Aminu Umar (NISA)
I believe the DG has done very well, I can say so many things he has been able to achieve within his first tenure. I don’t think NIMASA has engaged so many stakeholders like the way Dakuku has done. We have all seen a better engagement, he has a better open door policy unlike his predecessors and his is always open to listen to the cry of ship owners particularly and always looking at ways to improve 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. So I think he had performed better than what the previous DGs have been able to do. In view of all these I am in support his should be given a second tenure.
Engineer Greg Ogbeifun (Ship Owner)
It is very simple, Dakuku started very poorly in the first couple of years, but you will agree with me now that in the last couple of years he has picked up he had come to terms with the industry, he has shown a lot of visibility both locally and internationally and I think he is just ready to begin to actualize the foundations played in this last couple of years. And from the industry point of view I will say that it is the best thing for us for him to have a second tenure for the continuity of ports revival and for the industry to move forward, rather than bringing in someone who is completely new and may not know anything about the industry and probably start over again to learn and all that. So from that perspective again I would have strongly supported the idea of giving him a second chance, so that he can consolidate on some of the ideas he has.
Captain Tajudeen Alao (Master Mariner)
Appointment, extension and renewal of tenure of any federal agency is political, hence we can’t dabble into that. For performance, this has to be looked at from the programme the DG set out to do and whether he accomplished it within the time and industry climate during this time. Rebranding, bills especially, anti-piracy, sea time for Cadets, amongst others. We lost out on membership of IMO Council in Cat C, very disappointing yes, but we can go back and prepare for next election, looking at what we didn't do and what to put in place. International Conference on Piracy is backed up with action, contract with Israelis on maritime security, arrival of two boats to aid security, training of security personnel amongst others.
Engineer Henry Unuigbo (NIMENA)
I will say that he deserves a second time though he may not have achieved all he set to do under the first tenure. But at least you will agree with me that Dakuku to some extent has done a lot to improve what he met. He has been trying to do a lot of reforms in NIMASA with the latest being reform to take the ship registry to the next level that is the stage they are now it is at the incubation stage where they want to automate the process. So I believe that he has a vision if he has the time he will deliver he has actually done very well by my own assessment.
Capt Tony Olugbode (Ex Master Mariner)
We had a feeler that they were bringing another person, it’s unfortunate Nigeria is in the position it is now and maritime development is one of the greatest revenue, but unfortunately we have been having the wrong people in the position of power, I think the government should be more serious about tapping the resources in the maritime industry. And I believe the Federal Government knows what to do about this.
Capt Taiwo Akinpelumi (NISA)
The replacement of Dakuku Peterside was very much in order, even long overdue as a matter of fact. His leadership 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. It will be correct to tag him “Nollywood DG”.
Matthew Alalade (Stakeholder)
Naturally, there must be changes, it is not automatic for somebody to serve second tenure, if you have done first tenure, then if you don’t have anything to contribute to the maritime industry the best is for you to leave. So he has done his own bit, but has a lot of challenges like security among others that didn’t make him to perform to expectation, spending huge sum of money acquiring different gadgets and yet piracy continues to increase. So I don’t think he has done much well to impress the government. He just keeps on spending money, I believe he has done his own bit let another Nigeria also come and carry out his own part.
Pius Ujoubuonu (Stakeholder)
A person who does not have an in-depth knowledge of how our maritime upstream sector runs will find it difficult to perform, the difficulties the dangers and the problem that are within. I don’t think the person will do so greatly in the position, Dakuku is more of a politician than a technocrat and for that reasons, a lot of issues were beyond his power within the period of time he started, so I will always support a knowledgeable person in the maritime transportation and safety sector. By and large I wouldn’t say he did very badly considering that he is coming from another sector into this place left alone I would have scored him below average, but I believe if they have allowed him to do a second term, I believe he would have done better, however if the person appointed now will do better I don’t have any issues with that.
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