Capt Thomas Kemewerigha (Ex-President Merchant Navy)
Capt Thomas Kemewerigha (Ex-President Merchant Navy)
NISA under the new leadership of Captain Dada Labinjo cannot do more in the area of Cabotage Act alone. The Cabotage Act is in form of a tripatite arrangement whereby the ship owners ,seafarers and the agency of government are all involved and will also sign an agreement and for a fraction like NISA out of the three to come out and say that he will ensure that the Cabotage act will achieve some level of success, then the other two must be carried along. For him to succeed on his mandate of ensuring that the Cabotage act is active, he needs to work closely with the government and the seafarers.
Dr. Reuben Ovai (Rector SMA)
We are happy about Labinjo’s emergence as the new NISA boss and we hope that he will make an impact as the new leader of the association. It will be difficult for NISA to fight to ensure that the CVFF for instance to be disbursed to the ship owners, without lobbying the government, so for him to succeed, the new executives need to draw the federal government closer as part of effort to address issues surrounding the Cabotage act and the many challenges it has encountered.
Engineer Matthew Alalade(Merchant Navy President)
For the new executives to achieve success on the Cabotage act, I think the NISA new executive will have to garner support and lobby the government and even the seafarers because Cabotage Act is not a one sided affair.
Ifeanyi Joseph (Registrar NIFFCB)
Labinjo is not a noise maker, we discover that prior to the elections other contestant did a lot advert on paper, but Labinjo was quiet about campaigning for the post of NISA president. The truth is that he is knowledgeable about the shipping industry, he is well grounded and I don't have any doubt that he will not deliver on his mandate of making sure that the Cabotage Act works in Nigeria. The issue of Cabotage is like a burden to him, that is from my own perspective and I know he will pursue it to a logical conclusion.
Dr. Zebulon Ikokide (President NIFFCB)
I think the new executives of NISA under Labinjo need to be tested in the area performance and see whether there will be some level of changes for the association and the shipping industry because if we don't test him, it will look as if , he is not capable. Coming to the area of Cabotage, I think Labinjo must work with the government in that regard because NISA is a pressure group in the industry and not a government agency, thus for him to make the Cabotage act to suit Nigerian ship owners then the executive must collaborate and rally support from the government. On the other hand he is a mariner, he knows more about vessel operations, so he can use that experience and knowledge to achieve some of his mandate that the executives intend to embark on. As a mariner and a ship owner, he would be able achieve some level of success with his executives because some of them are connected to the government.
Engr. Cyril Okoro (POTEMAN)
The public does not know much about the Cabotage Act and it's benefits, the Labinjo led executives should look into the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) and ensure its disbursement, all their interests had always been on how they will share it among themselves, the core industry people were denied this fund in the past. But now we have to start putting the new NISA people on their toes to tell them what is necessary, they have to sit down and bring in professionalism in terms of working of the Cabotage law and it's operations.
Engr Akin Olaniyan (NISA Member)
Every administration is like a day, there is morning, there is afternoon and there is evening, the temperature in the morning is low while the temperature in the afternoon is higher, when Jolapamo was there, he was there for specific things and I think he achieved them, now that Labinjo is there, we are not in a T' junction or a turning point, we are in a period of consolidation, this is the afternoon time and we have another person on the watch, Capt Labinjo has promised to get the job of ship owners back from Cabotage violators and we believe he is going to do that, this election is already announced all over the world, ship owners around the world already know that a new man is in charge and they have no choice than to cooperate.
Barr Emmanuel Nwagbara (Maritime Lawyer)
Captain Labinjo and his team are capable of leading NISA to a greater height. I think his election brings in a new dawn for NISA, because from his antecedents, he will take NISA to another level and I will say it’s a golden era. I am not trying to say other executives can not make the Cabotage work, but Labinjo which we all know has the loudest voice in the industry when you talk about issues of implementation of the Cabotage act in Nigeria; I strongly believe that working under the leadership of Capt. Labinjo will do us a lot of good in retrieving what rightfully belong to us, but my only prayer is that the government at all levels whether ministry of transport, NIMASA or indeed at whatever level as far as maritime industry is concerned will work with NISA in other to ensure that their objectives are clearly laid down so as to realize it and for Nigerians to control domestic trade as it is expected under the Cabotage Act.
John Okpono ( Sec. General Merchant Navy)
When you look at the new executive, to the best of my knowledge they are all experienced individuals, We are fully in support NISA and Captain Labinjo will work assiduously in other to make the Cabotage work, Cabotage is not meant for NISA alone because there should be a uniformity in order for it to achieve this mandate of getting things done properly.
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