Captain Jide Olusoga (Master Mariner)
Well the investment made without appropriate planning and without cognizance to the need and also the money spent on it to maintain it, is just a drastic waste of resources that we embark on without adequate planning or getting the right professionals so that we can have value for money. My advice to the agency is to always get stakeholders involved in major decisions especially when it involves money so that we can put our money at the right place and also get value. But when people in position decide to infuse their own thinking on behalf of the people it is also because we have not gotten the right structure in place. If we really want to get out of the mess the best thing I will advise, is to review where that dock can be placed economically in Nigeria and where it can perform.
Engineer Matthew Alalade (Merchant Navy)
It is a waste, because NIMASA are not putting that platform into use, it has not been utilized since it came almost two years now it has not been used. So I don’t know why such a huge amount of money has to be wasted, they should have tried to but the equipment into use. We don’t know what they are using and the equipment is due for maintenance now and the government spent huge amount of money in maintaining the equipment. If they don’t know what to do with it, they should give it to one of these private docks or better still concession it.
Mr. John Egesi (Former DG,NMA)
That is a general problem with most government institutions. The intention for acquiring such a project is a very good one, I can’t place blame on anyone, I don’t know if the problem is from the former DG of NIMASA or the present administration. I don’t know if it is the former handed it over to the new one, but the idea of not making use of it is probably not the best. But don’t forget that in a political setting he is probably not the only person involved and this is one of the problems of democracy, power do not lie where it seems to lie. So this is why I do not blame any of my successors because you don’t know the strings attached. Every common person will know what to do and if they don’t do it, know that there may be just more than one reason why they didn’t do that.
Capt Tajudeen Alao (President NAMN)
I think NIMASA should go back to the original plan, what is the idea for the floating dock? Who are the committee members involved, then we go back and move in that direction, instead of looking at political consideration, more so in the first place it is not for NIMASA to start a crew and it is not for NIMASA to buy a platform, except for the one it’s going to use for its operation, now the mistake has been made, they should go back to the drawing board and use it for what it was originally designed for.
Capt Adewale Ishola (Master Mariner)
What NIMASA needs to do is to lease the floating dock out, they are not supposed to be engaged in business anyway, so the only thing NIMASA can do is to lease it out for those who can make good use of it , and make money back for the government as agreed. So I think that’s the best thing, as a regulator they are not supposed to be engage in day to day running of business.
John Okpono (Secretary General, Merchant Navy)
The sole aim of the floating the dock is to dry dock , by and large NIMASA the initiator should have considered the market for and have a market for it before bringing it, so there is no alternative to what they are doing now than to keep paying, because if they stop spending the money, the floating dock will become a colossal waste . What they have done is to have made a solid arrangement for the usefulness of the floating dock before now. But they never sought our opinion as stakeholders.
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