Section 38: Temporary passes instead of certificate of registry

(1)
Where the Minister is by reason of special circumstances, satisfied that permission be granted for a ship to pass from any port in Nigeria to any other port in a foreign country without being previously registered, the Minister may direct the Registrar to grant a pass in respect of that ship specifying:
(a)
the voyage which the ship is thereby authorised to make; and
(b)
the item for which, and any limits within which the pass remains valid, the Registrar so directed, shall grant the pass accordingly.
(2)
A pass granted under this section shall be in form approved by the Minister; the pass granted under the corresponding provisions of the law of any country other than Nigeria, shall, for the time and within the limits mentioned in the pass have the same effect as a certificate of registration.
(a)
in Nigeria, the Registrar at the port at which the alteration is made, or if there is no Registrar at the port, the Registrar at the ship's port of registry;
(b)
elsewhere, on the ship's first arrival at a port in Nigeria after the alteration, the Registrar or appropriate officer, shall, upon application being made to him and on receipt of a certificate from a surveyor of ships stating the particulars of the alteration cause the alteration to be registered in accordance with the provisions of section 47 of this Act or direct that the ship be registered anew in accordance with the provisions of section 49 of this Act.
(3)
Whenever a ship registered in Nigeria is altered as provided in subsection (1) of this section, application to register that alteration shall be made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of this section.
(4)
If, the owner of a ship that is altered fails to comply with the provisions of this section, he commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine not less than one hundred thousand Naira and in addition to a further fine not less than ten thousand Naira for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(5)
In this section, "surveyor of ships" includes any person who is, under the law of the country in which the ship is surveyed, qualified to survey ships for the purpose of ascertaining the tonnage of the ships in accordance with the tonnage regulations of that country.