Stories by Isaac Anumihe
On January 8, 2017, the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, announced a shake-up in the agency redeploying some of the senior management staff.
Recall that since Dakuku assumed office as the Director General of the organisation, he has elevated eight Deputy Directors to Directors, 15 Assistant Directors to Deputy Directors while 56 grade level 14 officers were promoted to their next grade of Assistant Directors.
Daily Sun investigations reveal that the recent elevations will come with new tasks and clearly defined assignments requiring officers to deliver efficiently within given timelines.
The promotions were approved at the 34th meeting of the board held in Lagos from December 20 to 21, 2016 under the chairmanship of General Jonathan India Garba (rtd).
Those promoted to Directors include the agency’s Head of Procurement Department, Mr. Sani Mohammed; Head of Financial Services Department, Mr. Olayemi Abbas; his counterpart in Cabotage Department, Mr. Hassan el-Yakub, and Lami Tumaka, the former Head of Public Relations.
Others are the Co-ordinator of Western Zonal Operations, Hajia Aisha Jummai Musa; Head of Marine Environment Management Department, Mrs. Susan Asagwara; Head of Shipping Development Department, Mr. Akin Akinyosoye and his counterpart in Legal Services, Mr. Suleman Abdulsalam.
The promotion went through a rigorous process involving independent consultants to carry out the exercise in line with high industry standards and best practice.
Similarly, the Executive Management of the agency has also approved the promotion of a total number of 222 non-management staff between grade levels 4 and 14.
The recent promotions, restructuring and movements of some top management staff appear to be the opening action for the year.
As a way of contributing to and sustaining peace in the Niger Delta region, the agency has pledged its support for the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Peterside, who gave the assurance last year when he received the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Co-ordinator of the programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh (rtd), said the amnesty programme contributes to a safe and secure maritime domain.
Boroh and Peterside agreed that safer and seamless shipping are achievable more in an atmosphere of peace that will enhance trade.
Within and outside the African continent, Peterside’s leadership drive is attracting accolades with some agencies performing similar functions in other countries seeking to emulate NIMASA.
The Sierra-Leone Maritime Administration (SLMA) last year solicited the support of NIMASA in the areas of capacity building of its personnel for effective Port State Control and training of seafarers.
Chairman of the Board of SLMA, Mr. Lansana Dambuya, who led a delegation of some board members and management to NIMASA on a working visit, commended the agency for its capacity building initiatives, saying it was a model worthy of emulation.
Dambuya said that the SLMA thought it wise to partner with NIMASA, one of the leading maritime administrations in Africa and to seek areas of collaboration for the benefit of both countries.
The agency under Peterside’s watch also stepped up Nigeria’s preparedness for the International Ships and Ports facility Security (ISPS) Code and is gearing up for a United States Coast Guard assessment visit scheduled for February this year.
Peterside observed that the effective implementation of the ISPS code is for the good of the global shipping industry. He also noted that NIMASA as the Designated Authority (DA) for the implementation of the code in Nigeria is committed to safe and secure shipping.
“Ultimately, all of us are working for a common purpose, a safer world through safety and security of the maritime sub-sector. If we fix our different corners of the earth, the whole world will be safer for everybody. And so no effort should be spared in trying to guarantee safety and security of all our people,” the DG said.
More vigour will also be injected into the agency’s zonal offices as very superior officers will now oversee them under the new arrangement with a view to making them address challenges faster without recourse to long wait for head office intervention in emergencies.
However, the new regime of a restructured NIMASA is expected to pursue its mandate with renewed vigour that will see the agency contributing to putting an end to the lingering recession biting the nation’s economy.
However, industry experts say that NIMASA should do more of regulatory than award of contract which undermined the past administration.
The spokesman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Mr Bolaji Akinola, said that the agency should focus more on the regulatory role as enshrined in its enabling act
“We have to understand the reason why NIMASA was set up. NIMASA is a regulatory agency, first and foremost. The executives must know that. It is a regulatory agency set up by government to regulate the shipping agency in Nigeria. Secondly, they are also a promotional agency set up by government to promote shipping development—to develop indigenous shipping. So, before the new management, the theme of setting up NIMASA was lost because it turned itself into a revenue-generating agency which should not be. NIMASA is to regulate and promote shipping development. My agenda for the current team will be to refocus NIMASA, carry out its mandate as enshrined in the enabling act. That is the NIMASA act, 2007.
“The past management turned the agency into contract-awarding institution. They should face their job and they should stick to their approval limit. There are certain amounts that cannot be approved by the management board. They should go to the board. There is even a limit to what the minister can approve. They should stop being a contract-awarding agency. There is so much emphasis on money. The emphasis should be how well they are able to regulate the maritime industry. And the second agenda for them is how many Nigerian ships are working while you were there. Not how many contracts you have given.
Let me also add that they must implement the cabotage law. They are the implementing agency for cabotage law. The cabotage law is set out to empower local ship owners.
Empower them by making sure that they are the ones doing the local trade….trading within the nation’s territorial waters…..carrying goods from Port Harcourt to Warri. They should be done by Nigerian companies. That is what the cabotage law says. They should ensure that they regulate and promote the shipping development and ensure effective implementation of the cabotage law ” he said.
