Capt Thomas Kemewereigha (ILO Consultant)
We are in an APC government, and it is the government of the day that determines who becomes what, NIMASA is a very sensitive parastatal, as a flag state, NIMASA is established by an Act. I remember when Patrick Akpobolokemi was appointed as DG there were lots of stories that were making the rounds that he was not fit to be the DG because he is not a mariner. Dakuku has been appointed today, I know he was in the National Assembly one time, it is not out of place for Buhari to have appointed him as the DG of NIMASA, he is a very serious fellow, a member of APC, and haven contested election in his state and lost, he has to be compensated. But the bottom line is that; is the appointment in line with the NIMASA Act, does he have a knowledge of the industry? The situation we find ourselves now is not experimental stage, so if you get somebody who does not have in-depth knowledge of NIMASA, we would be going five steps backwards instead of forward. He is a Nigerian who is well read, he has what it takes to move the industry forward
Barrister Osuala Nwagbara (Maritime Lawyer)
For the first time since the history of the NIMASA: you will see a cordial relationship between the supervising ministry of transport and that of a parastatal under it. The minister of transport; Mr. Rotimi Ameachi and the DG of NIMASA, Dr. Peterside Dakuku both have things in common that will move the maritime industry forward.
Segun Musa (Chairman NAGAFF, Airport)
I’m yet to read someone talking of the humble post qualifications and post working background of the new DG of NIMASA and how it can add value to the agency. Rather people are condemning and casting wrong aspersions on an innocent candidate’s name. When has it become an offense to contest an election and loose? I’m absolutely sure that the new DG will definitely perform beyond expectations and will further foster a better working relationship among all the sub components of the agency, and also improve the battered image of NIMASA.
Capt Deji Abegunde (Shipowner)
What does Peterside know about the maritime sector? Is he a mariner? The situation in NIMASA is so terrible that we only need somebody who can salvage the agency or it should be scrapped completely. We don’t need a DG that would come and begin to listen to people to dictate to him what to do, we don’t need a DG that will come and start experimenting, we need somebody that would move the place forward. We need somebody that cannot be bamboozled, maybe they have brought Dakuku Peterside to come and make his own money in NIMASA.
Engineer Reginald Onyenobi (Merchant Navy)
The expectations are high for the new director general of the agency, considering the fact that firstly ,he needs to consult maritime stakeholders as regards NIMASA ‘s mandate. Again, the DG needs to review maritime policies from the past administration in view of correcting their mistakes and improve on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. The Cabotage Act needs to be effective to ameliorate the suffering of the operators. Above all he needs to stamp his feet on the group and build capacity for the operators. He is expected to improve on manpower development, especially in ship manning, certification of seafarers up to class one chief engineers and master mariners up to international standard, so as to earn revenue as other maritime nation, and by doing these, he should re-establish seafarers pools and recreational facilities as in other countries like Ghana and Togo, in line with MLC 2006 and SID which Nigeria is signatory to.
Titus Umunakwe (Ship Chandler)
All over the world, every administrator can easy be fixed to manage an organization as long as the subordinates cooperate with him, once this happens, definitely results will be achieved except they did contrary.
I see nothing wrong with the Amaechi appointing a candidate that he’s comfortable to work with, let’s forget the sentiments, Peterside will perform better, after all when Patrick Akpobolokemi came into the industry he was a lecturer, but he caught up eventually, so also this man Peterside is well read, he is an administrator and he has what it takes. Take note that government today does not appoint people into office based on “know how” anymore.
Chris Ante (Stakeholder)
The new DG NIMASA is a man with tremendous experience in the maritime sector. Remember he was the chairman House or Reps committee on petroleum downstream. In his tenure as the chairman, he influenced a lot of policies that propelled the growth of oil industry in Nigeria, though some of those policies were not implemented by executive, that’s why we are where we are today. Dr Dakuku Peterside is a person with a convincing pedigree and capacity to reposition NIMASA for better productivity and proper service delivery for the betterment of Nigeria maritime industry.
Babalola Temitope (ICNL)
The new DG of NIMASA should work towards ensuring that the issue of piracy is addressed, because there has been an upsurge in pirate attack in our maritime domain in the last three months. The new DG should focus on how to acquire state-of-the-art equipment to monitor our waters, because we have instances whereby there is an attack on our waters, yet the agencies in Nigeria are not aware while foreign organisation will spread the news to the world. We also want to see where Dakuku Peterside will have a stronger relationship with the Navy to help curb piracy on our waters. Again, pollution on our waters is another area the NIMASA should into because the last administration did not come with any policy to safeguard our waters.
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