Section 90: Seafarer Services Office NMLA NO. 46 of 2003

(1)
There shall be established an Office to be known as Seafarer Services Office which shall have in other places Seafarer Services Sub-Offices at which shall be conducted all the business as within Nigeria, connected with the engagement and discharge of seamen on board Nigerian ships.
(2)
There shall be appointed an Officer of Seamen and such other Officers as may be necessary for service in the Office or sub-Offices.
(3)
Any act done by or to or before, any other officer pursuant to subsection (2), within the powers conferred upon him by the superintendent of Seafarer Services Office shall have the same effect as if done by, to or before the superintendent.
(4)
No Seaman shall:
(a)
except with the approval of the Seafarer Services Office, be engaged to do duty on board a Nigerian or foreign ship provided that in the case of a foreign ship seamen may be engaged before a Consular Officer resident in Nigeria representing the flag of the foreign ship;
(b)
be engaged to do duty on board any Nigerian ship unless the Seaman has produced to the superintendent a certificate of discharge from the seaman's last ship or failing production of the certificate the seaman has given a satisfactory explanation to the superintendent of the cause of the non-production.
(5)
Any person who without reasonable cause engages a seaman in contravention of this section commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine not less than fifty thousand Naira.