By Hauwa Ali
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, says that the Regional Maritime Development Bank (RMDB) is one of the easiest things to his administration will achieve, expressing optimism that the ministry will soon be able to secure accommodation to enable the take-off
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The minister expressed this when he received the Secretary General, Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu at the ministry in Abuja recently.
According to Sambo, he will approach the Attorney General of the Federation to see if one of the forfeited properties can be allocated to the bank since all efforts towards getting accommodation via the Central Bank of Nigeria had failed.
“When I resumed here, I realised immediately that the Regional Maritime Bank is one of the lowest hanging fruits that we can achieve within a very short time. Infact, 90 days is too long.” He said.
Sambo further eencouraged Adalikwu to leverage on MOWCA as a regional platform to push for Nigeria’s intent of becoming member of Category C in International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Secretary General of MOWCA, Dr. Paul Adalikwu, stated that the idea of a RMDB was conceived 11 years ago to facilitate single digit interest loans to provide leeway to key players in the sector and enable them compete favourably with their international counterparts.
According to Adalikwu, “Eight countries have signed the charter as required in the document establishing the bank. Two weeks ago, DRC Congo also signed making it nine countries. One above the threshold required for the establishment of the Act.”
Speaking further, he informed that the organogram of RMDB as adopted by council members had positions of president of the body, company secretary and a seat on the board ceded to Nigeria while Cameroun is to produce the Vice President 1, and Ivory Coast, Vice President two, adding that other members countries are to provide board members for the maritime bank.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, commended Adalikwu, on the forthcoming regional meeting scheduled for Abuja in November, 2022, where the Secretary General of IMO, Kitlack Lim, will seek to prevail on the 25 member States to adopt the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, to enable trial of piracy cases within the MOWCA sub-region irrespective of whichever sub-region the crime was committed.
The meeting had in attendance the Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adewole Adegoroye, Director, Maritime Services, Babatunde Bombata, Deputy Director, Cabotage & Shipping, Rita Zoaka and others
