Maritime Security Regimes and Impacts on Nigerian Seaports

Abstract

Nigeria is a signatory to International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) conventions and codes on safety and security relating to ports and other maritime facilities. The Federal Government through its relevant agencies has taken some steps to domesticate and implement the provisions therein. In spite of the measures implemented so far, maritime security related problems still beset the national ports and have impacted on their performance. The purpose of this paper was to assess the impacts of port security regimes on security incidents and performance of Nigerian ports. Copies of structured Likert scaled questionnaire were designed for this study. These were administered to randomly selected sample ofport operators and port users operating in Tincan Island port and Apapa ports complex. Their opinion on observed security incidents at the ports was elicited using the instrument. The primary data so obtained were augmented with secondary data on cargo and vessel throughputs handled at these ports. To test the hypotheses governing the study, we applied the Partial Least Squares model to determine significantrelationship between port security regimes (proxied by port security measures) and port security incidents and port performance. The results showed that implementation of appropriate security measures can engender significant reductions in port security incidents and improved port performance. The policy implications of study findings were discussed.