Enthronement of maritime best practises

When President Muhammadu Buhari sacked Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi as Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the first concern among industry watchers was how to get the appropriate person to captain the affairs of a critical agency to the country’s wellbeing. For those not conversant with its set mandates, NIMASA’s commitment should […]

When President Muhammadu Buhari sacked Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi as Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the first concern among industry watchers was how to get the appropriate person to captain the affairs of a critical agency to the country’s wellbeing.
For those not conversant with its set mandates, NIMASA’s commitment should be solely to the enthronement of global best practices in the provision of maritime services in Nigeria, which it should do by focusing on ensuring effective maritime safety administration, maritime labour regulation, marine pollution prevention and control, search and rescue, cabotage enforcement, shipping development and ship registration, training and certification of seafarers, and maritime capacity development.
Fulfilment of these roles would help build indigenous capacity as well as keep Nigeria’s aquatic business up to date with emerging global trends with implications for the economy.
NIMASA’s recent past was one in which a government agency became a politically exposed organisation. The worry of industry watchers was thus not unconnected with the apprehension over how to properly reboot the organisation and reset it to its default setting by realigning it with its mandates.
Therefore, the emergence of Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro as the Acting Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the agency has given the same industry players reason to re-assess their initial reaction.
Since he became the acting CEO, Jauro has moved with speed. Directors in the agency have been redeployed to give each a fresh vista of the organisation while allowing an internal cross fertilization of ideas and spreading of experience acquired in previous postings. The organisation has become more realistic in its approach to issues like the shift in the date for entrance examination into its training schools.
The present acting leadership has given unprecedented cooperation to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to conduct its investigation in the agency. The access granted the anti-graft agency has become a precedent that other government agencies must now live up to without leading to people screaming blue murder or alleging persecution.
Given the importance of the maritime sector to the economy, a repackaged and repositioned NIMASA is strategic to charting a new course for the economy as the nation moves away from the culture of a mono economy. Since Jauro is already charting such course for NIMASA and by extension the overall economy, one can only urge that he should remain focused on the job and not give in to distractions that would inevitably crop up. He should take bold steps that will see the agency built round a system rather than individuals who trade on connection to higher powers.
Jauro must avoid the mistakes of his predecessor, particularly when the mood of the nation is in tune with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari for a country run on transparency. It is now glaring that there is nothing to gain from bootlicking while there is a lot of traction to be heard from being competent.
Conclusively, industry watchers have gotten some level of reassurance, especially when NIMASA is no longer in the news for the wrong reasons. This is a path other agencies in the maritime sector must follow if only to restore confidence in public institutions. Such confidence will go a long way in reviving confidence in the way business is done in Nigeria with the attendant benefits to the economy. This is another avenue for Mr President to deliver on his campaign promises to create countless jobs for the teeming youths of Nigeria.  The change at NIMASA should be sustained in our collective interest irrespective of ethnic or political affiliations.
Attah is a public affairs commentator based in Abuja.