Nigeria alongside 47 other countries have expressed interest to vie for positions into the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council for the 2022-2023 biennium.
The Council’s election will hold during the IMO Assembly’s 32nd session taking place on December 6-15, 2021.
The IMO Council is made up of 40 Member States, who are elected by the Assembly for a period of two years. The Council is in charge of overseeing the work of the organization.
Between sessions of the IMO Assembly, the Council carries out all the duties of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
The IMO Council is grouped into A, B and C countries. Category A is made up of 10 countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping service, while Category B also has 10 countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade.
Category C consists of 20 countries not elected under, which have 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 information exclusively obtained from IMO by SHIPS & PORTS, of the 48 countries seeking election into the Council, 10 are in Category A, 11 in Category B and 27 in Category C. Nigeria is seeking election in Category C.
All the 10 countries in Category A are seeking re-election. They are China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States.
Also, all the 10 countries in Category B are seeking re-election. They are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Sweden, which is not currently a member of the Council, is the 11th country seeking election under Category B.
In Category C, all the 20 countries currently serving in the IMO Council are seeking re-election. They are Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.
The seven countries that are presently not in the Council but are seeking election into it in December are Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar and Vanuatu.
Nigeria’s chances of getting elected into the council is believed to be bright, having recorded giant strides in tackling piracy within its shores and since it is the only West African country seeking election into the Council.
Nigeria has already begun diplomatic shuttle involving officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in order to ensure it amass sufficient number of votes at the December election,
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, while speaking at the third seminar of the Atlantic Centre in Lisbon Portugal, called on IMO Member States that regard themselves as “friends to Nigeria” to back the country’s bid for election into the IMO Council.
“We ask for your vote and count on your continued confidence in the efforts of Nigeria to work in partnership with other nation-states in the Gulf of Guinea, to continue keeping our corridor of the Atlantic Ocean a safe passage for seafarers, their vessels and the vital supplies they transport for our common sustenance,” Jamoh had said.
He also recently paid visit to IMO Secretary-General, Kitack Lim, stating Nigeria’s readiness for election into the organization’s main decision-making organ.
