“GEORGE ENEH, FERDINAND AGU, CHARLES UGWU, THEY ALL SERVED MY TENURE”……Egesi, Ex DG, NMA
WITH MR PATRICK EGESI, EX-DG, NMA
(FROM OUR ACHIVE)
Due to requests by some of our esteemed readers, we have decided that once in a month, we will go into our archive and reproduce some of our earlier interviews. The essence is to refresh our memories about what they said, how they said it.
*This interview with Mr John Patrick Egesi was first published in July, 2008.
Mr John Patrick Egesi holds the enviable records of being the only ‘indigenous’ chief executive officer of the then- National Maritime Authority. However, political intrigues denied the maritime industry the opportunity of his wealth of experience as he was removed from office after spending only six months. Since then, he has been living a quiet but very fulfilling life. Recently, he emerged as the first vice
president of the Nigerian institute of Shipping, and our paths crossed. Mr Egesi still speaks shipping, he still feels very passionate about the apex maritime regulatory agency He spoke with me at his palatial abode in Lagos.
A lot of people within the airtime Industry know you as Mr. John Patrick Egesi, but who really are you?
I am from Enugu State. I am from a place called Oghe, large town, but you hardly see political agitators from there. They are mostly intellectual or activist and things like that, that’s where I am from. My parents are Catholics and am a Catholic, my father was once a teacher, he later changed to Nigerian Airways. There are eight children in my family; two died, first was my elder brother, and now my elder sister.
You once rose to the enviable status of the DG of the then-NMA. How did It start?
Yes, I was Director General. But more people knew me as the Director of Operations, NMA, because I was at the center of the 40-40-20-cargo sharing rule at that time. We contributed a lot into development of maritime reporting at that time too, in the sense that most of their healthy reporting regarding shipping matters were greatly guided by us and corrected when there is need to be. When NMA was established, the then special press that covers it didn’t understand it. Sometimes they don’t know the meaning or the difference between shippers and ship owners. All those things have changed now. Many of them are so sophisticated now that they are better than some of the so- called shipping graduates. So, coming back to your question, I was director of Operations in NMA, I was the director of technical services, I was also the director of administration. You can see that I am basically a staff of NMA. Every fabric of the early formation of the place has a little bit of my imprint in it. I started as an Assistant Director, Regulatory Trade which was the very soul of the shipping policy at the time and the cargo reservation policy, that is, the 40-40-20 cargo sharing rule which we tried our best to carry out. I was right at the soul and center of NMA that is when I shot up to prominence in the country. I gave lectures everywhere when maritime matters are discussed. I agree that things like that gave me perhaps an unfair exposure than most of my colleagues.
The impression was that NMA was your first shot at work
Before then, I had worked with West African Thread Company as the national sales manager. I used to travel the whole length and breadth of this country. That was the last thing before I went into the maritime sector when NMA was being established. I studied in England. I hold a Masters of Science in Shipping. I also did in my first degree, the development of the Greek shipping industry. I saw the Greek industry as a model which will help us at home in Nigeria before going for the masters degree. I did all these in England, even before then, I did Institute of Freight Forwarders in England, it was a very difficult exam. It’s practical. I did a lot of other studies as well.
You left NMA unexpectedly
Yes, you are right. It was at the time when the press was
rejoicing that Mr. Shipping is now sitting on shipping. It’s just
political expediency, Sometimes, I don’t know the objectives of our politicians, whether they really want the country to go forward or to go backward, But wherever God puts you in this country, you
accept it. If I tell you that I know why I left, I will be a liar, because I sincerely do not know. I don’t also know whether those who sent me packing know why they did that. These are some of the things that will remain a mystery to all of us. I even attended to query the President for explanation. I wrote him a letter at a time to know what exactly it is all about. But up to the time I am talking to you, I never got a reply. All they said was: go. Of course, we pushed them into saying a few things. Is it because of a ship? They said a ship was sold, the ship never belong to NMA. So you can’t sell something that doesn’t belong to you. So you cannot be as result of MV Trainer. What exactly it is, up till today, I do not know. So I left abruptly, because I was appointed during the military regime and then the politicians came and it appears that they had an eye at the NMA, and they probably said to themselves, hey the person sitting there is not a politician. I was the first and perhaps the only staff of NMA that became a DG. It is not a very good thing for politicians in the sense that they like to appoint themselves. But how do you deal with somebody that grew from there, you can’t remove him, because his tenure is four years, his tenure is continuous. So, that in a way may have spelt a little bit of doom to the appointment. I don’t like to talk much on why I left NMA. We have done our own and God has a way of guiding our ways. One should be thankful to God for the opportunity to serve at the level that one served.
