NIMASA Eyes N109bn Income in 2018 – Peterside

Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside says the agency is targeting N109 billion as its generated revenue in 2018.

Peterside expressed confidence that NIMASA will meet the projected target of N109 billion as revenue before the year ending.

Speaking on the 2018 budget before the Senate Committee on Marine Transport in Abuja on Thursday, the NIMASA boss explained that the estimated mark was realizable given all the initiatives being implemented to check revenue leakages within the Agency.

According to him. “N109 billion is an estimate; we are workings toward accomplishing that, this revenue include revenue from Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), that I have no access too.

“It also includes our mandatory contributions to Maritime Academy of Nigeria, which is not in our disposal but we optimistic that with the numbers of initiatives we have put in place.”

Giving insights on the measures taken by the Agency to address revenue challenges in the system, Peterside said; “We have blocked leakages, we have done everything humanly possible to reduce our expenses to make it achievable.”

The Director General said every adjustment and amendment had been made on the budget as directed, adding that a total of N18.7 billion was remitted in 2017, representing about 80 per cent of the total revenue for the year.

Also, he said that N2 billion was made available to Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) for the dredging of the lower Niger River, as approved by the presidency.

For 2018, Peterside stated that NIMASA is looking at completing ongoing reforms by ensuring the waterways are safer with huge investment in the security of nation’s waterways.

The Director General said NIMASA is set to build offices in the eastern zone, and central zone while also concentrating on capacity building, by training seafarers and scaling up its operations in 2018. – (NAN)