Anxiety and confusion heightened at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Thursday as the Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi denied knowledge of the removal of his protégé; Dr Dakuku Peterside as the Director General of the agency.
News of Dakuku’s removal and replacement with Dr Bashir Jamoh filtered in on Wednesday that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the appointment of Bashir Jamoh as the new Director-General of NIMASA. He was an Executive Director in the agency.
Even though news of his replacement has gone viral, maritime industry stakeholders were still yesterday awaiting official announcement of Dr Bashir Jamoh as the new Director General of NIMASA.
But, while speaking during a live television programme on Africa Independent Television monitored by Shipping Position Daily, Amaechi, whose ministry supervises NIMASA and who many believe influenced Dakuku’s appointment in 2016, said he was not aware of the new appointment and the sacking of Peterside.
According to Amaechi, the tenure of Dakuku was yet to expire and that the Presidency ought to have waited until it expires.
“Until his tenure expires, that is when you can approach Mr President either to re-appoint or replace him. By law, the President has appointment authority, while the minister has the recommendation authority.
“As the Minister of Transportation, I should know, the government does not take unilateral decisions. If he were to be sacked I should have been intimated of his sack, but I am not aware. Although his tenure expires on Tuesday.”
Amaechi said he spoke to Dakuku Wednesday evening when he was having a board meeting.
“But if it is a sack as you said, if am still the minister of Transport, I am the one who will inform him of his removal”, he said
When asked if the alleged sack had anything to do with the National Assembly’s probe of the agency for failing to audit NIMASA’s account for the past six years, the minister replied, “I am not aware of that.
“You said six years, he came into office in 2016 and that means he has been DG for four years. You cannot be punishing him for the offence committed by past DGs.”
He also faulted new making the rounds about the development, saying, “I don’t think the news is right, I feel its mere speculation. They should wait until next Tuesday. As I said, the President has the authority to appoint whoever he wants to appoint and if he wants to extend his tenure he can do so.”
Amaechi also stated that he would be surprised if Peterside refused to attend summons by the National Assembly, as was reported recently.
The minister said, “I don’t supervise whether he (Peterside) attends summons or not. I do attend National Assembly summons and I will be surprised if Peterside does not respond to the summons because he was once in House of Representatives.”
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