Nigeria’s Slow Judicial Processes Scaring Investors Away ― NIMASA

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside has urged the Nigerian judicial system to be timely in delivering verdicts on maritime cases, lamenting that delays associated with judicial cases in Nigeria’s maritime sector is scaring away foreign investors.

Speaking on Monday in Lagos when the agency hosted the 8th Strategic Admiralty Law Seminar for Judges, the NIMASA helmsman revealed that the agency has already ratified 40 conventions of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) on maritime safety, maritime labour and marine environment management, domesticating 19 of these conventions either by adoption, regulations or by incorporation under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2007.

According to Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, “aside ratifying 40 conventions of the IMO and ILO, we are already working with the Federal Ministry of Transportation under the auspices of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to ratify an additional six IMO conventions before the end of 2019 to ensure that Nigeria as an IMO member state fulfils its treaty obligation.

“The six IMO conventions are: The Hong Kong International Convention for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships 2009; Protocol Relating to Intervention on the high seas in cases of oil pollution casualties (Intervention Protocol) 1973; 1996 Protocol on limitation of liability for maritime claims (LLMC); 2002 Protocol relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea (PAL) 1976; International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F) 1995; and the Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.

“NIMASA is also working with relevant stakeholders under the auspices of the IMO Mandatory States Audit Scheme (IMSAS) Corrective Action Plan Committee to ensure that all queries raised d in the 2016 IMO Audit report on Nigeria’s maritime sector are addressed before the first quarter of 2019 in order to boost Nigeria’s reelection bid into Category ‘C’ of the IMO General Council. “We are also in the process of amending the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 to give effect to the IMSAS Corrective action.”

On Nigeria’s judicial processes and investment opportunities, the NIMASA DG stated that: “Nobody will want to invest in a place where it takes longer to have dispute resolution.

“Most times, when we go out to tell people to come and invest in Nigeria, they tell us that dispute will always arise because of the complexities of business transactions. They then tell us that if we are not sure that justice will be done in a timeless manner, they won’t come here to invest.

“I will, therefore, like to use this opportunity to appeal to our judges to facilitate timely resolution of dispute for maritime cases. If it takes two years to resolve the dispute over ownership of a vessel, by the time the verdict is ready after two years, the vessel is gone. The vessel has become a scrap. Will such people come again to invest in Nigeria? No.

“Timeliness is a big issue for maritime cases in Nigeria. Due to the lengthy time, it takes to resolve maritime cases here, people are losing huge capital and investments. Uncertainties over Nigeria’s justice system, uncertainties over Nigeria’s criminal administration system, and uncertainties over the timely dispensation of justice is making it difficult for us to convince investors to come to Nigeria.”