· The sack is in order— Capt Akinpelumi
Opinions are sharply divided over the rumored removal of Dr. Dakuku Peterside as the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
While some believe that the embattled DG has tried his best to deserve a second term, others argue that Dakuku’s tenure at the helm of affairs at NIMASA was riddled with so many irregularities and as a result, the appointment of a new DG is long overdue.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday last week, reportedly approved the appointment of Dr. Bashir Jimoh as the new DG of NIMASA to take over from Dakuku when his four years tenure officially ends on the 10th of March 2020.
But reacting to this, a former president of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN); Engineer Greg Ogbeifun in a chat with our correspondent in Apapa last week, maintained that the constant change of chief executives of NIASA by federal government is not healthy for the sector.
He added that the constant change has not made it possible for any single person to consistently drive his own polices, even as he called for some level of continuity in the position.
“This constant change will not help our sector and that is where I am coming from, if you look at the turnover of DGs in NIMASA in the past few years, it is not encouraging, it has not made it possible for any single person to consistently drive his or her policies to a point when we begin to see the positive impacts and benefits. So that is where I am coming from; we have to learn how to allow some level of continuity in positions, people can make their mistakes, they learn from their mistakes and use them as stepping stones to move to high level”, he argued.
He added that Dakuku recently started engaging stakeholders, which is evident in the type of laudable policies he has been coming out with.
“What Dakuku has been doing recently, which we must commend is that he is beginning to engage various stakeholders in the sectors. So most of the ideas and policies he is coming out with now are policies resulting from the engagements in the style of the administration he is beginning to show up both within and outside”, he added.
“So let us not throw away the water with the baby and see how we can appeal with the authorities to allow him have a second tenure. I don’t have any personal thing to benefit, but I think it is the right thing for the industry” he concluded.
Also speaking, the president of the Nigerian Indigenous Ship-Owners Association (NISA), AlhajiAminu Umar, lauded Dakuku, saying that in his first tenure as the agency’s DG, there was a better engagement with key stakeholders in the sector.
He also said that Dakuku as the DG of NIMASA had an open door policy which according to him, none of his predecessors ever did, adding that he always listen to the cry of ship owners which the intention of improving on them.
“We had also seen his achievement in the area of fighting piracy and getting this anti piracy act to be part of the National Assembly which has not been done for so many years. And we have also seen his efforts in trying to improve the registry and we have also seen his ship registry improving the Cabotage and the minister has assured that they are going to start the implementation this year”
Umar however pleaded with the federal government to give Dakuku a second chance to consolidate on some of the things he had started.
“I think he had performed better that what the previous DGs has been able to do. In view of all these, I am in support that he should be given a second tenure” he concluded.
Meanwhile Captain TaiwoAkinpelumi who is also a member of NISA, described the non- renewal of tenure of Dakuku as long overdue.
Explaining further, he said that his four year tenure at NIMASA was fraught with under performance, sectionalism or one sidedness, filtering away resources on frivolities such as payment on endless seminars, meeting, summits and humongous amount to hire musicians and people in the entertainment industry.
“Other atrocities of Dakuku include, but not limited to the floating dock saga whereby equipment procured with a whopping sum of N50 billion is presently lying idle at a jetty in Lagos and incurring US$30,000 daily. So much money wasted on the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) with no success story, no sea berth for cadets sent for studies abroad at outrageous cost.
Akinpelumi accused Dakuku of not making any clear efforts towards the development of local capacity, adding that it was due to his high level of incompetence.
“There was a particular incident when money was paid to a maritime institution for the training of 1000 cadets, eventually, no cadet was trained and the maritime training institution in Romania refused to refund money paid to the agency and the claim that the agency has trained 7,000 cadetis propaganda. Dakuku did not make any clear or concerted effort towards the development of local capacity”
According to Akinpelumi, NIMASA under the leadership of Dakuku lacks a clear-cut blue print on maritime security, stressing that the agency in the last four years of Dakuku, lacked flag state coastal responsibility.
“His incompetence didn’t allow him to have full appreciation of what is required to build capacity for the indigenous shipping. The agency under Dakuku’s leadership lacks flag state coastal responsibility”
“The was one of the major reasons Nigeria lost the ‘Category C’ election in IMO and lack of clear cut blue print on maritime security. NIMASA, under him embraced joint maritime initiative that creates functions overlap, against developing an initiative that NIMASA can claim ownership with full control and make request for backup from other security agencies should the need arises”
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