Steve Agbota
Nigeria, at the weekend, lost its fifth attempt to get re-elected into the ‘Category C’ of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council seat.
Despite high hopes that Nigeria would seal a place on the Governing Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the nation failed and lost once again at the just concluded polls.
Saturday Sun learnt that African nations such as Kenya, Egypt and Morocco all beat Nigeria to the category C seat of the IMO election. However, joining Nigeria as losers are South Africa, Kuwait and Peru while the new entrants are: Vanatu, Qatar and Saudi Arabia respectively.
The new members of Category ‘C’ are: Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Vanuatu.
Winners in Category ‘A’ are: China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services.
While winners in Category ‘B’ are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates, which have the largest interest in international seaborne trade.
The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the Organization. Between sessions of the Assembly, the Council performs the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to Governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
Saturday Sun learnt that the last time Nigeria won the IMO Council election was in 2007 under Temisan Omatseye who was the then Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and every attempt made since then to return to the Council had failed.
In 2011, Nigeria began a fresh move to return to the council but had always failed despite its contributions to maritime transport.
The newly elected Council will meet, following the conclusion of the 32nd Assembly, for its 126th session on December 15, 2020 and will elect its Chair and Vice-Chair for the next biennium.
The 32nd Assembly of IMO is meeting in London at IMO Headquarters from 6 -15 December 2021.
All 175 Member States and three Associate Members are entitled to attend the Assembly, which is IMO’s highest governing body.
The intergovernmental organizations with which agreements of co-operation have been concluded and international non-governmental organizations in consultative status with IMO are also invited to attend.
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https://www.sunnewsonline.com/breaking-nigeria-loses-bid-at-imo-council-seat-in-london-again/
