He has probably set a record as the first DG of NIMASA to publicly unfold his agenda to maritime industry stakeholders through the media within weeks of his appointment. Last week, together with other members of the executive management, Mr Temisan Omatseye unfolded a15-point road map, a 5- point agenda and a 9-point frame work to the media. The presentation was quite loaded, challenging and promising. Shipping Position Weekly was part of the almost three- hour event. We serve you the DG’s response to some of the issues that came up.
On Cabotage, ISAN and arrests of ships for alleged violation
I agree with you that Cabotage is not working, but I don’t think it’s because of the law because, I think that the law was done with the best of intentions. I think the issue clearly is the inability to properly administer the law. With all due respect, I don’t think NIMASA has lived up to its responsibilities as the managers of the law, but you can’t blame them. Let’s take the issue of the Indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) for example; when I came in, they (ISAN) came to me and I have been reading the issue of the case, so I was able to look at the case file, the vessel they arrested claimed that it was loading product offshore in Cotonou, when it came, it pays 3 per cent levy and discharges the product, now what we understood that might be happening was that the mother vessel which is bringing in this product stays offshore Nigeria, but like I said, how do I know if the vessel is staying on Nigerian or Benin Republic waters. Because I could not determine where the vessel is I could not say it was on Nigerian waters, if I could prove that the mother vessel that brought that product was on Nigerian waters; then it is Cabotage. But as I sit here, I have no evidence to show. You can ask my executive directors, I called for the file and ask if they can tell me if the vessel was on Nigerian waters or not but they could not and the evidence showed that the vessel paid its 3 per cent levy to NIMASA which means that it was international trade, so there was nothing I could do. That was the pure reason why I could not get involved in that case, They called me and I spoke to them, but sincerely speaking I am not comfortable with operators trying to do the role which we (NIMASA) are supposed to do. But I am also a lawyer and if I don’t have evidence, there is no point going to embarrass myself in court. There are other ways to find out and I think ISAN knows because I have told them what they need to do to know whether that vessel was on Nigerian waters or not because you cannot afford to do guess work. So, on Cabotage, it has failed so far but there are some successes, let me also tell you why there is failure in Cabotage: it’s because right now as I have said before, majority of the vessels operating on the oil and gas industry; about 80 per cent are not registered in NIMASA so how are they getting their DPR permit? As a regulator we are suppose to give them the permit to trade on Nigerian waters before they go somewhere else, so there is a loop hole in the procedure and not in the law, so we need to sit down, get the DPR and block those loop holes so that anybody who wants to get a DPR permit must get a NIMASA certificate first. By virtue of that, they will all have to come here first, but we also need to get our own internal procedure right because if the process of issuing the certificate is not right in NIMASA then it is purely a sheet of paper. I do appreciate this because Cabotage is at my heart, but we are not a banana Republic so we must follow due process, we must do things properly so people do not think that it has become an issue of victimization. Let me give you an example, when the Cabotage Act was going to be passed, I was part of the ‘task force’ that was going from one senator’s house to the other at night to make sure it went well, they use to call me Mr. Cabotage because I know it very well and I understand it, I was an operator then and now I am a regulator so I understand what they are saying and hopefully I will see how I can align myself to making sure every body is happy.
On the 22 who were recently relieved of their appointment
The situation is very clear, we don’t know who have been employed or who haven’t been employed, all we said was that those that are not on NIMASA’s payroll as at a specific date are therefore not NIMASA’s staff. They were not on the payroll, check out the names of these people and go and check our payroll, you will find out that as a matter of fact three of these people have not even resumed for work. It’s a system which we have just taken over so you have to give us time, we are learning and we have only been here for a month. It is not me that you are fighting; it is the system, so we are trying to understand the system. I know what is happening out there but let us follow due process, it was not a question of say we just woke up to sack people, what the board said is that we have heard a situation where people are resuming for work, the DG has the right to employ from level one to level 13, but it is not directly the DG but the executive management and as I am told by the legal adviser to the agency there was no decision by the executive management to employ workers from level zero to 13. So if management has taken that decision to employ, it still has to go to the board for ratification, but, in the minutes that I have read from all the way back to February or earlier, there was nothing like that in the executive management meeting. So, we had options, we can either follow due process or just disobey the law so we had to decide, but I can tell you that with what has happened and what the board has done, I can stand firm and say we followed due process and that we followed the rule of law. Nobody can shake me from that, the position that we have taken is based on due process and the rule of law, there is no sentiment attached to it, we must take away the issue of sentiments and do what is right for this nation.
On creating a ship registry abroad
Yes, flag is important because the reason why we are struggling for category ‘C’ right now is because we have not actually put in place what IMO requires, IMO works on technical issues like what have you achieved, how many of the codes and conventions have you ratified, how much do you control your maritime domain, how many seafarers are you training? Finally the issue of tonnage now comes in, so if we are able to sit down here and achieve these administrative and legal issues, the next part we will look at is tonnage but how do we get it? We can not sit in our backyard here and begin to beg for tonnage, we need to go out to the market and source tonnage. The world is a global village, I remember I went for a boat show two years ago in New Orleans and Vanuatu has a stand there selling their flag, I don’t think there are more than 20,000 people in Vanuatu but they made all their money from flag registration, the same with Liberia here. So it is important that we need not restrict ourselves to our local market, we need to begin to talk to people and we are big enough to handle that.
