Nigeria Loses IMO Council Election

Despite the robust campaign embarked upon by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigeria has, for the third consecutive time, lost its bid to get re-elected into category ‘C’ of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

At Nigeria’s expense smaller countries such as Jamaica, Kenya and Liberia were elected into the IMO council.

The last time Nigeria won its IMO Council bid was in 2007 under Dr. Ade Dosunmu, who was then the Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and every attempt made since 2011 to return to the council has failed.

Forty countries were elected into the IMO Council in three categories for the 2017/2018 biennial.

The successful countries are China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States in Category A.

Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United Arab Emirates were elected in Category B while Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey were elected in Category C.

Category A council members are countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, while Category B are countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade.

Category C, which has 20 countries, are those with special interests in maritime transport or navigation” and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world,” according to IMO.