Maritime workers commend FG over scrapping of PICOMSS

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

LAGOS — MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, weekend, commended the Federal Government for scrapping the Presidential Implementation on Maritime Security and Safety, PICOMSS, saying “it is a welcomed development that must be supported by every genuine operator or stakeholder in the sector.”

This came as the union called on the government to empower Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to be able to do the jobs assigned to it.”

PICOMSS, an adhoc creation during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to aid security in the maritime sector as a fall-out of the terror attack on United States in 2001, was reportedly scrapped for refusing  to merge with the NIMASA.

Stakeholders, including MWUN, had vigorously campaigned against PICOMSS when some vested interests in The Presidency and corridors of power sent a bill to the National Assembly for it to be legalised into a full fledged organ to provide security to the nation’s water ways.

They argued that it was a duplication of one of the core responsibilities of NIMASA, and a potential drain-pipe for the nation.

MWUN in a statement by its President-General, Comrade Anthony Emmanuel Nted, praised the government for listening to a wiser counsel and views of stakeholders that another security outfit was not needed in the sector.