President Goodluck Jonathan may have extended for another four years, the appointment of Patrick Akpobolokemi as the Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
A source in the Villa confided in TheNiche that he will soon receive a letter extending his job till 2019, making good his boast in 2011 that he would leave NIMASA the same year President Goodluck Jonathan ends his second term.
Akpobolokemi was first appointed in December 2010, which led to controversy, with allegation that he was not qualified to occupy the highly technical position as stated in the NIMASA Act.
The Act requires the DG to have spent a number of years as a maritime operator. Akpobolokemi was a university lecturer at the time of his appointment.
Jonathan stunned maritime experts when he insisted that Akpobolokemi should remain in post, against the wishes of the Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), which has been in the forefront of the fight to remove him since 2011.
Akpobolokemi took over from Temisan Omatseye, a lawyer, who was suspended over alleged misappropriation of 300,000 Euros.
Akpobolokemi is said to have the ear of Jonathan because he is a protege of former Niger Delta militant, Tompolo, who reportedly facilitated his appointment.
The source said Jonathan had once planned to replace Akpobolokemi with Leke Oyewale, his Special Assistant on Maritime Matters, or recall Omatseye.
TheNiche learnt that in a recent memo to Jonathan from the Transport Ministry, Omatseye was addressed as former NIMASA DG, but Jonathan directed that the memo be sent back and the word “former” changed to “suspended”.
Akpobolokemi reportedly got wind of the incident and alerted Tompolo, who allegedly engaged Jonathan in a lengthy talk and persuaded him to extend the appointment.
But Tompolo did not intervene for nothing. He is at the centre of the contentious maritime domain security contract to police Nigeria’s waters against piracy.
Global West, a firm linked to Tompolo, has since 2011 been awarded the contract to provide logistics for the navy and NIMASA to police the territorial waters.
The contract, which is renewed every six months, is worth millions of dollars; paid upfront.
A source with knowledge of the details, but who did not want to be named, asked, “Have you people not heard that Akpobolokemi’s tenure has been extended for another four years? That is the politics. Very soon it shall be made public.”
Since 2007 when the National Maritime Authority (NMA) and Joint Maritime Industrial Council (JOMALIC) were merged to form NIMASA, Akpobolokeni is the only DG who has completed the statutory tenure of four years, which is renewable for another four years.
Its first DG, Mfon Usoro, spent one year in office. Her two successors, Ade Dosunmu and Omatseye, also did not finish their terms because of constant friction.
