Perhaps, the most trending issue in the Nigerian maritime industry at the moment is the media report that the Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi has ordered that the books of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria be looked into.
The story of the probe of the Academy’s Rector; Mr. Joshua Okpo is about the major fallout of the recent briefings by the various heads of agencies under the Ministry of Transportation to the new Minister.
Snippets from the meeting indicate that the frosty relationship between the management of both the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and its ‘baby’; the Maritime Academy of Nigeria became obvious to the Minister.
By its enabling Act, NIMASA funds MAN, Oron. There have been arguments back and forth about how and for what purposes these funds are disbursed. To his traducers, Okpo isn’t applying the funds judiciously. The allegations are legendary and are backed with evidences.
Prior to the emergence of Mr Rotimi Amaechi as the Minister of Transportation, it had been alleged variously that the Rector is corrupt.
Usually, Okpo and his publicists would waive-off the allegations as coming from ‘enemies of progress’. They never offered any meaningful defence.
The meeting with the Minister offered NIMASA an opportunity to bare it all. While MAN Oron insinuated that NIMASA was starving it of funds, NIMASA on its part told the Minister that the Academy’s Rector; Mr Joshua Okpo is not a prudent manager of funds.
While the media was not at the meeting, few facts that emerged did not depart from what had been alleged and even written about MAN Oron and its Rector.
So, coming out of the meeting to hear that the Minister was suspicious that the Rector is corrupt is a sellable story any day. So it went viral. Figures like N13 Billion were mentioned and Mr Okpo’s name was also written in red as the main culprit.
Sadly, since the story went viral, the maritime media have been divided. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation; Mrs Yetunde Osinaike hasn’t helped matters either.
Even though she admitted that she wasn’t at the meeting between the Minister and the NIMASA and MAN Oron, she nevertheless denied that any such thing happened at the meeting.
She told this newspaper that: “I am the press secretary here, and I am telling you that there is nothing like that, if there is any probe or plan to visit Oron, I will know about it. My brother, the press is wrong on this”.
“There is no truth in the report that he (Rector) was to be sacked and that he is being investigated”
“Yes, there was a meeting, but it was only administrative, issues of probe didn’t come up and certainly there is no truth in the report that the Honourable Minister is visiting MAN, Oron”.
The question is: If she wasn’t at the meeting, how could she be privy to the proceedings to the extent of denying the outcome?
The other curious dimension to this is the alleged involvement of the DDPR of NIMASA; Hajia Lami Tumaka.
Recall that, the maritime media reported that, “when she was contacted on the latest allegation and the purported plans to visit the academy,the Deputy Director, Public Relations of NIMASA; Hajia Lami Tumaka confirmed that the minister and management of NIMASA have concluded plans to embark on an on-the-spot visit to MAN Oron”.
She was also reported to have disclosed that: “The minister himself will go to Oron with NIMASA management, they will be visiting the academy, so let us wait for the outcome of the visit”’.
Next question: Why did Hajia Tumaka speak so authoritatively about MAN Oron and the minister’s visit? Unless she was not the one quoted, then she must have spoken based on what she witnessed at the meeting. If she was at the meeting, the she knew more than her counterpart at the Ministry
In their various social media reactions which were as biased as they are passionate, the maritime media also show outright partisanship; the media threw neutrality to the dogs and became torn between three persons- Mr Joshua Okop, Hajia Lami Tumaka and Mrs Yetunde Sonaike. Sadly so!
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