Eromosele Abiodun

Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has called for a comprehensive action in Nigeria’s bid to be elected into Category C of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council.

The minister who stated this during the inauguration of the Inter-ministerial Committee to promote the campaign in Abuja, said the campaign must be all-inclusive, taking into consideration diplomatic and operational strategies in soliciting votes to yield good dividends.

He explained that, having lost out three times between 2011 and 2019 after its successful stints in 1975, 2001, and 2005, Nigeria is due to return to the Council to cement its relevance as a strategic Maritime domain and a strong voice in West Africa.

“The need for Nigeria’s return to Council is imperative given our strategic location and significance as a hub of Maritime activities and as a voice for the sub-region on the IMO Council, where crucial decisions regarding international maritime shipping and trade are made,” Mobereola said.

He added that membership in the Council comes with such benefits as “technical assistance, manpower and institutional development, as well as political influence in the maritime sector of the global economy.”

Meanwhile, the Direvtor-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola, has officially presented the six IMO instruments assented to by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.

He appreciated the minister for facilitating the signing of the IMO conventions, noting that, “these six conventions have been pending within the Ministry and government for the last 6 to 8 years. With the efforts of the Honourable Minister, they have now been assented to by Mr. President and will be delivered and showcased with the IMO.”

Minister Visits Imose Technologies, Promises Support for Indigenous Tech Companies

Emma Okonji

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani has promised government support for indigenous technology companies, through collaboration.

The minister said this in Lagos, during his recent visit to Imose Technologies smartphone/tablet factory and the Teesas Learning Centre, one of the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Applied Learning Clusters (ALC).

Pleased with his on-the-spot assessment of the factory and learning centre, Tijani said the assessment of Imose Technologies factory, would enable the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to understand how best it could support indigenous companies to scale.

“We do need companies, businesses that can actually truly build solutions for our people. In the digital economy space, we can’t achieve our objectives without local companies. Even as we start to invest in fiber optic network to ensure we can reach all of our people, it’s going to be useless if people don’t have the devices, such as the phone, the tablets, the laptops to be able to access internet and use it for meaningful purposes. So that’s why we need indigenous companies like Imose Technologies and many more out there to understand their pain points and how we can support them so that they can start to truly fully manufacture devices in Nigeria. And that way it can become affordable and our people can have access,” Tijani said.

Chairman/Founder, Imose Technologies and Teesas Education, Mr. Osayi Izedonmwen, thanked the Minister for his visit and assessment, adding that in all, a thousand Nigerians have been trained from its two learning centres in Lakki and Ikeja.

Izedonmwen identified batteries as one of the core components that could drive down the cost of producing mobile phones. Giving the large concentration of Lithium in Nigeria, Izedonmwen envisions a future where Imose Technologies could produce Lithium batteries for mobile phones locally, with a bigger plan to mass-produce such mobile phone batteries for export.