Also, National Co-ordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Association of Nigeria, Chief Patrick Chukwu, recommended a total overhauling of the agency, because, according to him, corruption is becoming endemic in the system.
From recent official statement by the agency and redeployment of senior personnel in NIMASA after a round of promotions, officials of the agency now hold responsibilities that would enhance the impact in the industry.
Actualising its core mandate will be the agency’s cardinal focus this year in its bid to add more value to the nation’s economic and social life.
The agency, according to the DG, is focused on realising its goal of making Nigeria a hub for maritime activities in the West and Central African Regions.
“We are focused on the full implementation of our mandate in the new year. We have concluded the restructuring, repositioning and reformation of NIMASA, which would take effect in the first quarter of 2017 with the aim of making Nigeria a hub of maritime activities in West and Central Africa. Our commitment is to make sure that indigenous operators maximise their potential in our maritime industry while creating wealth and job opportunities for our teeming youths,” he said.
Peterside further stated that the agency will fully implement its five-pillar programme of maritime safety, security, search and rescue transformation; marine environment preservation; digital transformation initiative; capacity building initiatives; and cultural and attitudinal transformation.
According to the DG, the agency is poised to activate all these initiatives with a view to harnessing the vast opportunities inherent in the sector and generating revenue for the government for developmental programmes.
To this effect, the agency has commenced moves aimed at boosting the nation’s non-oil revenue base and actualising its core mandates.
Peterside also assured stakeholders that the agency will be rededicated to actualising its responsibilities in 2017, noting that NIMASA’s strategies include creating a business-friendly and enabling environment for ship ownership by Nigerian investors while facilitating international standard job placements for the youth population.
Analysts posit that this move will not only reduce unemployment and dependence on oil but also increase national earnings for economic growth.
It has also built a close tie with other agencies of government and international bodies in achieving seamless collaboration for efficiency and productivity.
He noted that the Federal Government was committed to reflating the economy in order to engender an early recovery from the current recession, saying that the new year will signify a turning point in the fortunes of operators of the Nigerian maritime industry.
In the months to come, impacts of the new drive in NIMASA will be felt by ship owners, maritime scholars, job seekers in the sector and various investors in the Nigerian maritime industry.
There appears to be a deliberate and sustained effort aimed at leading the NIMASA workforce into giving in their best for the good of all.
FG to remove wrecks on nation’s waterways
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is set to revisit the process of removing shipwrecks that impede navigation of vessels within the nation’s waterways.
Director General of NIMASA , Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made this declaration while speaking at a forum in Abuja, said the review of the wreck removal process became inevitable, in order to enhance the efficiency of the maritime.
According to him, NIMASA is working under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transportation to review wreck removal process in order to make Nigerian waters safer for navigation by all. “Once we get the consent of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, we will put out Marine Notice to that effect,” he said.
Dakuku noted that the Nairobi Convention provides for the process through which a ship can be declared a wreck, adding that the agency had been following the law diligently.
While acknowledging that the challenge of wreck on Nigerian waterways is a challenge inherited by the current administration, the NIMASA DG assured Nigerians that the implementation of the reviewed process will serve as a catalyst to boost wreck removal from Nigerian waterways.
FOU declares N1.4bn revenue
Following the intensification of its anti-smuggling operations, the Federal Operations Unit ‘A’ (FOU) has declared a cumulative revenue of N1,388,290,225.92. This includes the interception of various contraband items with a duty paid value of N893,873,250.00 and a recovery of N494,416,975.92 from duty payments and demand notices on vehicles and other general goods that tried to beat the system from seaport, airport and border stations in the guise of false declaration, transfer of value, and shortchange in duty payment that are meant for the Federal Government of Nigeria, making a cumulative of N1,388,290,225.92.
“This huge recovery in the history of the unit just in one month was attributed to the leadership by example and motivation the Comptroller, Haruna Mamudu gave to the officers and men of the unit when he assumed duty and some appreciable compliance levels of some patriotic Nigerians who voluntarily paid appropriate duties on their goods and vehicles before the deadline on the ban of vehicles through the land borders on January 1, 2017”, the public relations officer of the Ikeja Customs, Mr. Jerry Attah, said in a statement.
The statement said that the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Haruna Mamudu, while commending the officers and men of the unit for living up to their statutory responsibilities in the suppression of smuggling and enhancing trade facilitation towards sustaining best international standards, thanked the Comptroller General of Customs Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) for his effort in appreciating hard work and diligence to duty, and for always being there in giving helping hands when the need arises.
Meanwhile, two Chinese citizen, Mr. Shu Xiang Ouan and Mr. Wu Sheng, and one Nigerian, Mr. Ugochukwu Frank were arraigned before Honourable Justice Mohammed Hassan, of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, for smuggling and exporting prohibited items.
The statement said that the three suspects have been remanded in Ikoyi Prisons for trial as the case was adjourned to January 5 and 23, 2017. The counsel, Badegbin David, who led the legal team of the NCS prayed that the court expedite the legal preceedings to serve as deterrent to others.
The statement also noted that a total of 22 suspects were arrested in the month of December.