THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency has contributed N37.69 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in 2021.

NIMASA Director-General Bashir Jamoh said that the N37.69 contribution was higher than N31.83 billion contributed by the agency in 2020.

“In 2020, the agency contributed to the consolidated revenue account by paying N31,839,917,978.20k. We went ahead to increase the amount we paid in 2021 with a total amount of N37,691,630, 450.22k.”

Jamoh said that the commission was striving to strengthen its security mechanism, while enhancing the revenue collection process of the Federal Government.

He said the N50bn floating dock being built would be operational before the end of the first quarter of 2022, noting that the facility would, however, be subjected to a privatisation process to help lessen the cost burden.

“We expect before the end of the first quarter the floating dock to be operational. Our floating dock is owned by NIMASA and we handed it over to a public-private partnership. The issue of privatisation is not a product but a process.

“The DG of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) was here to give us the first certificate, telling us that privatising the modular floating dock is profitable. We have gone ahead to do negotiations with the Managing Partner, the Nigerian Ports Authority. We expect that by the middle of February, we will get the final no-objection certificate,” he said.

He stressed that the privatisation of the floating dock must be approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) because it was a national asset adding that the agency suffered a lot of challenges when work began on it, but the cost could not be borne by the Federal Government alone.

“When it is privatised, the managing partners can decide and move it to the proper position it should be. Operationality of the floating dock would be taken over by foreigners to service it before the approval of the FEC. By the time we receive approval and the floating dock is in use, we will move it to where it belongs,” he added.