By Uzor Odigbo
Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association (NISA) has appealed to the incoming leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to make the interest of stakeholders a priority.
The appeal is coming on the heels of the expiration of the tenure of Dakuku Peterside as the DG of the apex maritime agency.
Recall that Dr. Bashir Jamoh, the present Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the agency was reportedly endorsed by the federal government to take over from Dakuku as the next DG of the agency.
The group also said it did not mind whoever was coming as the new DG as long as the new man is ready to bring back the glorious days of shipping business in the country.
This is a feat that Dakuku according to the ship owners, failed to achieve during his four years in office saying he only engaged in frivolities even as he was described as a Nollywood DG.
A member of the NISA Steering Committee, Capt. Taiwo Akinpelumi made his appeal at the weekend, even as he described the Dakuku-led NIMASA as a glamourous administration which failed to tackle top industry issues.
Akinpelumi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Oceanic Energy Limited, expressed optimism that with stakeholders’ interest as top priority, the new NIMASA DG could usher in development of the industry.
He said, “We need a DG that will return the glory days back. A DG that will appreciate that NIMASA is not a revenue-generating agency but to regulate effectively.
“The new administration must address the non-disbursement of CVFF and the proposed Maritime Fund that nobody is talking about. They must recognize associations who seek to address the industry issues and not only relate with individuals who chase personal gains.”
“Look at the situation of seafarers and ship-owners before Dakuku came in and the current situation today. Have we fared better? No. We offered ourselves as technocrats to show the path to follow in order to develop indigenous shipping but he chose not to take us seriously. He was there for four years and the situation went from bad to worse until two months ago when he started scratching the surface of key issues he should have focused on earlier.”
“If he actually had genuine intentions, he would have faced the issues headlong from the outset. He only picked interest in these issues because he realized it would make people take him seriously for a second tenure but he failed”, Akinpelumi said.
Although Dakuku didn’t initiate the N50 billion floating dock contract, Akinpelumi stressed that he had two years to plan for the arrival of the facility, blaming the NIMASA boss for allowing the investment rot away at the Naval Dockyard yet incurring $30,000 daily for over a year.
Dakuku Peterside’s leadership was fraught with underperformance, sectionalism or one-sidedness, filtering away resources on frivolities such as payment on endless seminars, meetings, summits and humongous amount to hire musicians and people in the entertainment industry.
“It will be correct to tag him “Nollywood DG.”
