Recently a new association for ship owners(Ship Owners Association of Nigeria) was formed in Lagos. In this interview with our correspondent; Roland Ekama, the Lagos Zone, Coordinator of Nigeria Ship owners Association (NISA);Captain Taiwo Franklin Akinpelumi said that NISA is never a parallel association with the new ship owners group. He says that NISA has been accepted by stakeholders in the maritime industry. He also spoke on what is expected from the immediate past President of NISA; Chief Isaac Jolapomo in this trying time.
Recently a new association for ship owners(Ship Owners Association of Nigeria) was formed in Lagos. In this interview with our correspondent; Roland Ekama, the Lagos Zone, Coordinator of Nigeria Ship owners Association (NISA);Captain Taiwo Franklin Akinpelumi said that NISA is never a parallel association with the new ship owners group. He says that NISA has been accepted by stakeholders in the maritime industry. He also spoke on what is expected from the immediate past President of NISA; Chief Isaac Jolapomo in this trying time.
As a ship owner please tell us the kind of services you render?
I am the Chief Executive Officer Oceanic Energy Limited and we are into vessel management which is also ship management and operations. We are also into marine logistics services provision. This is our tenth year in the industry now. And we started with ocean crest international services limited which later changed to the name we are using currently. We are vessel owners, vessel brokers; also we are into cargo brokerage services.
You happen to be an executive of NISA, please tell us how you came into office?
Sometime last year, upon the elections of the association, the new executives were elected but unfortunately when that elections finally took place there were some members who were aggrieved even to the extent that they went to the tribunal , which is the appeal panel and it upheld in acting capacity that I should be the Lagos coordinator , then at the first quarter general meeting for 2015, my election as the acting coordinator of Lagos zone was ratified, thus I was pronounced a substantive coordinator of Lagos zone.
The trending issue at the moment is that another ship owners association has been set up by some members of NISA and with that in place do you think the sector is ripe for two associations?
I don't think the industry is ripe for two ship owners association and I don't believe we have two parallel bodies as we speak; there is one ship owners association in Nigeria; which is NISA. A situation whereby they floated an association and then claim to be members of NISA speaks volume, because it simply means that they agree that NISA is the mother association, therefore NISA remains the only recognised association nationwide and it is also in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for freedom of association. Yes they can form an association but the good thing about NISA is that it was formed since 2003 and so far the association has gone a long way for the fact that we have engaged all the government agencies in the industry in connection to Cabotage Act and also the recognition of indigenous operators; the former executives of NISA brought the association to limelight. Basically, the issue of forming an association is nothing new or I will say it has not threatened us in anyway as an association. We remain Nigeria Ship owners Association and again we should not encourage bad precedence, because in a situation whereby people go through elections, and for the fact that they lost out they said that the house cannot hold is not right. When you look at the new association, you will find out that it is basically those that lost out in the elections of November 2014. Those who were at the elections last year will agree with me that NIMASA was an observer because they supervised the election and it was confirmed credible and that is no basis for floating another association, but NISA remains a strong entity where we have people of integrity and credibility at the helm of affairs. I still maintained that the new association is not a rival in anyway to NISA because we are here to protect the interest of our business; this is a focus that we are maintaining.
Despite the split by aggrieved members, does NISA have any disciplinary committee in place?
In fact there are two dimensions we have put in place as regards the dissidents. There are people that felt because they lost an election they have to break away and of course the constitution is very clear about that. Again those who do something that is inimical to the aims and objectives of the association will be faced with the provisions for punishment that has to be meted out to such a person. And on the strength of this , we decided through our resolution that was moved by members during our first quarter general meeting that was held in March and the house in his wisdom decided that we should form a disciplinary committee and the reference point of that committee was to approach any aggrieved members who may not be necessarily those that break away, but some members who actually said yes to the private transaction involving the president and another company which is not part of the association. And about five or six executives came together to address a press conference that the president has been suspended or he should step aside. NISA constitution is very clear because article five states clearly the power of the executive committee. The executive committee has no power to suspend the president or tell him to step aside except on the directive of the general house. The house that elected the president is the only body that has absolute power to remove the president of NISA. There is no where in the constitution that empowers members of the executive committee to suspend the president.
Someone is already claiming to the acting President of NISA, what is the position of the executives as regards that office?
My reactions immediately I read through the paper as the Lagos coordinator was to liaise with other colleagues; the director general of the association has written to that media house. The Aminu in reference did not arrogate that position to himself because I read the report myself and I believe it is through omission or error on the part of the reporter who referred to him as the vice president of NISA or maybe mistaken Vice for acting because they are too different things; there is no provision for acting president in NISA constitution and he didn't arrogate that title to himself, therefore I can excuse him. We have written to the editor of that media for it not to mislead the public. Aminu is still a member of NISA, one person I have respect for and I have couple of opportunities to discuss with him about the issue at hand and on several occasion, he has made his position known without any form of contradiction that he has no interest to aspire to that position. Most of the press statements issued to the media were made without him and most times he never attended such meetings. What I can deduce from that is that some people somewhere are only trying to be mischievous to drag him to take a position he has no interest in, because as far as I am concerned he has not shown any interest in such and he is not ambitious . Apart from that we have people who have come forward to make public statement as regards the association and it is very unfortunate.
Why is it that the immediate past president of NISA has not been able to voice out on the current crisis in NISA?
Let me be factual to you because whatever I cannot substantiate I will not say it. As much as I cannot substantiate the fact that he has anything to do with the the crisis, but I believe that his fatherly role is what is expected of him. Chief Isaac Jolapamo is like a father to that association and apart from the great respect members have for him, we expect that in our trying period, he should wear the big cap and call everybody to order. He should be able to stop any crisis that is brewing in the association before it goes out of hand and to that extent that is only what I can say. But the truth is, Chief Isaac Jolapamo has not done enough in that fatherly role to ensure that the little crisis brewing out of NISA is actually addressed and that makes people to believe that he is playing the role of devil’s advocate. That is why also people may say that he has a role to play in the crisis, but I don't have any form of prove or evidence to say that he has any role in all the crises at NISA. But really he has not done enough considering the important role and position he occupies in the association. He needs to do more to salvage this association if truly he has the association at heart.
What will be you advise to the incoming government in the area of CVFF disbursement?
My advice to the new administration would be very straight forward. Any government that will neglect the shipping sector of any country is doing so at its own peril, because there is nothing that generates employment better than shipping. It is not that Nigeria shipping industry does not have capacity because knowledge without fund is useless. We know the norms in the industry, we have to train and re-train our staff , of course we have to build capacity, certification of your vessels must be intact, you must also ensure that international best practices are adhered to and how to retain such things is when you have the money. I will advice the government to look critically to ensure that ship owners in Nigeria get financial assistance from them directly outside the CVFF. Government should also look inward to provide us with intervention funds that will encourage infrastructural development in the industry. We need more dry dock in Nigeria because we only have three recognised dockyards in Nigeria and they are not enough. We have Nigerdock limited, Continental Shipyard and Naval dockyard and of all these mentioned dockyards; it’s only Nigerdock that has the capacity to handle bigger vessel and for a ship owner to patronise Nigerdock, it will cost you a lot because the fee is not cheap at all. Nigerdock’s rate is beyond the Nigeria ship owners and the other two don't have the capacity for bigger ships. Therefore government should look at infrastructure provision and again monitor the agencies responsible for regulating the sector. We must ensure that we have people who understand maritime operations. In a situation whereby the government engages administrators who feel that it is better for him to encourage foreigners to take away our resources, will not be appropriate for us.
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