Enugu state has the record of producing four directors general, NMA in succession
It was the repercussion of removing me (who is from Enugu State). The whole Enugu thing started with removing John Egesi and not telling the people why you I removed John Egesi. Then Enugu people suddenly said, hey he is our son, why did you remove him. But instead of the Enugu politicians asking the government like a Yoruba man would probably have done. Yorubas will ask what has our son done, tell us so that we will beat him if he has done wrong or if he has stolen, let’s jail him. But nobody did anything like that. Instead, they scrambled for another Enugu man, If Nigeria is such a lovely country and not a tribalistic country, it would have been better. Tribalism does not work well with me. The point that I am trying to make here is that efficiency should be the key word. For instance, when some one says your son has done something, what you should ask is what has my son done, so that we know that if he has a chieftaincy title at home we remove it from They brought one Enugu man; Dr. George Eneh, they removed him, they brought Ferdinand Agu who was a little bit up and doing and then the politics at home removed him. He was already doing a great job as far as I am concerned. And they brought Festus Ugwu. May be they were trying to serve the four or eight years, that I was supposed to serve. But the trigger point of it is the removal of John Egesi. And in all these, nobody from my local government was even thought of, because, we don’t have any appointment from the Federal Government. If you want to properly replace me, go to my local government and get someone from there to replace me, since you really want to play this positional thing. What the shipping industry needs are people that can do the job. That’s a tough question; no one has asked me this kind of questions before. You want to tear me apart; the little things that I am hiding.
Thank you sir for being very frank, I have also asked Mr. Ferdinand Agu the same question and he admitted that Enugu politics removed him.
Yes, dirty politics of Enugu. The poor boy was doing very well.
There used to be NMA, and then we had NAMASA and now NIMASA. Is there any justification for these name change?
What should have happened was to change NMA to Nigerian Maritime Authority. We could have solved all these problems. All these NIMASA, NAMASA are not okay. I am not really impressed with all these names. I don’t buy it. In fact, it should have been Nigerian National Maritime Authority to distinguish it from the Nigerian Medical Association. NNMA would have been good. That would have been beautiful; it does not stop it from being the agency it is. The agency in it will soften its authority, that is reduces its potency. It softens it relevance, because an agency can just be a little thing, but an authority is always an authority. An agency status could be lower. The best thing would have been NNMA
What will you say about efforts of the then- NMA to encourage vessel acquisition?
You cannot talk about vessels acquisition without referring to Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund. It’s a combination of the Nigerian psychology and other factors that are beyond the control of NMA, if you understand my point. First, there was the issue of setting up a bank. The then- Director General (Alhaji Munir J’afaru) took the matter to the presidency and they appraised it, eventually we were not allowed to set up that bank. So we now dashed- off to do the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund. It was the second desperate attempt to help our people. We started giving out these loans and when the loan was being given out, instead of our people using the loan judiciously, they went and acquired representation of ships. I am not talking of real good ships; they just laid their hands on anything called ships. Eventually, there was nothing on the ground, so that is why I told you that it’s a combination of the Nigerian factor; people are difficult to help. The NMA is one of the most successful creations that Nigeria has known in the past 20 years. But certain interests have not allowed it to properly germinate and grow to the level and status for which it was made. Let me come to the present. There is the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund. The authority, that is, NIMASA having burnt its finger once, is now being careful. They know that if they are not careful, it will go the same way as the other.
Some people have alleged that the SASBF failed because it was not well managed and that some personnel of the then-NMA colluded with beneficiaries of the loans.
Not to my knowledge, because if they did, with all our shouting, they would have pointed out those who are involved. They never mentioned any name; it is not something you can hide, because we are the one going against them, harassing them to pay back the loans that they took. We made NMA to do that. If anybody colluded with them, they would have joyfully thrown the person’s name to the dogs, they are things you don’t hide.
Were the loans securitized?
