OIL IN NAVIGABLE WATERS ACT

OIL IN NAVIGABLE WATERS ACT

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTION

1. Discharge of certain oils into prohibited sea areas.

2. Designation of prohibited sea areas.

3. Discharge of oil into the waters of Nigeria.

4. Special defences under sections 1 and 3.

5. Equipment in ships to prevent oil pollution.

6. Penalties for offences under sections I, 3 and 5.

7. Keeping record of matters relating to oil.

8. Facilities in harbours for disposal of oil residues,

9. Restriction on transfer of oil at night.

10. Duty to report discharges of oil into waters of harbours.

11. Powers of inspection.

12. Prosecutions.

13. Enforcement and application of fines.

14. General provisions as to application of Act.

15. Power to grant exemptions.

16. Application of Act to Government owned ships.

17. Enforcement of Convention relating to oil pollution.

18. Annual report.

19. Financial provisions.

20. Interpretation.

21. Short title.

SCHEDULE

Prohibited sea areas

[NoTE.- The measurements used in this Act are English measurements; and they are

to be converted into the metric measurements as and when required.]

An Act to implement the terms of the International Convention for the Preventionof Pollution of the Sea by Oil 1954 to 1962 and to make provisions for such prevention in the navigable waters of Nigeria.

[1968 No. 34.]

[ Commencement.]

[22nd April, 1968]

1. Discharge of certain oils into prohibited sea areas

(1) If any oil to which this section applies is discharged from a Nigerian ship into a part of the sea which, in relation to that ship, is a prohibited sea area, or if any mixture containing not less than 100 parts of oil to which this section applies is discharged from such a ship into such a part of the sea, the owner or master of the ship shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be guilty of an offence under this section.

(2) This section applies-

(a) to crude oil, fuel and lubricating oil; and

(b) to heavy diesel oil,

and shall also apply to any other description of oil which may be prescribed under this subsection by order made by the Minister, having regard to the provisions of any subse- quent Convention in so far as it relates to the prevention of pollution of the sea by oil, or having regard to the persistent character of oil of that description and the likelihood that it would cause pollution if discharged from a ship into a prohibited sea area.

(3) The Minister may, by regulations made under this subsection, make exceptions from the operation of subsection (1) of this section, either absolutely or subject to any prescribed conditions, and either generally or as respects particular classes of ships, or in relation to particular descriptions of oil or mixtures in prescribed circumstances, or in relation to particular areas of the sea.

(4) In this Act, “subsequent Convention” means any Convention subsequent to the

Convention of 1954 to 1962 being a Convention relating to the aforesaid Convention, and accepted by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

2. Designation of prohibited sea areas

(1) For the purposes of this Act the areas of the sea designated by or in accordance with this section shall be prohibited sea areas.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the areas specified in the Schedule to this Act shall be prohibited sea areas.

[Schedule.)

(3) The Minister, if he considers it necessary to do so for the purpose of protecting the coast and territorial waters of Nigeria from pollution by oil, may by order designate any area of the sea outside the territorial waters of Nigeria and outside the areas specified in the Schedule to this Act as a prohibited sea area.

(4) For the purpose of giving effect to any variation of the prohibited zones referred to in the Convention of 1954 to 1962, in accordance with the provisions of that Conven- tion or of any subsequent Convention, the Minister may by order vary any of the areas specified in the Schedule to this Act or declare that any area specified in that Schedule shall cease to be included therein.

[Schedule.)

(5) For the purpose of giving effect to any subsequent Convention, the Minister may by order designate as a prohibited sea area, any area of the sea, outside the territorial wa- ters of Nigeria, which, apart from the order, is not a prohibited sea area.

(6) The power of the Minister under subsection (4) or (5) of this section shall be exer- cisable either generally or in relation to different classes of vessels or different circum- stances or both.

3. Discharge of oil into the waters of Nigeria

(1) If any oil or mixture containing oil is discharged into waters to which this section applies from any vessel, or from any place on land, or from any apparatus used for trans- ferring oil from or to any vessel (whether to or from a place on land or to or from another vessel), then subject to the provisions of this Act-

(a) if the discharge is from a vessel, the owner or master of the vessel; or

(b) if the discharge is from a place on land, the occupier of that place; or

(c) if the discharge is from apparatus used for transferring oil from or to a vessel, the person in charge of the apparatus,

is guilty of an offence under this section.

