The Chairman of the Association of African Maritime Administration, (AAMA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has said that the maritime sector is crucial to the growth and development of the African economy. This was contained in a press statement made available to newsman recently. The AAMA Chairman who stated this when the Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Ambassador Alain Michel Luvambano paid him a courtesy visit in Lagos. Dakuku said that regional co-operation is required in order to achieve all the goals of the Lome Charter and the African Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy, geared towards repositioning the sector in Africa, in order to allow it compete favourably with its counterparts in the other continents. According to him, “maritime is a sure source of growing our economy and from the highest point of government, we are talking about blue economy; it is also our goal to realize the dream of our leaders aimed at the development of the maritime sector in Africa and collaboration is the key to realizing it”. Dr. Peterside who is also the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) assured the Secretary General of MOWCA that AAMA on its part will continue to champion the course of revitalizing the African maritime sector through various forms of collaboration and will support MOWCA since both bodies have similar objectives and shared vision of realizing a prosperous Africa through its maritime resources. Earlier, the Secretary General of MOWCA who was accompanied by the Technical Director of the organisation, Colonel Mariko Mamadou expressed gratitude to the AAMA Chair for the support the organisation has been receiving from the association. According to him, MOWCA as an organisation is seeking collaboration with AAMA, adding that both bodies have similar mandates of contributing to the economic growth and the development of the maritime administrations on the African space. AAMA is the umbrella body of heads of maritime administrations in Africa with the sole aim of working together to reposition the maritime sector in Africa in line with global best practices. It would be recalled that the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside who was appointed to Chair the body during the 3rd AAMA Conference hosted by Nigeria in 2017, has continued to champion the course for the growth and development of the continent through collaboration with relevant international bodies.]]>