Yes, they were securitized. I may have my reservations about the quality, but then you don’t ever forget that there was a little bit of desperation on the part of NMA to be seen to be doing something. The people that came forward who are in shipping at the time, many of them are not people with property at Ikoyi or at Victoria Island. You must understand the meat of the security that can be brought. So, we were just acting in faith and hoping that this people have the right intentions. One of the people that were helped is Genesis Worldwide Shipping; you can see he is still waxing strong. If others have done just about one third of what the man did, we will today have a fleet or a plethora of some ships. Even the Cabotage, it started during our time, in desperation, because of the problem we had abroad in implementing the cargo sharing formula. We succeeded with export, we couldn’t succeed with import, because we have to do it in European Union countries, in Japan, in America, and this people fought us to a standstill. So with this new fund, NIMASA is just being careful, but NIMASA alone cannot succeed. NIMASA needs the likes of NNPC. NNPC is playing the card close to its chest. The failure of the former NMA is laid down at the foot of NNPC; their lack of cooperation, their arrogance. I can say that today, because I fought them to a standstill, I held meetings with them, things that should come to Nigerians; they wouldn’t give it to us. Okay, they might argue that: look in relation to carrying crude oil; crude oil is exported from here, so the owner of the cargo is the one choosing the vessel. In certain other areas like petroleum products, encourage our people; give them contracts that will help them to secure a vessel, what is wrong in that? They never did. Cabotage is now proving that NNPC never wanted Nigerians to participate. Unless NNPC cooperates with NIMASA, there could be a clash. If NNPC does not exclusively give these contracts to Nigerian- own shipping lines, we are not going anywhere.
Why do you think Nigerians acquire more wet cargo ships than dry or bulk cargo ships?
One is that Nigeria hasn’t got vessels to carry dry cargoes. Did you know that NMA has already failed before it was established?
Why, that’s quite shocking, coming from a former DG
By the time NMA was established, NNSL had no more vessels, and these are the people NMA is supposed to give 40 percent cargo. When the federal government was establishing NMA, it was looking at NNSL, just like when you are buying a ship you are looking at the cargoes. So NMA was established to ensure that NNSL does not have to struggle too much for cargo. Many of the ships were either laid- off for reasons like very bad administration and very bad repair policies, some when they travel abroad; they are arrested. So, NNSL had no vessel that was sailing. So you can see that NMA has already failed before it started. Then, we would collect cargo, we would be looking for whom to give it to, we give it to NNSL, NNSL will now start chartering various vessels, I pity NMA.
What is your take sir on the controversy over import duty on ships?
I understand that when the ships come, customs charge them duties. It is wrong, it is very wrong for Customs to charge import duties on ships. Look, if you charge duties on ships, our own ship operators can never balance. In other countries, they are given tax rebate; they are even giving some incentives to support them. It is very wrong either to tax a ship that is being bought, or a ship that is chartered, it is not right. I hope is not the fault of the Customs. People at the higher level of government; like the policy makers and the presidency should look into that and completely exempt the vessels from duty, because shipping is something that is still being developed. But Nigeria ship owners should also ensure that their vessels are registered with MIMASA for the Cabotage trade. They can also benefit from the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund.
Don’t you think NIMASA should have a record of such things independent of ship owners?
They do, but they cannot register you if you don’t come to register. NIMASA cannot be everywhere, it is important they do what they are supposed to do, and also pay the 2 percent they are supposed to pay, because how are we going to develop the Financing Fund without them paying. If you don’t pay the 2 percent, that’s what they are running from, they are the same people who will say they are not financed, where do you think the money is going to come from. There should be more sympathy for NIMASA; the job they are doing is a very big job, and the least we can do is to cooperate, but the key to it is all of us.
Many operators have said that the Cabotage law is flawed, do you agree?
Those who promoted and drafted it have good intentions, but it has certain flaws. For instance, the area that says that Nigerian vessels will be built in Nigeria and owned by Nigerians is a tough one. Let us even leave the aspect of owning and look at this building aspect of it. When you build a shipyard, what market are you looking at? Is it the Nigerian market? Are you looking at the sub-regional market? Are you looking at the world market? Nigeria is not isolated you know, many countries have been trapped by the fact that they have shipping yards. You should ask yourself; what motivated them into building a shipping yard; many times, it is military. How can Nigeria cope with that, the point I’m making is that, there is no need to say that Cabotage ships must be built in Nigeria. I am not saying that vessels should not be built in Nigeria, but that it must be built in Nigeria is another issue. There is a different between them; you must not constrain us to create an industry that will create problems. A proper shipyard costs a lot of money. I am not saying that we shouldn’t have it, but who ever is going to build a shipyard, let it be an economic investment, let him know that he’s looking at a market and he’s building, not an investment that government superimposed.
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