The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has said that not one of the 20 audited African Member States, including Nigeria, had completed, terminated or effectively implemented the Corrective Action Plan after the period of follow up audit.
IMO said all the audited Member States were provided with an Audit Final Report that reflected the agreed Corrective Action Plan to be, in general, effectively implemented after three to four years following the audit.
The Head, Africa Section, Subdivision for Maritime Development Technical Cooperation Division, William Azuh, disclosed this at the opening of a 3-day Workshop for Heads of Maritime Administration in the West and Central Africa region, which commenced yesterday, in Lagos,
He noted that since the commencement of the IMO audit in its mandatory phase (January 2016), also generally referred to as IMSAS, 20 African Member States that were audited were yet to implement the corrective actions.
He listed the countries to include Nigeria, Cape Verde, Congo, Congo Democratic Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, and Sao Tome and Principe as well as Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, the Gambia, Sudan and Togo.
He added that nearly 100% of the maritime administrations in the region had been audited even as he described the development as a fantastic result.
Corrective Action Plan
Azuh said: “However, actions on the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) have been dismal, to say the least. If there is no feedback from the audit, you would then wonder why your administrations were audited in the first place.
“IMO has been literally ‘begging’ the maritime administrations to report back to it on the Corrective Actions implemented or lack thereof which was part of the audit recommendations. IMO is willing and able to assist the countries to implement those Corrective Actions but the initiation would have to come from you.
“Meanwhile, Member States are encouraged to provide IMO, periodically, with comments on the effective implementation of the Corrective Action Plan (CPICAP). To assist Member States, a CPICAP model form has been developed by IMO and sent to the Member States to be used when communicating to IMO.
“With regards to provided CPICAs, the same scenario is recorded with very low engagement/involvement of the Member States in providing regular updates in the implementation of CAP (only six Member States out of the 20 provided some CPICAPs).”
Against this backdrop, he said the IMO is planning a dedicated high-level forum to specifically discuss the IMSAS and provide practical guidance, boost response and find desired solutions.
He also revealed that since the beginning of the mandatory phase of the audit, not a single training for auditors has been conducted in the African region, adding that the unique and latest one was conducted in Togo in 2015 for 23 participants from nine African Member States.
IMO is willing and able to assist the countries to implement those Corrective Actions but the initiation would have to come from you.
Nomination of auditors
Azuh informed that “Only three auditors among the 23 trained were nominated by their respective administrations. This needs to be addressed by encouraging beneficiary Member States to nominate auditors as that is the essence of the training.
“To encourage nomination of auditors, I will avail you copies of IMO Circular Letter No. 3547 and particularly to the recent Addendum 1 encouraging nomination of Women Auditors. As you may already be aware, on 18th May this year, IMO will celebrate the 1st International Day for Women in Maritime. So, women must be part of this important maritime work.
“The criteria for nomination are established in the Procedure for IMO Member States Audit (resolution A.1067 (28) part II, parag. 4.3) which I will also avail you.”
He argued that every aspect of the maritime sector, national or regional, is based on and depended on audit, adding that awareness at the very top of governance in the maritime administrations is crucial.
The workshop was facilitated by the Abuja MoU on Port State Control for West and Central African Region and the IMO, and is the second of its kind in the region; the first being in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, in 2012.