On the much expected take off of Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund
I can assure you that it is being worked on very seriously because my executive director on Cabotage will be carrying a lot of responsibilities because it is directly under his watch, so we will hold him responsible for inability to do that.
On the impending re-disposition of staff
I agree on the restructure of management and that is why I have said that there is going to be a structural transformation. By the time we begin to put in place procedures and we do our ‘gap’ analyses of what is required; what is needed for a Cabotage enforcement officer, what is a shipping development man and a ship registrar supposed to be, it will not be the individual anymore, it is about what does that position require, it is then you can now say what kind of skills and qualification is required for that kind of position, then you can now get the person there. On the back of that, you now have what is called processes, and its that processes that will spell it out that you need to perform this task and if you don’t perform within this task, there is going to be a score card to show you are not performing. So if we develop a system, it is the system that will mark you and not me as the DG, the system will determine whether you are performing or failing, so this is what we are going to do. I know right now that there are issues but I believe that in this building, there are people that can do the job, but they need to be driven and trained to be doing the right thing. With that, we already have a process in place; we are already on the process of training, redevelopment and so on. So I do understand that the structure that we have may not be up to scratch, but I can assure you that with what we have planned in the future the system itself will determine who is good and who is bad and it will throw them out naturally.
On whether the past management will be probed
I am here to do a job, I am not going to look behind my shoulder to look for what has happened in the past, I am moving forward, I don’t have the time to witch-hunt, I will see what I have on ground, take it and move forward, I have no intention of witch-hunting anybody. All I am doing now is to make sure that what have been done in the past re-aligns with my future because you need to know where you are to know where you are going, whatever has happened in the past is not my business, God has put me here and we are going to move forward.
On Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron
Sincerely speaking we have issues, just for you to know, five per cent of our budget is supposed to go to the Maritime Academy Oron. I will be open to you that it has not been going to Oron, but I have a directive to return that money to Oron and we are in the process of doing that. But, he who plays the piper dictates the tunes, you can’t expect me to give you money and I don’t know what you are doing with the money, we will sit down with them and also try to direct them. However, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron is not just enough, we need to create more, we don’t need legislation to create more, all that Maritime Academy, Oron needs to do is create more academies in other areas without asking the government for legislation, but unfortunately (like I do say), we hold unto these things as if it belongs to us, so we need to begin to create. As I am speaking to you now, we are developing programmes in Delta state and other states to set up their own but the standards will be laid by NIMASA. I tell you, if we encourage more young men to become seafarers, a lot of them will not only work within our industry but we can as well export them to other countries, that is what the Philippines and India do, so why can’t we do that? And what does it take to train a person when you know that no matter what, that person will feed six or seven other people and which will take off the burden off the nation, so I do believe that the maritime academy should be worked on, but I also believe that the Maritime Academy, Oron can not get us to where we are going, we need more and we need to encourage people to set up academies, if I set the procedures to set up an academy, then you can go and set it up, even if it is 20people you can train, we know what that will mean, then let it be my responsibility to give the sea time. But, it is so easy to criticize, we all need to go out there and do our own part, we do own little part as it relates to this nation we will move forward.
On the recent Ikorodu boat mishap
Yes I realize that it is very unfortunate that what happened over last weekend where over 30 persons died is very sad. I admit that we could not respond, and I am not ashamed to admit that, because our boats are not working, but there is no amount of sorry that I will say to the families of those people that will bring them back. I believe that if we had done what we were supposed to do, that number of people would not have died, so I accept that we failed and we need to improve on that. I did not even know that we are responsible for the safety of all these speed boats on the water until I came to this organisation, so we are learning on that one.
On influence of politicians to distract and influence management
Sincerely speaking, if you have laid down procedures, you just have to follow it, it is when you don’t have procedures that people will want to manipulate the system, once you set a system in place and everybody knows that this system is NIMASA, they will fall in line, it is when you allow your system to be compromised that the pressures will come. I can tell you that I am not one that interferes with what my executive directors do, they develop their projects, they explain to me if it falls in line with our visions and our strategy, I can assure you within minutes, I will pass it through, but if it does not I will say please let’s discuss so that both of us can be in line and in the future when I am asked questions about it, then I can give answers. My minister is very cooperative, he is a wonderful man, a man of God, when he became the minister and I went to him and say that this is what NIMASA should be, and he said: ‘oh ‘Temi seems to be very enthusiastic about the industry’. I just sat down and I was discussing with him and he said ‘ok that idea that you have, go and do it’. So right now if he says No don’t do this, I will remind him of that idea. He is very understanding and somebody who is very progressive, let me tell you that my minister too has a lot of pressures; he has Railway, NIWA, NIMASA, NPA, NITT and others. So we can see that the man is also under pressure. He will like us to progress because he also shines, so I am giving the minister 100 per cent, he is also supporting us.
On the Coast Guard Bill
I don’t mind financing Coast Guard, sincerely, I don’t. If the National Assembly passes the Act tomorrow and say that they will take from my revenue and finance coast guards, I don’t mind because the bottom line is that whatever they do will enhance our work in NIMASA. Then, we (NIMASA) can focus on administration and the Coast Guard can focus on enforcement and it takes away the burden from us.
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