By Aisha Cole
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, met with the Liberian Minister of Transportation, Hon. Sirleaf Tyler, on Wednesday.
According to a statement by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on Wednesday, the meeting was in the quest to ensure that Nigeria was re-elected into the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Category C.
It centred on soliciting support from other maritime nations at the ongoing 133rd Session of the IMO Council in London.
According to the NPA, Nigeria’s quest to regain its place in ‘Category C’ of the IMO received a boost as Oyetola met Tyler and solicited the support of other maritime nations.
“This development is coming on the heels of Oyetola’s inauguration of an Inter-Ministerial Committee for the actualisation of the quest to solidify Nigeria’s standing in the community of maritime nations.
“This is in keeping with the resolve of President Bola Tinubu to convert Nigeria’s maritime potentials into actualities for national economic prosperity,” it said.
It said that Tinubu had earlier signed the instruments of accession for six conventions of the IMO to infuse the governance best practices.
It said that the best practices were necessary for Nigeria’s access to the technical, human capital, and institutional development assistance that the election into ‘Category C’ conferred.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IMO ‘Category C’ comprises 20 countries.
The countries are those that have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the council would ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world.
With the renewed move to get re-elected into the keenly contested ‘Category C’, Nigeria is poised to win back the prestige.