna State, along with donating a twin lecture theater to Kaduna State University, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
In response to this, the Abade-Toru Mangal Community Development Initiative has petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives, insisting that NIMASA replicate these efforts in its primary operational regions.
The Abade-Toru Mangal Community Development Initiative, through the House Committee on Public Petitions, alleges that NIMASA has neglected its corporate social responsibilities toward the coastal communities of the Niger Delta, where it conducts its core operations.
Dated May 23, 2024, and signed by Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, Secretary of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP), the petition is titled “An Urgent Petition Requesting For The Implementation Of The Long Overdue Corporate Social Responsibilities For The Niger Delta Coastal Communities From The NIMASA Via The Global Maritime Security Conference (GMSC) Memorandum Of Demands.”
Parts of the petition reads: “For the avoidance of any doubts below is a summary of the demands the petitioner is demanding of NIMASA.
“Within three months from June 2024, NIMASA to complete the building of one mega skills acquisition centre within the campuses of the state owned university in the five states wherein NIMASA is operational namely: Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states, similar to NIMASA’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in Kaduna State, as reported in NIMASA’s website.”
The petitioner also demanded that, by October 2024, NIMASA should provide not less than N1 million as venture capital for each of the pioneer graduates of each of the five skills acquisition centers.
The petition further demanded that, by June 2024, a list of beneficiaries of the five proposed skills acquisition centers should be submitted to NIMASA through the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
“By July 2024, NIMASA to obtain waiver from Bureau of Public Procurement to publish advertisement for expression of interest for construction of the five skills acquisition centres. The local content shall apply as only consultants from the five states of the Niger Delta wherein the skills acquisition centres shall be sited.”
In the same petition, it was demanded that by August 2024, NIMASA allocate N25 million to ALDRAP, its legal consultant, for organizing ‘Train The Trainer’ workshops in each of the five states and for the publication of 1,000 copies of a Toolkit For Coastal Communities On How To Submit Petitions And Ventilate Their Grievances Through Legal, Legitimate Channels (Instead Of Sea Piracy). The petitioner specified that this funding should be facilitated through the National Assembly or the public petitions committees of state assemblies.
Additionally, the petitioner insisted that the right of first refusal for employment opportunities at NIMASA should be granted to natives of the five states where the agency operates.