(2) This section applies to the following waters, that is-

(a) the whole of the sea within the seaward limits of the territorial waters of Ni- geria; and

(b) all other waters (including inland waters) which are within those limits and are navigable by sea-going ships.

(3) The harbour authority may appoint a place within its jurisdiction where the ballast water of vessels in which a cargo of dangerous petroleum has been carried may be dis- charged into the waters of the harbour, at such times, and subject to such conditions, as the authority may determine, and, where a place is so appointed, the discharge of ballast water from such a vessel shall not constitute an offence under this section, if the ballast water is discharged at that place and at a time and in accordance with the conditions so determined and the ballast water contains no oil other than dangerous petroleum.

(4) In subsection (3) of this section, “dangerous petroleum” has the same meaning as in the Petroleum Act.

[Cap. PlO.)

4. Special defences under sections 1 and 3

(1) Where a person is charged with an offence under section 1 of this Act, or is charged with an offence under section 3 of this Act as the owner or master of a vessel, it shall be a defence to prove that the oil or mixture in question was discharged for the pur- pose of securing the safety of any vessel, or of preventing damage to any vessel or cargo or of saving life:

Provided that a defence under this subsection shall not have effect if the court is satisfied that the discharge of the oil or mixture was not necessary for the purpose alleged

in the defence or was not a reasonable step to take in the circumstances.

(2) Where a person is charged as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, it shall also be a defence to prove-

(a) that the oil or mixture escaped in consequence of damage to the vessel, and that as soon as practicable after the damage occurred all reasonable steps were

taken for preventing, or (if it could not be prevented) for stopping or reducing, the escape of oil or mixture; or

(b) that the oil or mixture escaped by reason of leakage, that the leakage was not due to any want of reasonable care, and that as soon as practicable after the es- cape was discovered all reasonable steps were taken for stopping or reducing it.

(3) Where a person is charged with an offence under section 3 of this Act as the oc- cupier of a place on land, or as the person in charge of any apparatus, from which oil or a mixture containing oil is alleged to have escaped, it shall be a defence to prove that the escape of the oil or mixture was not due to any want of reasonable care, and that as soon as practicable after the escape was discovered all reasonable steps were taken for stop- ping or reducing it.

(4) Without prejudice to subsection (3) of this section, it shall be a defence for the occupier of a place on land, who is charged with an offence under the last preceding sec- tion, to prove that the discharge was caused by the act of a person who was in that place without the permission (express or implied) of the occupier.

(5) Where a person is charged with an offence under section 3 of this Act in respect of the discharge of a mixture containing oil from a place on land, it shall (without preju- dice to any other defence under this section) be a defence to prove-

(a) that the oil was contained in an effluent produced by operations for the refining of oil;

(b) that it was not reasonably practicable to dispose of the effluent otherwise than by discharging it into waters to which the last preceding section applies; and

(c) that all reasonably practicable steps had been taken for eliminating oil from the effluent:

Provided that a defence under this subsection shall not have effect if it is proved that, at a time to which the charge relates, the surface of the waters into which the mix- ture was discharged from the place in question, or land adjacent to those waters, was fouled by oil, unless the court is satisfied that the fouling was not caused, or contributed to, by oil contained in any eftluent discharged at or before that time from that place.

(6) Where any oil, or mixture containing oil, is discharged in consequence of-

(a) the exercise of any power conferred by sections 273 anzd 275 of the Merchant Shipping Act (which relate to the removal of wrecks by the Receiver of Wreck);

[Cap. M I I.]

(b) the exercise, for the purpose of preventing an obstruction or danger to naviga- tion, of any power to dispose of sunk, stranded or abandoned vessels which is exercisable by the harbour authority,

and apart from this subsection, the person exercising the power under the said sections 273 and 275 or, as the case may be, the harbour authority exercising the power, (or a per- son employed by or acting on behalf of that person or authority) is guilty of an offence under section 1 of this Act or under section 3 of this Act, in respect of that discharge, the authority or person shall not be convicted of that offence unless it is shown that it or he

failed to take such steps (if any) as were reasonable in the circumstances for preventing, stopping or reducing the discharge.

