MOWCA Scribe Pays Courtesy Visit To Regional Academy of Science And Techniques, Abidjan

The Secretary General of the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) Dr. Paul Adalikwu, in company of some members of the organization staff paid a courtesy visit to the Regional Academy of Science and Techniques of the Sea in Abidjan.

The visit which took place on the July 26, 2022, was part of the Secretary General’s ongoing engagements with Special Organs of MOWCA

The MOWCA delegation arrived the institution and were well received by the Director General of the academy, Colonel Karim Coulibaly and his team after which they proceeded to the Director General’s office for exchange of civilities.

The Director General then took the visiting team on a facility tour giving brief explanation of the functions of each machine in the various laboratories visited and thereafter proceeded to the conference room for further deliberations.

Colonel Coulibaly was delighted in having the Secretary General, MOWCA visit the Academy and congratulated him on his emergence as the Secretary General and acknowledged his swift response in restructuring and repositioning the Organization and pledged the support and cooperation of the academy to the Secretary General.

The DG during his power-point presentation, highlighted five (5) core areas of the institution thus;
Maritime Transport, Shipping, Logistics, Ports and Fishing.

He stated that the academy is a degree awarding institution and pleaded the support of MOWCA in recovering of Member States’ financial contributions, contributions to the day-day running of the academy and assist the academy in accessing funds from funding partners like the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other organizations.

In his response, Dr. Paul Adalikwu appreciated the warm welcome accorded him and his team by the Director General and was very impressed with the improvements made since he first visited the academy, during his campaign for election into office of Secretary General.

Also, he acknowledged the Director General’s earlier visit to his office upon assumption of duty on January, 2022 and said MOWCA was at the verge of collapse in relation to staff laxity to work; no organogram for an organization representing 25 countries; no vehicles bought in the last 10 years and poor financial status among others.

He pointed out that the Organization is gradually finding its feet just within six months of his administration. There is an organogram and schedule of duties specifying the duties of every staff. He further mentioned that many organizations he visited such as the Dean of Diplomatic Corp in Abidjan and some member States indicated not to have heard of MOWCA. Since assumption of office, he has ensured that MOWCA revived the MOUs with the ICC of Yaounde and on the verge of signing MOU with the AU and AFCTA.

Dr. Paul Adalikwu also informed that he met with the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and presented his blueprint for MOWCA. He was highly impressed with his presentation and gave approval to all the requests he brought forward including having meetings with all Ministers of Transport of Member States in London by September, partnership with MOWCA to organize a Regional Conference in Abuja, Nigeria on the Anti-Piracy law that Nigeria has passed as a model for MOWCA member States.

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He encouraged them to visit the MOWCA Website, Instagram, Facebook, Tweeta in other to see various activities of the SG on the social media.

On the transformation of MOWCA into AMO (African Maritime Organization), Adalikwu emphasized that work is in progress to accomplishing the set objective. He noted that the collaboration with Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS), in East Africa, who visited him at the MOWCA secretariat aaccompanied by the SG of UASC, one of our specialized bodies is yielding great result.

Adalikwu further pointed out that the shipping industry today faces many challenges. That of the safety of navigation, the change in the size of ships and therefore the sub-regional organisation and it’s specialized structures must altogether find solutions. He also planned to meet with the President of the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden to seek areas of collaborations and best practices for the benefit of all member States.