The Secretary General, Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Abuja MOU), Captain Sunday Umoren, in this interview speaks on the challenges facing the inspection of vessels visiting ports in the West and Central African region.
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How has the implementation of international conventions helped in controlling pollution in Nigeria?
This is clearly an effective Port State Control regime, which is about enforcement of the relevant regulations, the MARPOL (maritime polluction) regulations and conventions. Port State has critically looked at every aspect of pollution and so the effective inspection and enforcement is with respect to a number of vessels coming into your port. How many can you inspect? In every region, every MOU has what we call the minimum percentage number of vessels calling that should be inspected. For the Abuja MOU region, we have 15% set as a minimum target that you should inspect. We did not just stop at 15% because if we leave it at 15%, by stroke of luck, the 15% you inspect may actually be compliant. So what we have is the new inspection regime, which is a targeted system in the sense that it answers the question of the classes of vessels, types of vessels, category of vessels which are much more likely to cause pollution or default in the convention.For example, an old vessel above a certain age from 15 down, we use a scaling system. So, every class is given a weightage such that the ones with higher weightage are the high risk vessels that should be targeted, newer vessels are most likely to be very compliant. Vessels that have not been inspected for the last one year are most likely to be complacent or likely to expose the environment, and of course, vessels that have been blacklisted or that have poor Port State Control inspection report from other MOUs are most likely the key defaulters. So, out of the 15% you go through the new inspection regime, you select the ones that are most likely in terms of defaulting and prioritize your inspection. The 15% you prioritize are the ones you should really zoom in on and of course the rest can then come in. By so doing, you potentially remove the probability of a substandard vessel slipping through the cracks.
How can the issue of substandard ships be eradicated in the region?
