Frequent Changes In The Headship Of Maritime Agencies Is Killing The Industry

Frequent Changes In The Headship Of Maritime Agencies Is Killing The Industry
What happened last week concerning the purge at the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is to say the least, shocking. It is shocking, not because the jobs were lost, but because everyone who meant well for the Nigerian maritime sector feels that it was one putsch too many.
The Nigerian maritime sector has had the misfortune of an unstable leadership in the government agencies, notably the NIMASA and NPA.

Frequent Changes In The Headship Of Maritime Agencies Is Killing The Industry
What happened last week concerning the purge at the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is to say the least, shocking. It is shocking, not because the jobs were lost, but because everyone who meant well for the Nigerian maritime sector feels that it was one putsch too many.
The Nigerian maritime sector has had the misfortune of an unstable leadership in the government agencies, notably the NIMASA and NPA.
Since the ports concessioning in 2006, NPA has had Chief Adebayo Sarumi, Abdusalam Mohammed, Omar Suleiman and now; Habib Abdulahi. Before the new dispensation of concession, NPA had been bedeviled by a plethora of short-lived leadership. The exit of Malam Bello Gwandu marked the beginning of short-term chief executive officers. After him, came Joseph Akagwu, then Aminu Dabo and then Adebayo Sarumi. From our calculations, between 2003 and now, NPA has had five CEOs.
The case of NIMASA is a little more worrisome, it has had six CEOs since 2007 when it tramsutted. While NPA has witnessed a less rancorous leadership transition, succession at NIMASA has been with acrimony and high powered back-stabbing. Those who have long enough will remember the travails of Mr Ferdinand Agu, who not being ‘a maritime person’, was able to achieve uncommon feats for the National Maritime Authourity (NMA) as the agency was then called.
The removal of Agu heralded serial short tenures for successive CEOs of the agency. Engr Festus Ugwu (now late) who succeeded him stayed briefly to pave way for the merger of NMA with the Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC) to form NIMASA. The appointment of Mrs Mfon Usoro as the pioneer DG was hailed by all as that of a round peg in a round hole, but she only lasted a few months in a palace coup which saw her being upstaged by one of her  executive directors; Dr Ade Dosunmu.  
After Dosunmu, there was Temisan Omatseye who even though was also seen as an industry person (being a maritime lawyer) could only serve a little over one year. The incumbent has just survived what would have been an addition to the already long list of ex-DGs of NIMASA.
There is a curious correlation between the frequent changes in NPA and NIMASA and the supervising ministers of transport.
 It has almost become a norm for each minister to appoint a protégé as the CEO of these agencies. Examples abound in the way Mrs Kema Chikwe got George Eneh appointed as the DG of NMA, how Ojo Maduekwe got the job for Ferdinand Agu and how Abiye Sekibo got it for Mfon Usoro.
In NPA, while the same may not be applicable, one can safely assume that there has been relative ‘sanity’, because successive managing directors have been appointed from within, the only exception being Aminu Dabo.
The only reason that there has been stability in Shippers’ Council is because the agency is nit considered lucrative enough, it is not so much about the competence of the CEO, Capt Adamu Biu, whose qualification and competence is not questionable.
It is sad that in changing these CEOs, government turned a blind eye to laws that govern the agencies, particularly, the NIMASA Act.
The most glaring danger here is that the CEO become a pawn in the hands of the powers-that-be, they hardly settle down to do the job for which they were appointed, rather they spend time robbing the backs of their  god fathers who sadly are always unable to help them keep their jobs when the change must come.
The greatest loser in the chess game is the maritime industry which has suffered lack of progress, when compared with other sectors, where round pegs are put in round holes and where appointments are not just based on parochial and primordial interests rather than on competence and qualification.
One can only imagine how much the industry would have grown, if the likes of Mr  Ferdinand Agu, Mrs  Mfon Usoro or even Temisan Omatseye ; all of NIMASA and Abdusallam Mohammed and Omar Suleiman (both of NPA) had not been sacrificed on the altar of questionable interests.