Section 24: Declaration of ownership in registry

(1)
A person shall not be registered as the owner of a ship, or of a share of the ship, until the person or in the case of a corporation, the person authorised by this Part of this Act to make declarations on behalf of the corporation makes and signs a declaration of ownership referring to the ship as described in the surveyor's tonnage certificate and containing the following particulars:
(a)
a statement of the person's qualification to own a registered Nigerian ship, or, in the case of a corporation, of the circumstances of the constitution and business of the corporation as proof of qualification to own a registered Nigerian ship;
(b)
a statement of the time when, and the place where, the ship was built or if the ship was built in a foreign country and the time and place of building are unknown, a statement that the ship was built in a foreign country and that the declarant does not know the time and place of the ship's building; and, in addition, in the case of a foreign ship, a statement of the ship's foreign name or in the case of a ship condemned, a statement of the time, place and court at and by which it was condemned;
(c)
a statement of the name of the master of the ship;
(d)
a statement of the number of shares in the ship of which the owner or the corporation, as the case may be, is entitled to be registered as owner;
(e)
a declaration that, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the owner of a ship, no unqualified person or body of persons is entitled as owner to any legal or beneficial interest in the ship or any share in the ship.
(2)
Where a declaration is made under this section that a former registration of a ship has been deleted, evidence of the deletion shall be produced.
(3)
A declaration of ownership by an individual owner and a declaration of ownership on behalf of a corporation as owner shall each be made in the form approved for the purpose by the Minister.