By Isaac Anumihe
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has announced a minor shake-up in the agency as some senior management staff of the agency were yesterday redeployed.
In the exercise, Mr. Ibrahim Jibril is now the Director, Strategic Management in the Office of the Director General while the former Head, Corporate Communications, Hajia Lami Tumaka, is now the Director, Special Duties, also in the Director General’s office.
Tumaka has been replaced by Mr. Isichei Osamgbi, as the new Head, Corporate Communications. Also, Mr. Abiodun Akinyosoye takes over as the Director of Administration and Human Resources while Mrs. Aishatu Jumai Musa is the Director, Planning Research and Data Management Services Department with Mr. Audu Abdulsalam now the Director, Legal Services.
Mr. Hassan El-Yakub is now the Director, NIMASA Eastern Zone, and Mr. Olayemi Abass, Director, Western Zone. Mr. Anthony Ogadi heads Shipping Development and Abel Femowei will serve as the Coordinator, Central Zone, Warri. Captain Sunday Umoren will head Maritime Safety and Seafarers Standards Department of the agency.
The redeployment has come on the heels of the recent promotion, which saw the elevation of eight Deputy Directors as Directors, 15 Assistant Directors to Deputy Directors while 56 grade level 14 officers were promoted to their next grade of Assistant Directors.
In another development, NIMASA Director General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside has inaugurated a committee to review the parameters for charging 3 per cent freight benchmark currently collected by the agency.
According to the former Head, Corporate Communications Team of NIMASA, Hajia Tumaka, Peterside said the vision of the agency was to advance Nigeria’s global maritime interests.
“The inauguration of the committee is coming on the heels of a recent visit to the agency by the Shipping Association of Nigeria,” he said.
The Director General said the association was an assemblage of the major shipping companies operating in the country, that expressed concern over the current benchmark freight rate used in the industry. The shipping companies had argued that the benchmark did not represent 3 per cent of the freight. The representatives of the companies argued that if it is calculated using some other parameters, it will be discovered that the shipping companies were being charged more than what they should pay.
“As an organisation that is sensitive, we acknowledge that our actions have overall impact on businesses and our function as a regulatory agency is not to stifle business but to encourage businesses, promote shipping and support both indigenous entrepreneurs and those who do business in our country.”
“Also, our ultimate objective is to create the enabling environment for the industry to thrive, not for us to kill the industry. We realise that there must be a meeting point between practitioners in the industry and those of us who are on the regulatory side.
“It is on that basis that we decided to assemble a team of stakeholders; a mixed team made up of practitioners in the industry. Other regulators and stakeholders should come together to advise us on what should constitute our benchmark,” the DG said.
Peterside, however, urged the committee to let the overall national interest guide their decisions, and “not how much money that will come to the coffers of NIMASA and to them as businessmen. Let us be guided by the national interest of our country and the interest of the industry where we are all practising.”