ASSESSING THE ROLE OF IMO IN MARITIME POLICY FORMULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARITIME INDUSTRY (A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA MARITIME ADMINISTRATION AND SAFETY AGENCY [NIMASA])
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
Abstract
Seafaring has always been one of the world's most dangerous occupations. The
unpredictability of the weather and the vast power of the sea itself seemed so
great that for centuries it was assumed that little could be done to make shipping
safer. In response to major disasters, states moved towards internationalization of
the law, first by the harmonization of local regulations, through bilateral treaties,
agreements or understandings among the leading maritime nations. Some
organizations operated for a time and then vanished or were absorbed, others
were transitory to meet the exigencies of war. Next, nations held international
conferences in order to set up universal rules and finally, intergovernmental
organizations took over in order to encourage the adoption of international
instruments to regulate safety at sea and prevention of pollution from ships. A
Conference convened by the United Nations in Geneva in 1948 ended on 6 March
with the successful adoption of the Convention on the Inter-Governmental
Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO). The Organization changed its name
to International Maritime Organization (IMO) in May 1982. IMO was born into a
world weary from war and in which the old colonial powers still held sway in terms
of global prosperity and trade. As a consequence, these were also major powers
in shipping and, as the leading maritime nations, they tended to create their own
standards with regard to vessel construction, safety, manning and so on. But, in
1948, a new spirit of global unity was in the air and the first glimpses of a new
world order on the horizon combined to cause a number of far-sighted nations to
draw up the blueprint for an international organization that would develop
standards for shipping - for adoption and universal implementation throughout
the entire industry.