Nigerian Merchant Navy
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The Nigerian Merchant Navy (NMN) consists of ships, their crew and supporting organizations owned by Nigerians and engaged in cabotage and international trade with Nigeria.
The quasi-military Nigerian Marine Department was established in 1914 and cooperated with the Royal Navy in capturing Cameroon in the First World War. The Nigerian Navy came into official existence in 1956, staffed by 200 people from the Marine Department, with the tasks of mine-sweeping, ports examination and naval control services. The Nigerian Marine Training School, established in April 1952, provided basic training in seamanship to the Navy, Merchant Navy, Inland Waterways Department and Nigerian Ports Authority.[1] The Nigerian National Shipping Line was established by the Nigerian government in 1959. Despite heavy investment and subsidies, the state-owned company was unable to compete with European lines. Much of the investment went to enriching the political elite.[2]
A 1964 book describes careers in the Nigerian Merchant Navy, which offered apprenticeships for craftsmen and Officer Cadetships for aspirants to become Navigating or Engineering officers.[3] In 1988 the National Maritime Authority granted six Nigerian shipping lines "national carrier" status, including the state-owned Nigerian National Shipping Line, the Nigerian Green Line, Africa Ocean Line, Nigerbras Shipping Line, Brawal Line and the Nigerian South American Line. The NMA had plans to extend this status to more domestic companies so as to reduce control of trade by foreign-owned lines. However, by 1992 foreign shippers were carrying over 80% of cargo. The oil extraction companies ignored rules to use Nigerian ships and instead supplied their own tankers to transport most of the crude to their refineries abroad.[4]
The industry has been represented at international conferences by members of the Merchant Navy Officers' and Water Transport Senior Staff Association.[5][6] Thomas Kemewerigha, the national President of this association, described it in a 2010 interview as a trade union organization affiliated with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).[7]
Status and activities
Although the Nigerian Merchant Navy has a long history, it is not a legally recognized body. The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) undertook an investigation in 2007 after hearing that President Olusegun Obasanjo had authorized establishment of a Nigeria Merchant Navy Corps. In November 2007 the Director General of NIMASA said in a letter to Presidency that "the so-called Nigerian Merchant Navy is not known in the law establishing the NIMASA (NIMASA ACT 2007) nor the Nigerian Merchant Shipping Act 2007 that delegated the function of the Maritime Safety Administration to NIMASA".[8]
When the police announced a ban of an organization calling itself the "Nigerian Merchant Navy" in July 2010, due to alleged illegal activities of some members of that organization, Kemewerigha said the ban did not apply to his Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, which was recognized in the Federal Gazette. He said "We have written a lot of letters as far back as 2006, when we discovered a mystery Merchant Navy body. We wrote to the Police, Navy, SSS and every other agency but nothing was done".[7]
Kemewerigha describes the Merchant Navy job as being "in water transportation, cargo vessels, tankers, creek operations, inland water ways, offshore, service vessels, harbour handling, FPSO's". He talked against the use of uniforms on land, which his organization did not allow. He said that cadets wore the uniform, which is the same as the Navy uniform apart from the badge, so they could get free transport.[7]
The Merchant Navy suffers from lawlessness in the territorial waters. In July 2010, Comrade Kingsley Enahoro issued a statement reading in part: "The Executive and entire members of the fishing zone of the Nigeria Merchant Navy want to bring to the notice of the Federal/State Government as well as the International community and the General Public of the threat and killing suffered by sailors as a result of the insurgence of sea pirates in the Nigeria/Cameroon waters".[9] Kemewerigha has been highly critical of NIMASA, which is meant to protect merchant vessels, saying that despite all the money received by NIMASA they were unable to maintain one helicopter in flight-worthy condition.[7] In May 2011 the Nigerian Senate was considering a bill for an Act to Provide for the Establishment of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Security and Safety Corps.[10]