House Committee calls for integration of C4i with other agencies

House Committee calls for integration of C4i with other agencies

C4i
By Chiazo Ogbolu
Lagos, March 3, 2020 (NAN) The House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration says the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4i) system at Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) needs to be integrated with other agencies.

Ms Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu, its chairperson, made the appeal at the oversight visit of the committee at the NIMASA in Lagos, on Tuesday.

According to her, the C4i is a very good system that needs effective operation for it to work, and so Nigerian factor should not come into play.

“We have been taken to see some places, the floating dock, the vessels that have been brought in, the C4i, but we will come back because the projects have not yet been completed.

“The C4i needs to be integrated with other agencies such as Nigerian Ports Authority, the Navy for it to work, and so that all money put into it will not be wasted.

“Onces it takes off, it should be independent in the sence that it should not have any form of interference from anywhere,” she said.

She pointed out that NIMASA was an income generating agency and as such, the committee members would ensure they succeed for the interest of the country.

Chuba-Ikpeazu said that as regards the floating dock, it needed a permanent place for it to berth, so that it would be well utilised.

The Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside said that the C4i centre was core to intelligence gathering and so needed the integration of agencies.

According to him, NIMASA will take the integration as spoken by the committee chairman seriously and ensure that things move smoothly.

“NIMASA is an agency saddled with pushing out law, regulations and conventions; raising revenue is only a consequential activity.

“This oversight function is a core responsibility of the National Assembly and we attach more seriousness to it, because through this visit we believe that we will get the support we need to move forward,” he said.

Peterside said that the assets that the committee saw were aimed at ensuring safety on the waterways and building up response capability.

He said that the legal framework to fight piracy was on ground,

According to him, there is also retraining of maritime guard on modern ways to fight piracy, while there is progress in the sulphur cap compliance and action plan on marine litter, among others.(NAN)
CAN/SOA
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Edited by Oluwole Sogunle