Heritage Bank Plc and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have collaborated to educate stakeholders about the maritime enforcement global benchmarks.
The partnership of the two entities was given a practical vent at a training programme with the theme ‘Maritime Enforcement Safety: Current Global Benchmarks’ held in Lagos.
The capacity building forum was attended by representatives of the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Ports Authority, Lagos State Safety Council, Shippers Council, Marine Insurers, Maritime & Dockworkers Safety Inspector and Marine Police.
Addressing participants at the workshop, Victor Amakwe, Group Head, Private Banking, Private Wealth Management, Heritage Bank, said that the management of the bank understood the importance of health safety, which implies that every working environment or workplace is kept in an organized, uncluttered, and hazard-free condition, hence its commitment to it.
According to him, the benefits of promoting workplace safety standards are far-reaching, and affect not only workers’ safety but also their health and productivity.
He said: “Improvements in worker health and productivity, in turn, lead to lower operating costs thereby providing benefits to both the workers and the employer.”
Amakwe commended the NIMASA leadership for its commitment to the enthronement of global best practices in the provision of maritime services in Nigeria, while ensuring also effective maritime safety administration using modern tools that guarantee efficiency and effectiveness, towards developing indigenous capacity and tackling hindrances on our waterways.
He therefore assured the participants at the training session that as a generational bank with excellent service culture hinged on working with each customer to create a name and heritage for today and future generations, Heritage Bank would continue to partner NIMASA on its drive for maritime safety standards enforcement.
Commenting at the forum, the NIMASA’s Director-General, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said that the mandate of his agency was to ensure that any vessel using Nigeria’s waterways, both onshore and offshore, are safety conscious.
According to him, as a safety agency NIMASA cannot be enforcing safety when it is not operating in a safety environment.
He emphasized that the safety standards were globally set and managed for the benefit of all nations.
Peterside noted that there had been tremendous improvement in the way NIMASA staff and other stakeholders in the maritime sector embraced the global safety standards, adding however there is room for improvement.
He explained that the workshop was organized to promote a culture of safety in operations of all stakeholders; for self-examination of each operation environment; and to evaluate the global best practices.
“In NIMASA, we are determined to give you every support you require to ensure a new culture is put in place in our workplaces”, he assured.