By Valentine Amanze
Lagos
The management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has denied owing
rent to owners of the agency’s Lagos office.
The agency’s
Head Corporate Communications, Hajia Lami Tumaka, disclosed this while responding to reports alleging that the NIMASA was on the verge of being evicted from its Lagos office by the owners of the property.
She explained: “The agency has five offices in Lagos and none of them is under any threat of eviction.
“NIMASA’s head office on 4, Burma Road Apapa is wholly owned by the agency including the Nigerian Maritime Resource Coordination Centre otherwise known as NIMASA Resource Centre at the Kirirkiri axis of Apapa as well as the agency’s Western Zonal Office located on 88, Marine Road, Apapa.
“The agency has also met its full rental obligation to the owners of the Atlantic House on Wharf road Apapa that houses its Apapa Port Office while its Tin Can Island Port Office complex owned by our sister agency, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has no outstanding liabilities whatsoever.
“To therefore allude that one of the agency’s operational areas in Lagos is on the verge of eviction owing to outstanding rent running into tens of millions of naira is not only false but also a calculated attempt at embarrassing the management of the agency.”
She pointed out that the management of NIMASA
was committed to the achievement of the agency’s core mandate as encapsulated in the NIMASA Act 2007 as well as other instruments that the agency is responsible for their implementation.