Section 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 Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil 1954, as amended in the year 1962;
"harbour authority" means the Nigerian Ports Authority established under the provisions 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 is to say-
"heavy diesel oil" means marine diesel oil, other than distillates of which more than half the volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 340º 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 description, 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 accordingly;
"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 mixture 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. M11.]
"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 (1) of the Territorial Waters Act; and
[Cap. T5.]
"transfer", in relation to oil, means transfer in bulk.
(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;
(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 magistrate'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.