• As group decries alarming rate of oil bunkering in N’Delta
The Executive Director of Operations, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Fatai Adeyemi, has said that Nigeria’s offshore environment is vital to the nation’s economy, which is powering industries and creating livelihoods.
Adeyemi noted that the environmental challenges associated with offshore operations require immediate and sustained attention because they pose a grave threat to marine ecosystems, navigational safety, and public health.
He stated this at a stakeholders’ sensitisation programme on Offshore Waste Reception Facilities with the theme “NIMASA’s Responsibilities and Statutory Obligation to Provide Offshore Waste Reception Facilities,” in Port Harcourt.
He said that the agency is committed to a clean offshore environment as the country seeks to maximise opportunities in the blue economy.
According to him, the programme underscores NIMASA’s unwavering commitment to promoting environmental sustainability and operational safety within Nigeria’s maritime sector.
“The objective of the programme is to increase awareness and strengthen collaboration among all stakeholders—operators, regulators, service providers, and community representatives—to ensure that waste reception and disposal practices meet the highest environmental standards.
“By doing so, we are not only protecting our oceans but also aligning with global best practices and international maritime regulations. The responsibility to safeguard our marine environment rests on all of us, and through concerted action, we can achieve a safer, cleaner, and more sustainable offshore environment.
“I want to assure our stakeholders that on its part, NIMASA is committed to an enduring and Blue Economy that emphasises conformity with international best practices as enshrined in the various laws and global best practices,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Warri Indigenous Peoples Movement (WIPM), yesterday, urged security agencies to crack down on high-level oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region.
Describing the illegal siphoning of crude oil from Nigeria as a major threat to national revenue and regional stability, the movement said shiploads of Nigerian crude oil continue to leave the country illegally daily.
Addressing a press briefing in Abuja, WIPM President-General, Kingsley Tenumah, clarified that the Itsekiri ethnic nationality is not involved in any protest or campaign calling for the removal of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari.
He said the focus should be on those operating on the high seas, not just small-scale bunkering.
Tenumah also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to expand its investigations beyond refinery turnaround expenditures to include the role of some security agencies in allowing illegal bunkering to persist.
