Steve Agbota
NIGERIA, at the weekend, lost its fourth attempt to get re-elected into the ‘Category C’ of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council seat.
Nigeria lost to Kenya by one vote in the category C elections. Kenya got 111 votes while Nigeria got 110 votes. Saudi Arabia got 106, Poland 101, and Liberia got 100.
The last time Nigeria won the IMO Council election was in 2007 under Dr. Ade Dosunmu, who was the then Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and every attempt made since then to return to the Council had failed.
In 2011, Nigeria began a fresh move to return to the council but had always failed despite its contributions to maritime transport. 40 countries were elected into the IMO Council in three categories for the 2020/2021 biennium. At the election held in London, United Kingdom, 10 were elected into Category A, 10 were also elected into Category B and 20 into Category C respectively.
The countries elected into Category A, comprising of countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping services are China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Those countries elected into Category B, with the largest interest in international seaborne trade include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.
Category C members are those that are not eligible for election into either Category A or B.