Maritime operators express confidence in new NIMASA leadership urges productive engagement

As Jamoh Bashir prepares to take over the mantle of leadership in NIMASA, maritime operators have expressed confidence in his ability to productively lead the organisation. The Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association, NISA, has urged the incoming NIMASA Director General to prioritise industry stakeholders’ interest. Member of NISA Steering Committee, Capt. Taiwo Akinpelumi who made the appeal at the weekend, described the Dakuku-led NIMASA as one of glamour and academic talk shop lacking in real time connectivity with critical industry issues.  Akinpelumi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Oceanic Energy Limited, said the new leadership has the capacity to usher in optimal window of growth by running with stakeholders’ critical interest as top priority.

Jamoh will on Tuesday formally take over  from Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who has served out his first four year tenure and was not reappointment. According to Akinpelumi, “The new administration must address the non-disbursement of CVFF and the proposed Maritime Fund that nobody is talking about. They must recognise associations who seek to address the industry issues and not only relate with individuals who chase personal gains. “Look at the situation of seafarers and ship-owners before Dakuku came in and the current situation today. Have we fared better? No. We offered ourselves as technocrats to show the path to follow in order to develop indigenous shipping but he chose not to take us serious. He was there for four years and the situation went from bad to worse until two months ago when he started scratching the surface of key issues he should have focused on earlier.

“He only picked interest in these issues because he realised it would make people take him serious for a second tenure but he failed.” Although Dakuku didn’t initiate the N50billion floating dock contract, Akinpelumi argued that he had two years to plan for the arrival of the facility, but allowed the investment to rot away at the Naval Dockyard which has been incurring $30,000 daily for over a year. Another NISA member, Otunba Sola Olatunji called on the incoming NIMASA DG to tackle issues of sea time for cadets and to also ensure that pirate attacks are minimised.  Olatunji urged the new leader to carry along stakeholders meaningfully and not just to score attract glamour or embark on unproductive talk shops.