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Home » NIMASA: Torn Between Politics And Professionalism

NIMASA: Torn Between Politics And Professionalism

by Joshua
July 19, 2009
in Uncategorized

Dr Adegboyega Dosunmu was, until the recent shake-up, the director general of the apex maritime regulatory agency in Nigeria. Between now and 1987 when the National Maritime Authourity (NMA) was founded, there have been nine chief executives.
When the NMA was founded, the intention of government was to have an agency that will engineer a rapid development of the nation’s shipping and maritime sector by creating a better platform, more ‘bottoms’ and more opportunities for indigenous participation in sea borne trade.
In a nutshell, apart from its general responsibilities for maritime safety administration, what is generally called commercial responsibilities, port and flag state control and lately, Cabotage, Nigeria’s maritime administration agency (in this case, NMA) must improve the lot Nigerian ship owners and other categories of operators in the sector.
And to do this, the lot have at different times fallen on at least eight Nigerians; all of whom have fallen short in one way or the other.
For those who still remember the early days of NMA, the agency only became an avenue for award of contracts; without consideration for execution of its mandate. The agency also became known for uncoordinated and ridiculous cargo allocation as cargoes that would have been carried by genuine indigenous ship owners and shipping operators were offered to proprietors of brief case shipping companies. 
Much later, a good opportunity to retrace itself was offered in the name of the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund (SASBF). But, rather than judiciously managing the funds which accrued from statutory payments that were made to NMA by putting in place checks that would ensure its sustenance, NMA only succeeded in creating millionaires out of non-shipping interests.
The birth of Cabotage in 2003 only raised the hope and of course, the stakes for NMA as indigenous ship owners who had waited patiently for its full implementation sought reprieve from highly favoured and monopolistic foreign owners.  
About 22 years of NMA and about two years of NIMASA and with six and two chief executive officers respectively, it is apt to take stock of a few things and draw any correlation.
First, would the maritime industry have been better-off without the merger of both NMA and the then-Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC). In other words, did the merger overwhelm subsequent chief executives? Is NIMASA suffering from the carry-over of its ineptitude while it was called NMA? Is it true that from NMA to NIMASA, the problem has been with the appointment of non-professionals to manage the nation’s apex maritime regulatory agency? Are all these posers collectively responsible for the high turn over of chief executives of the agency?
We are of a strong conviction that the office of chief executive of NIMASA (and even NMA) has been over politicized. Each minister wants his own protégé to be the director general. It started towards the tail end of the tenure of Alhaji Munir Jafar’ as the director general of NMA when he was reportedly removed on the instruction of the then-Head of State (now late) General Sani Abacha who directed his minister of transport (now deceased too) Major General Ibrahim Dahiru Gumel to kick him out. He was replaced with Alhaji Buba Galadima who was later to use NMA to fund allegedly fund the transmutation campaign of General Abacha.
From Buba, the agency has had John Egesi, Dr George Eneh ( a World Bank transport expert), Ferdinand Agu (an Architect), Festus Ugwu (an engineer), and Mrs Mfon Ekong Usoro (a maritime lawyer) and Dosunmu (a PhD holder in public administration).
The merger of NMA  with NIMASA is a good one, but the realisation of the objective of the lofty idea has been a Herculean task owing largely to the culture of intrigues and orchestrated ‘belly- aches’  which has been the lot of the agency. Were it not so, perhaps Mrs Mfon Usoro would still be sitting pretty as the director general of NIMASA. Her removal further buttresses our postulation above to the effect that each successive minister wants his protégé to be the boss of NIMASA.
Arguably, more worrisome is the fact that government has consistently ignored calls for the appointment of professional in maritime and related fields into the headship of NIMASA (even right from the NMA days).We will like to put this at the doorstep of maritime industry practitioners who have failed to understand the dynamics of politics and who have failed to understand that as much as such appointments are desirable for industry professionals, they are (in the opinions of the powers-that-be) better given to rusted allies who may or may not have any requisite background. 
Maritime industry professionals should go and learn a thing or two from the aviation sector where such appointments would always go to practitioners with proven records.
We are told that the new director general is a maritime lawyer and had served in a committee that looked at the workability of the Cabotage Act and that he is into shipping, oil and gas ancillary activities. On paper, it is good, but it is our hope that these will translate into concrete achievements and that his experiences will be made to bear on NIMASA.  
Omatseye will be confronted with the immediate challenge of ensuring that retains her category ‘C’ seat in International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The election is coming up in November. 
The new director general and his team will have to work hard to ensure that the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP); an initiative of the immediate past director general and which many states have bought into and committed their funds.
It is our hope that the appointment of Omatseye will mark the end of frequent changes at the apex maritime agency in Nigeria. 

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