By Olaitan Ayoola

The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)has unveiled an online verification of Certificates of Competency(CoC) to enable shipping Companies and other stakeholders in the industry to authenticate certificates presented to them by seafarers.

The new CoC online verification by NIMASA was presented to Maritime stakeholders recently in Lagos at an interactive forum organised by the Agency to highlight the special feature of the system. The verification is to bring an end to the era of waiting for response from NIMASA to ask about the details of Seafarers, as answer to any question could be obtained online.

The Director General of NIMASA , Patrick Akopolokemi, in his welcome address at the forum, said that the initiative was part of the agency’s effort to ensure that its operations are in line with acceptable international best   practices practice.