5. Equipment in ships to prevent oil pollution

(1) For the purpose of preventing or reducing discharges of oil and mixtures con- taining oil into the sea, the Minister may make regulations requiring Nigerian ships to be fitted with such equipment, and to comply with such other requirements, as may be pre- scribed.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, where any regulations made thereunder require ships to be fitted with equipment of a prescribed description, the regulations may provide that equipment of that description-

(a) shall not be installed in a ship to which the regulations apply unless it is of a type tested and approved by a person appointed by the Minister;

(b) while installed in such a ship, shall not be treated as satisfying the require-

ments of the regulations unless, as such times as may be specified in the regu- lations, it is submitted for testing and approval by a person so appointed.

(3) The Minister may appoint persons to carry out tests for the purposes of any regu- lations made under this section, and, in respect of the carrying out of such tests, may charge such fees as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(4) Every surveyor of ships shall be taken to be a person appointed by the Minister to carry out tests for the purposes of any regulations made under this section, in so far as they relate to tests required in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section.

(5) If, in the case of any ship, the provisions of any regulations under this section which apply to that ship are contravened, the owner or master of the ship is guilty of an offence under this section.

6. Penalties for offences under sections 1, 3 and 5

A person guilty of an offence under section I, 3 or 5 of this Act shall, on conviction by a High Court or a superior court or on summary conviction by any court of inferior jurisdiction, be liable to a fine:

Provided that an offence shall not by virtue of this section be punishable on sum- mary conviction by a court having jurisdiction inferior to that of a High Court by a fine exceeding N2,000.

7. Keeping record of matters relating to oil

(1) The Minister may make regulations requiring masters of Nigerian ships (other than tankers) being ships of eighty tons gross tonnage or more which use fuel oil to keep records-

(a) of any occasion on which oil or a mixture containing oil is discharged from any such ship for the purpose of securing the safety of any vessel, or of pre- venting damage to any vessel or cargo, or of saving life;

(b) of any occasion on which oil or a mixture containing oil is found to be escap- ing, or to have escaped, from any such ship in consequence of damage to the ship or by reason of leakage;

(c) of the carrying out, on board or in connection with any such ship, of such op- erations as may be prescribed, being operations relating to–

(i) the ballasting of oil tanks (whether cargo or bunker fuel tanks) and the discharge of ballast from, and cleaning of, such tanks; or

(ii) the separation of oil from water, or from other substances, in any mix- ture containing oil; or

(iii) the disposal of any, or water, or any other substance arising from op- erations relating to any of the matters specified in the preceding sub- paragraphs; or

(iv) the disposal of any other oil residues.

(2) The Minister may make regulations requiring the keeping of records relating to the transfer of oil to and from vessels while they are within the seaward limits of the ter- ritorial waters of Nigeria and any requirements imposed by virtue of regulations under this section, shall in the case of vessels subject to the requirements made under subsec- tion (1) of this section, be additional thereto.

(3) Any records required by virtue of regulations made under subsection (2) of this section in the case of any vessel, shall be kept by the master of the vessel:

Provided that in the case of a barge, the records, in so far as they relate to the trans- fer of oil to the barge, shall be kept by the person supplying the oil, and, in so far as they relate to the transfer of oil from the barge, shall be kept by the person to whom the oil is delivered.

(4) Where by any regulations made under this section any records are required to be kept, the regulations, may-

(a) prescribe the form in which the records are to be kept, and the nature of the entries to be made in them;

(b) require the person keeping the records to retain them for a prescribed period;

(c) require that person, at the end of the prescribed period, to transmit the records to a place or person determined by or under the regulations;

(d) provide for the custody or disposal of the records after their transmission to such a place or person,

and any regulations made under subsection (2) of this section may provide for any of the matters specified in paragraphs (b) to (d) of this subsection in relation to records to be kept.

(5) If any person-

(a) fails to comply with any requirements imposed by or under this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding NI ,000;

CAP. 06

Oil in Navigable Waters Act

(b) makes an entry in any records kept under this section which is to his knowl- edge false or misleading in any material particular, he shall be liable on sum- mary conviction to a fine not exceeding NI,OOO or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(6) In any proceedings under this Act-

(a) any records kept in pursuance of regulations made under this section shall be admissible as evidence of the facts stated in those records;

(b) any copy of an entry in such records, which is certified by the person by whom the records are required to be kept to be a true copy of the entry, shall be ad- missible as evidence of the facts stated in the entry;

(c) any document purporting to be records kept in pursuance of regulations made under this section, or purporting to be such a certified copy as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection, shall, unless the contrary is proved, be pre-

sumed to be such records or such a certi fied copy, as the case may be.

8. Facilities in harbours for disposal of oil residues

(1) In respect of every harbour in Nigeria, the powers of the harbour authority shall include power to provide facilities for enabling vessels using the harbour to discharge or deposit oil residues (in this Act referred to as “oil reception facilities”).

(2) Any power of the harbour authority to provide oil reception facilities shall include power to join with any other person in providing them, and references in this section to the provision of oil reception facilities by the harbour authority shall be construed ac- cordingly; and any such power shall also include power to arrange for the provision of such facilities by any other person.

(3) The harbour authority providing oil reception facilities, or a person providing such facilities by arrangement with the harbour authority, may make reasonable charges for the use of the facilities, and may impose reasonable conditions in respect of the use thereof.

(4) Subject to the following provisions of this section, any oil reception facilities pro- vided by, or by arrangement with, the harbour authority shall be open to all vessels using the harbour on payment of any charges, and subject to compliance with any conditions imposed in accordance with the last preceding subsection.

(5) Where in the case of any harbour in Nigeria it appears to the Minister after con- sultation with the harbour authority and with any organisation appearing to him to be representative of owners of Nigerian ships registered in Nigeria-

(a) if the harbour has oil reception facilities, that those facilities are inadequate; or

(b) if the harbour has no such facilities, that the harbour has need of such facilities,

the Minister may direct the harbour authority to provide, or arrange for the provision of, such oil reception facilities as may be specified in the directions.

(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (4) of this section, the harbour authority providing oil reception facilities, or a person providing such facilities by ar- rangement with the harbour authority, shall not be obliged to make those facilities avail- able for use by tankers, or for the reception of oil residues discharged for the purpose of

enabling a vessel to undergo repairs; and the requirements of tankers, and the reception of oil residues discharged for the said purpose, shall be disregarded by the Minister in exer- cising his powers under subsection (5) of this section.

(7) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring the harbour authority to allow untreated ballast water (that is to say, ballast water which contains oil and has not been subjected to an effective process for separating the oil from the water) to be dis- charged into any oil reception facilities provided by, or by arrangement with, the author- ity; and the Minister shall exercise his powers under subsection (5) of this section ac- cordingly.

(8) If the harbour authority fails to comply with any directions given under subsec- tion (5) of this section within the period specified in the directions, or within any ex- tended period allowed by the Minister (whether before or after the end of the period so specified), it shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty naira for each day during which the default continues, from the day after the end of the period specified in the directions, or any extended period allowed by the Minister, as the case may be, until the last day before that on which the facilities are provided in accordance with the directions.

(9) As respects any harbour in Nigeria, subsections (1), (2), (5) and (8) of this section shall have effect in relation to arrangements for disposing of oil residues discharged or deposited by vessels using the harbour’s oil reception facilities, and to the making of such arrangements, as those subsections have effect in relation to oil reception facilities and

the provision of such facilities.

9. Restriction on transfer of oil at night

(1) No oil shall be transferred between sunset and sunrise to or from a vessel in any harbour in Nigeria unless the requisite notice has been given in accordance with this sec- tion:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to the transfer of oil for the purpose of a fire brigade.

(2) For the purpose of this section a general notice may be given to the harbour mas- ter of a harbour that transfers of oil between sunset and sunrise will be frequently carried out at a place in the harbour within a period specified in the notice; and if such a notice is given it shall be the requisite notice for the purposes of this section as regards transfer of oil at that place with the period specified in the notice:

Provided that the period specified in such a notice shall not extend beyond the end of the period of twelve months beginning with the date on which the notice is given.

(3) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the requisite notice for the purposes of this section shall be a notice given to the harbour master not less than three hours or more than 96 hours before the transfer of oil begins.

(4) In the case of a harbour which has no harbour master, references in the two last preceding subsections to the harbour master shall be construed as references to the har- bour authority.

(5) If any oil is transferred to or from a vessel in contravention of this section, the master of the vessel, and, if the oil is transferred from or to a place on land, the occupier of that place, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not exceeding N200.

10. Duty to report discharges of oil into waters of harbours

(1) If any oil or mixture containing oil-

(a) is discharged from a vessel into the waters of a harbour in Nigeria for the pur- poses of securing the safety of the vessel, or of preventing damage to the ves- sel or her cargo or of saving life; or

(b) is found to be escaping, or to have escaped, into any such waters from a vessel in consequence of damage to the vessel, or by reason of leakage; or

(c) is found to be escaping or have escaped into any such waters from a place on land,

the owner or master of the vessel or the occupier of the place on land, as the case may be, shall forthwith report the occurrence to the harbour master, stating, in the case of a report by the owner or master of a vessel, whether it falls within paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection, and, if he fails to do so, shall be guilty of an offence under this section:

Provided that if the harbour has no harbour master the report shall be made to the harbour authority.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary con- viction to a fine not exceeding N 400.

11. Powers of inspection

(l) The Minister may appoint any person as an inspector to report to him-

(a) whether the prohibitions, restrictions and obligations imposed by virtue of this Act (including prohibitions so imposed by the creation of offences under this Act) have been complied with;

(b) what measures (other than measures made obligatory by regulations under section 5 of this Act) have been taken to prevent the escape of oil and mixtures containing oil;

(c) whether the oil reception facilities provided in harbours are adequate,

and any such inspector may be so appointed to report either in a particular case or in a class of cases specified in his appointment.

(2) Every surveyor of ships shall be taken to be a person appointed generally under subsection (l) of this section to report to the Minister in every kind of case falling within that subsection.

(3) Section 400 of the Merchant Shipping Act (which relates to the powers of in- spectors) shall apply to persons appointed under subsection (1) of this section (including surveyors of ships in their capacity as such persons) as it applies to the inspectors referred to in that section as if-

[Cap. Mll.]

(a) in paragraph (a) of subsection (l) of that section, the reference to a ship were a

reference to a vessel, and the reference to that Act were a reference to this Act and included a reference to any regulations made under this Act; and

(b) any power under that section to inspect premises included power to inspect any apparatus used for transferring oil.

Any power of an inspector, under the said section 400 as applied by subsection (3) of this section to inspect a vessel, shall include power to test any equipment with which the vessel is required to be tilted in pursuance of regulations under section 2 of this Act.

(4) Any power of an inspector, under the said section 400 as so applied, to require the production of any records required to be kept in accordance with regulations under sec- tion 7 of this Act, shall include power to copy any entry in those records and require the person by whom the records are to be kept to certify the copy as a true copy of the entry; and in subsection (3) of the said section 400, as so applied, the reference to making a declaration shall be construed as a reference to the certification of such a copy.

(5) Without prejudice to any powers exercisable by virtue of the preceding provisions of this section, in the case of a vessel which is for the time being in a harbour in Nigeria the harbour master, and any other person appointed by the Minister under this subsection (either generally or in relation to a particular vessel), shall have power-

(a) to go on board and inspect the vessel or any of the machinery, boats, equip- ment or articles on board the vessel, for the purpose of ascertaining the cir- cumstances relating to an alleged discharge of oil or a mixture containing oil from the vessel into the waters of the harbour;

(b) to require the production of any records which by virtue of any regulations made under this Act are required to be kept in respect of the vessel;

(c) to copy any entry in any such records, and require the person by whom the records are to be kept to certify the copy as a true copy of the entry:

Provided that a person exercising any powers conferred by this subsection shall not unnecessarily detain or delay the vessel from proceeding on any voyage.

(6) If any person fails to comply with any requirement duly made in pursuance of paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (6) of this section, he is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty naira; and if any person wilfully obstructs a person acting in the exercise of any power conferred by virtue of this section he is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding N 200.

12. Prosecutions

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no proceedings shall be brought in Ni- geria in respect of any offence under this Act except by or with the consent of the Attor- ney-General of the Federation.

(2) In respect of any offence under section 9 or 10 of this Act, no proceedings shall be brought in Nigeria except by the harbour authority.

(3) Where immediately before the date which (apart from this subsection) would be the date of expiry of the time for bringing proceedings in a court of summary jurisdiction in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed under this Act, the person to be

charged is outside Nigeria, the time for bringing the proceedings shall be extended until the end of the period for two months beginning with the date on which he next enters Nigeria.

(4) Proceedings for any offence under this Act may (without prejudice to any juris- diction exercisable apart from this subsection) be taken against a person at any place at which he is for the time being.

(5) A chief magistrate shall have and may exercise jurisdiction for the trial of any of- fence in respect of which a summary trial is prescribed under any provision of this Act, and notwithstanding anything in any other enactment shall impose the penalties pre- scribed under that provision.

(6) The jurisdiction conferred under subsection (5) of this section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any jurisdiction or power conferred under any other enact- ment, and nothing in that subsection shall be construed as derogating from the provisions of section 3 (1) of the Territorial Waters Act (which imposes restrictions on trials of per- sons other than Nigerian citizens for offences committed on the open sea within the ter- ritorial waters of Nigeria).

[Cap. T5.J

13. Enforcement and application of fines

(1) Where a fine imposed by a court in proceedings against the owner or master of a vessel for an offence under this Act is not paid at the time ordered by the court, the court shall, in addition to any other powers for enforcing payment, have power to direct the amount remaining unpaid to be levied by distress or otherwise taken in execution by way of poinding and sale of the vessel, her tackle, furniture and apparel:

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as authorising a court other than a High Court or other courts of equivalent superior jurisdiction thereto to direct the poinding and sale of any vessel.

(2) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 1 or 3 of the Act, and the court imposes a fine in respect of the offence, then, if it appears to the court that any per- son has incurred, or will incur, expenses in removing any pollution, or making good any damage, which is attributable to the offence, the court may order the whole or part of the fine to be paid to that person for or towards defraying those expenses.

14. General provisions as to application of Act

(1) The provisions of this Act, except provisions which are expressed to apply only to Nigerian ships, shall (subject to any exemptions expressly conferred by or under this Act) apply to all vessels, whether registered or not, and of whatever nationality.

(2) The Minister may by order direct that, subject to such exceptions and modifica- tions as may be specified in the order, any regulations made under section 5 of this Act, or under subsection (1) of section 7 of this Act, shall apply to ships registered in countries and territories other than Nigeria at any time when they are in a harbour in Nigeria, or are within the seaward limits of the territorial waters of Nigeria while on their way to or from a harbour in Nigeria.

(3) An order under subsection (2) of this section shall not be made so as to impose different requirements in respect of ships of different countries or territories:

Provided that if the Minister is satisfied, as respects any country or territory, that ships registered there are required, by the law of that country or territory, to comply with the provisions which are substantially the same as, or equally effective with, the require- ments imposed by virtue of the order, the Minister may by order direct that those re- quirements shall not apply to any ship registered in that country or territory if the ship complies with the said provisions applicable thereto under the law of that country or ter- ritory.

(4) No regulation shall by virtue of an order under this section apply to any ship as being within a harbour, or, as the case may be, on her way to or from the harbour, but for stress of weather or any other circumstance which neither the master nor the owner not the charterer (if any) of the ship could have prevented or forestalled.

15. Power to grant exemptions

The Minister may exempt any vessels or classes of vessels from any of the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made thereunder, either absolutely or subject to such conditions as he thinks fit.

16. Application of Act to Government owned ships

(1) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to vessels of the Nigerian Navy, nor to Government ships in the service of the Nigerian Navy while employed for pur- poses of the Nigerian Navy.

(2) Subject to subsection (1) of this section-

(a) provisions of this Act which are expressed to apply only to Nigerian ships ap- ply-

(i) to Government ships registered in Nigeria;

(ii) to Government ships, not so registered, which are held for the purposes of the Government of the Federation or of a State;

(iii) as they apply to other ships which are registered in Nigeria as Nigerian ships;

(b) provisions of this Act which are expressed to apply to vessels generally, apply to Government ships as they apply to other vessels.

(3) In this section, “Government ships” means ships which belong to the Govern-

ment of the Federation or of a State other than those within subsection (1) of this sec- tion.

17. Enforcement of Convention relating to oil pollution

(1) The Minister may by order published in the Federal Gazette empower such per- sons as may be designated by or under the order to go on board any ship to which the Convention of 1954 to 1962 applies, while the ship is within a harbour in Nigeria and to require production of any records required to be kept in accordance with that Con- vention.

(2) An order under this section may, for the purposes of this Act and with necessary modifications, apply any of the provisions of this Act relating to production and inspec- tion of records, and the taking of copies of entries therein, and to the admissibility in evi- dence of such records and copies including any provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act applied by those provisions and including any penal provisions of this Act in so far as they relate to those matters.

[Cap. MII.]

(3) For the purposes of this section the Minister, if satisfied that the government of any country has accepted, or denounced, the Convention of 1954, or that the Convention of 1954 to 1962 extends, or has ceased to extend, to any territory, may by order make a declaration to that effect; and in this section “ship to which the Convention of 1954 to 1962 applies” means a ship registered in-

(a) a country the government of which has been so declared to have accepted that Convention and has not been so declared to have denounced it; or

(b) a territory to which it has been so declared that the Convention extends, not being a territory to which it has been so declared that the Convention has ceased to extend.

(4) Subsection (3) of this section shall apply to any subsequent Convention, in so far as it relates to the prevention of pollution of the sea by oil, as those provisions apply to the Convention of 1954 to 1962.

18. Annual report

The Minister shall, as soon as possible after the end of each calendar year, prepare and submit to the President a report on the exercise and performance of his functions un- der this Act, which shall include such observations as he may think fit to make on the operation during that year of this Act, of the Convention of 1954 to 1962 and of any sub- sequent Convention.

19. Financial provisions

(1) The administrative expense incurred by the Minister for the purposes of this Act shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

(2) Any fees received by the Minister under this Act shall be paid into the Consoli- dated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

20. Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively-

“barge” includes a lighter or any similar vessel;

“the Convention of 1954 to 1962” means the International Convention for the Pre- vention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil 1954, as amended in the year 1962;

“harbour authority” means the Nigerian Ports Authority established under the pro- visions of the Nigerian Ports Authority Act;

[Cap. N126.]

“harbour master” means the harbour master duly appointed by the harbour authority under section 31 of the Nigerian Ports Authority Act and shall include any person authorised by that authority to assist him;

“harbour in Nigeria” means a port, estuary, haven, dock, or other place which fulfils the following conditions, that it to say-

(a) that it contains waters to which this section applies; and

(b) that the harbour authority is empowered to make charges in respect of vessels entering that place or using facilities therein;

“heavy diesel oil” means marine diesel oil, other than distillates of which more than half the volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 340⁰ Centigrade where tested by the A.S.T.M. (American Society for Testing Materials) standard method D:86/59;

“mile” means a nautical mile, that is to say, a distance of 6,080 feet;

“Minister” means the Minister of Transport;

Nigerian ship” means a ship whose port of registry is Nigeria;

“oil” means oil of any description, and includes spirit produced from oil of any de- scription, and also includes coal tar, and any power conferred by any provision of this Act to prescribe descriptions of oil for purposes of that provision shall be construed ac- cordingly;

“oil reception facilities” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of this Act;

“oil residues” means any waste material consisting of, or arising from, oil or a mix- ture containing oil;

“outside the territorial waters of Nigeria” means outside the seaward limits of those waters;

“place on land” includes anything resting on the bed or shore of the sea or of any other waters to which section 3 of this Act applies and also includes anything afloat (other than a vessel) if it is anchored or attached to the bed or shore of the sea or of any such waters;

“occupier”, in relation to any such thing as mentioned in the preceding provisions of that section, if it has no occupier, means the owner thereof, and, in relation to a railway wagon or road vehicle, means the person in charge of the wagon or vehicle and not the occupier of the land on which the wagon or vehicle stands;

“sea” includes any estuary or arm of the sea;

“ship” includes any sea-going vessel of any type whatsoever, and also includes floating crafts (whether self-propelled or towed by another vessel) making a sea voyage;

“subsequent Convention” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of this Act;

“surveyor of ships” means a surveyor of ships appointed or recognised as such under section 133 of the Merchant Shipping Act;

[Cap. MII.]

“tanker” means a cargo ship constructed or adapted for the carriage in bulk of liquid cargoes of an inflammable nature;

“territorial waters of Nigeria” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 (l) of the Territorial Waters Act; and

[Cap. T5.]

“transfer”, in relation to oil, means transfer in bulk.

(2) Any reference in any provisions in this Act to “summary conviction” shall be construed-

(a) as respects a magistrate’s court, as a reference to conviction by the magis- trate’s court; and

(b) as respects a High Court, as a reference to conviction by the High Court where the accused has not been committed for trial after a preliminary inquiry by a magistrate.

(3) Any reference in any provision of this Act to a mixture containing oil shall be construed as a reference to any mixture (being a mixture of oil, or, as the case may be, of oil of a description referred to in that provision, with water or with any other substance) having an oil content of 100 parts or more in 1,000,000 parts of the mixture.

21. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Oil in Navigable Waters Act.

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