Abuja MoU

The Abuja MoU is the regional port State control agreement for West and Central Africa, signed in Abuja, Nigeria on 22 October 1999 by sixteen Atlantic-coast states. Its purpose is to harmonize PSC inspection procedures so member administrations can detect and detain substandard ships calling at regional ports. Membership has since grown beyond the founding sixteen (Benin, Cape Verde, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo). It is one of nine regional PSC MoUs recognized by the IMO and feeds inspection and detention data into a shared regional database.