On this page last week, we appraised the four-year tenure of Dr Bashir Jamoh as the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
We scored him low on most parameters, which were based on the tasks he set for himself when he was appointed in 2020. We were not alone in this appraisal. Most perceptive and critical stakeholders also gave him knocks, very few gave him thumbs–up.
As far as NIMASA is concerned, its core stakeholders include: ship owners, seafarers, dockworkers, maritime training institutions. These are in addition to statutory stakeholders and partners. In between these groups are a horde of auxiliary ‘stakeholders’, whose identities and designation may not be quite important here. In between the needs of these actors is the core mandate of the agency.
So, the success or otherwise of any Chief Executive Officer of NIMASA will depend largely on how well he is able to ‘satisfy’ these players.
The issues for which Dr Jamoh was scored were very important to these players and (by extension) to the industry. Herein lies the opportunity for Dr Mobereola to shine.
A NIMASA that pays lip service to indigenous fleet expansion or tonnage will never be rated as a performing agency.
A viable indigenous fleet will enhance the nation’s participation in shipping. This is what informed the enactment of the Cabotage Act, which also embedded the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF).
So, we expect the new DG to focus on immediate disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund, albeit without compromising the processes.
The fact is that, disbursing this fund has been a difficult issue with successive administrations of NIMASA. It is on record that even though Jamoh secured presidential approval, he could not deliver on the promise to disburse the Fund.
Apart from the approval, there are Primary Lending Institutions (PLIS), that were also selected and which had been meeting with the agency. The new DG should take it up from there immediately. This is achievable in the shortest time.
Perhaps, the most difficult hurdle for the DG will be the contentious issue of waiver clause that is embedded in the Cabotage Act itself. Removing this clause will boost the visibility and viability of indigenous ship ownership in Nigeria.
As good as the idea of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) is, it has derailed. Its implementation has been fraught with questionable criteria.
Another issue that will signpost the new DG tenure is how well he handles the polluted process leading to picking beneficiaries of the NSDP. While it is true that, more than 2,000 young Nigerians have benefited from this programme, which is aimed at growing a new generation of skills, pertinent questions have hunted it for years. These questions border on three main issues, which we think the new DG should focus on.
Perhaps, the most worrisome of these posers is the lack of sea time for beneficiaries of the programme. Of what us is an academic exercise that does not lead to practical training and eventual employment?
Apart from this, it is also a known fact that the process of shortlisting beneficiaries of the NSDP has been bastardised on the altar of tribalism. Whereas, it was created to offer equal opportunities to youths across the country, it has become lopsided that many states and geopolitical zones, no longer benefit from the scheme.
The DG of NIMASA will need to embark on an appraisal of the continued relevance of the scheme or not. Those who call for the scrapping of NSDP base their convictions on the fact that majority of the beneficiaries are jobless, while the scheme also faces abandonment by beneficiaries abroad.
Dr Mobereola will also need to decide what to do with the ill-fated multi-million naira floating dock which belong to NIMASA. It was acquired under Dr Ziakede Akpobolokemi. The floating dock, which eventually arrived in Nigeria during the administration of Dr Dakuku Peterside, was expected to serve as maintenance facility for ships within and outside Nigeria.
At the stage of conceptualisation, the facility was (according to NIMASA) was to save about US$100m annually in capital flight; generate employment, and boost local capacity.
Available statistics indicate that, about 5,000 ships call at the Nigerian ports annually, there are about 400 coastal vessels and many fishing trawlers. These make the business of dry docking potentially lucrative, because there is an existing and sufficient demand.
Even though the ships are there, there is no facility to meet the demand; hence, dry docking of vessels operating in Nigeria is usually done outside Nigeria. The foreign exchange component of dry docking outside Nigeria is in millions of dollars every year.
We are aware that efforts had been in place to hand it over to the private sector through a PPP agreement, but the process is taken too long a time to actualize.
If Dr Mobereola takes the above as his immediate priorities as they are the lowest hanging fruits for him, he would succeed as the DG of NIMASA.
It will be an easy assignment at NIMASA, if he engages with the agency’s first-line stakeholders, such as the ship owners, seafarers, dockworkers, maritime training institutions, and the unions. His tenure may end-up being the best ever in the history of the agency.
However, his part to success will be laced with the proverbial banana peels, which he has to constantly avoid. The peels would be set by these same stakeholders and the agency’s staff.
No doubt, Dr Mobereola holds enviable credentials and has an intimidating cognate experience. But, at NIMASA and indeed in the Nigerian maritime industry, all that may matter less.
While his Ph.D in Transport Economics, and fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Transport, England and a fellow of the same institute in Nigeria, will count, his consultations and bridge building skill will count more.
Similarly, the fact that he was once the Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and also the Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, are all cognate profiles that will count on the job, but above all, he needs to move closer to the agency’s core stakeholders.
