the two vessels MV Red Pelican and MV Ibom, which should be ISPS Code complaint, but are not, are hereby barred from further operations in Nigerian waters until their operators undertake an acceptable security assessment, obtain approvals for their ship security plans and implement them in the satisfaction of the honourable minister of transport.
Although, Agu did not identify the owners of the companies, maritime operators said one of the vessels belongs to a state governor in one of the South East states.
The statement, titled "Marine Notice No 023/08: Control and compliance measures on International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code," traced the history of the policy and various efforts made by Nigeria to comply with the rule.
"Shipping and port industry stakeholders and the general public will recall that the protocol establishing the ISPS Code was signed at the International Maritime Organisation in December 2002. The ISPS Code created a global framework for national and international cooperation and coordination to ensure the safety and security of ships and port facilities against terrorism and unlawful act against shipping. A period of 18 months was allowed for national governments, shipping and port interests to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance, before the code came into force in July 2004," he said.
To facilitate Nigeria's compliance with the code, Agu said government had set up the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security (PICOMSS), which prepared the legal, administrative and technical aspects of the code for easy implementation.
Justifying the ministerial directive on his authority in respect of the ban on the two vessels, Agu said PICOMSS organised a "well attended awareness campaign for ship and port industry stakeholders in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri and Abuja besides meetings by NMA and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) with ship owners to sensitise them on the requirements for compliance with the code.
He also said the minister met with members of the Nigerian Shipping Companies Association, Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria and the Maritime Industry Service Consultative Organisation (MISCO) to appraise them of national compliance status; and urge them to undertake mandatory ship security assessments and obtain the ship security plan approvals for all their vessels to which the code applied.
According to Agu, inspections carried out by PICOMSS and the NMA on all convention-sized vessels and non-convention vessels engaged in ship-to-ship or ship-to-port interface with the ISPS code in the country revealed that:
