The Nigerian government has called for the stoppage of the war risk insurance surcharge slammed on Nigeria- bound cargo by international shipping cartel.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) called for the end of this surcharge on behalf of Nigeria.
The surcharge was instituted by the international shipping companies at the height of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and militancy in the Niger Delta region few years back.
But even years after the Nigerian government had substantially addressed the Niger Delta restiveness and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, the international shipping companies have refused to stop the insurance premium.
To bring this to the attention of the international community, the Director – General of NIMASA, Dr Dayo Mobereola, renewed the call for the removal of the surcharge on Nigeria – bound cargo when he played host to the delegation from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the agency’s headquarters on Thursday, March 6th, 2025.
The Danish team came to NIMASA to deepen its capacity training initiative with the agency. Represented by Dr Mobereola, the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the agency, Chudi Offodile, sought the intervention of the Danish government and the international community to prevail on the international shipping cartel to end the surcharge, given the commitment and huge investments made by Nigeria to maritime security and the relative peace in the Gulf of Guinea.
The NIMASA boss pointed out that Nigeria has invested huge resources into the maritime security in the country and the region through its Deep Blue Project that has weakened piracy and armed robbery in the region.
According to Mobereola, the international shipping community should respond to Nigeria’s great commitment to security in the region by removing the war risk insurance surcharge.
” Given the commitment of NIMASA and the Federal government to maritime security that ensured almost zero incidents of piracy and armed robbery within the Gulf of Guinea in the last four to five years, there is absolutely no reason for the current war risk insurance premium on Nigeria- bound cargo.
” We expect that the surcharge ought to have gone.
” With the cooperation we seek with the Danish government, we expect that the war risk
insurance premium and freight costs and other related issues will have to be addressed by the international community,” Mobereola emphasized.
Responding, the Head of the Danish delegation, Kristin Skov- Spilling, who is the Special Technical Director of Evaluation, Learning and Quality in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declared that there is little or nothing the government of Denmark could do on the war risk insurance premium because the insurance companies are private entities.
Offodile, DG representative, expressed his disappointment at the response of the Danish delegation team leader, saying such distinction does not hold water.
He noted that when sanctions come from Europe, America or the international community, they come from their governments.
He wondered why when a request is made to them considering investment Nigeria had made and concrete achievements recorded, they now say insurance companies are private companies.
”That distinction doesn’t make sense. It is clear to the world that we have done our bit and the world must respond,” the NIMASA chief insisted.
Meanwhile, NIMASA has reaffirmed its commitment to capacity building for maritime journalists and has sought the collaboration of the Danish government in this regard.
Recall that the Danish government sponsored the training of some Nigerian Maritime journalists through Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre( KAIPTC) in Lagos in 2023.
The Danish team was in NIMASA where it interacted with some of the beneficiaries of the training for feedbacks on the 2023 capacity training.
However, Offodile, who was apparently impressed by the feedback he got from the KAIPTC students, pledged that NIMASA will continue to explore ways to train more journalists in maritime security.
He said since the 2023 training, the level of reporting of maritime industry has been elevated as the trainees have brought what they learned on their reportage.
Offodile therefore urged the Danish government to continue with the initiative which he said NIMASA would support and sustain.
The Danish team will also go to other African countries where the Danish government has such capacity building programme.