Complied By Joshua Yousouph
Dr. Chris Ebare (Chairman, Institute of Chartered Ship Brokers)
First, I would like to congratulate him because that seat he is occupying is not easy to manage. It is a hot seat. I must commend him for the innovation he has brought to NIMASA particularly the repositioning of the Cabotage Act and a lot of international Conventions which he is doing everything for us to domesticate. His gallant fight at the Gulf of Guinea through the acquisition of various equipment for the Navy, SSS, Police and all those involved in the Deep Blue Project to ensure that there is smooth sailing in the Gulf of Guinea, is worthy of commendation. There have been less incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. In the area of training, for the first time the DG of NIMASA granted us an access to NIMASA to conduct training and interactive sessions for their personnel. Jamoh is a square peg in a square hole. He is somebody that really knows why he was appointed into that agency. Even in the issue of Staff Welfare, we can say he has scored 95 percent. He has been able to manage the affairs of NIMASA that today it has grown to be an enviable agency in Africa and Diaspora. I urge him to continue with his humility. I wish him all the best in the rest of his tenure.
Captain Williams Ogunsakin (South West Director, MESAN)
If I am to access Jamoh, I will tell the whole that he is a man that has lots of ideas on how to transform the maritime industry. But the problem I am seeing is that he lacks the technical know-how to implement them. For instance, the NSDP is a very beautiful idea which enables Nigerian seafarers to compete with their international counterparts and be relevant in the maritime industry. But the programme is not driving the force that we wanted. That Programme should have been diverted towards empowering the existing seafarers and making them relevant so that we would be able to push away foreign expatriates from our waters. The Deep Blue Project is another wonderful thing Jamoh has done. I think the problem of his tenure is the lack of political will to implement his ideas. If he did, the industry would have been topnotch.
Francis Omotoso (Registrar, NAGAFF Academy)
Dr. Bashir Jamoh has surpassed and performed far better compared to other past Director Generals of NIMASA; in my own opinion. I believe this is attributed to the fact that he was an insider and he understands the terrain better and acted accordingly. However, I just hope that he maintains his integrity till the end of his tenure. A lot of issues are still at stake, awaiting his judgment and decisions which might as well soil his hands and drag him to controversy; I mean the issue of CVFF. At this junction he needs serious insight into the modus operandi of how ship financing and acquisition works. In short, he must make sure that the concerned ship owners to be given the loan would be able to give account after his exit at the helm of affairs of NIMASA without putting blame on his head. He needs to be careful now. Because once the deed is done, the bucks stop on his table. He needs to watch carefully. I believe he understands better.
Mr Chris Sadoh (Stars Maritime)
Looking at him as a person and the parastatal he is heading, I would say he has done 75 percent well. We however have frustrating elements in the system. The DG is trying his possible best and he has done well. I would encourage him to put more efforts to make Nigeria a maritime nation. Nigeria is only a maritime nation by nature, but we are far behind looking at other factors that make a maritime nation.
Most of us are lacking, especially when a student graduates from a Maritime school and it becomes difficult to get a ship for him to serve unlike the Philippines. Practitioners in the maritime industry should be encouraged. He has done well, but he should not relent.
Engr. Matthew Alalade (Former President, Merchant Navy)
He is a friend of the maritime industry. He has achieved and we hope he will achieve more. Speaking of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, there is an adverse progress which has been maintained since he assumed office; even though he has been in the system. He has also achieved great security at the Gulf of Guinea. Piracy rate has drastically reduced and that is a plus compared to the initial incessant piracy and kidnappings on our waters. However, whenever we are having our next IMO audit, we hope that Nigeria will be ranked the 1st or 3rd position amongst maritime nations.
Rev. Alex Nwokedi (AREFFN Chairman, Committee of Customs)
By and large, he has done his best but his beat is not good enough going by the innovations in the administration of Safety which NIMASA represents. If you go to the port corridor, there is minimal theft along the coast line. In this regard, he has done wonderfully well. We are no longer hearing about piracy or theft in the Coastal areas. The Problem we are having is issues of aligning with other countries to ensure that the port system is fully operational. A lot of wrongs are going on in the ports. If I single out just one agency of government, I am not telling the truth. NIMASA and other stakeholders need a kind of synergy and collaboration in order to ensure a seamless port operation. Most of the laid down rules have not been effective.
Captain Adetayo Saliu (Chairman, Merchant Navy Shipping Zonal Council)
He has performed well. You know there is no perfect system. On the average, he has performed well on security. You can see that our waters are now safer than they were before. On safety, he has also done his best. On the average I will score him a very good pass mark. There are still some short falls and other grey areas. But there is still room for improvement. With dialogue and support, I believe he can improve. His tenure is better. I will score him well. We should just encourage him to do more.
Dr. Segun Musa (Deputy National President, Air and Logistics, NAGAFF)
Dr. Bashir is a nice man, but it takes more than a nice man to manage an agency like NIMASA. Under his supervision, NIMASA operates under propaganda and lies, most especially the Blue Sea projects that have been established to be a disgrace to the maritime industry. Dr. Bashir divided the industry because of his self-interest to take glory for non-performance. My summary is that people like Bashir are not a good product for the maritime industry, and I implore the federal government to always shop for selfless, core and responsive actors to captain critical maritime sectors rather some people trying to influence to press to promote empty achievements.shippingposition
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