How double deals, inefficiency led to Dakuku Peterside’s sack

Dakuku Peterside, director-general,  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has been sacked. It is official. Peterside  was appointed on March 10, 2016 and his tenure is expected to end on March 10, 2020. As a replacement,  President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed the executive director, Finance and Administration of the agency, Dr Bashir Jamoh as the new director-general.

An on-going investigation by OpenLife reveals snippets of the reason Peterside’s tenure was not renewed. First, the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, 2003 enacted by The National Assembly of The Federal Republic of Nigeria on  April 30, 2003 was the patriotic efforts of late Senator Martins Yellowe, {Rivers West}. During the time, stakeholders comprising captains of the maritime industry in Nigeria, maritime lawyers, representatives of oil companies and members of the relevant committees of the National Assembly converged at a business luncheon under the aegis of the MARITIME LAW GROUP of Olisa Agbakoba and Associates at the Apapa Club in 2002 for a strategic retreat for the cabotage bill.

Sadly, the Act, which protects domestic shipping industry from foreign eclipse; preserve domestically owned shipping infrastructure for national security purposes and ensure safety in congested territorial waters, is now seem by industry watchers as mere tissue paper as Dakuku Peterside led NIMASA has become political rendezvous.

Despite claiming that enforcement of cabotage policies led to the creation of 7,000 jobs for Nigerian seamen and raising cabotage trade by 32 percent in just six months, Dakuku Peterside, director-general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has admitted that the agency has failed in the implementation of the country’s cabotage laws. Yet, there does not seem to be any sign that the success point would be hit any soon.

NIMASA is Nigeria’s apex maritime regulating agency charged with the implementation of the country’s coastal and inland Shipping Act, now known as the Cabotage Act, which was enacted to activate cabotage trade and maritime development in Africa’s biggest economy.
The cabotage act had made trading on Nigeria’s coastal waters the exclusive preserves of vessels owned by Nigerians, built-in Nigeria, manned by Nigerian seafarers and maintained in within the country.
16 years later, the NIMASA enforcing regulations for local content in shipping businesses have failed to enforce the act, as foreign vessels with foreign seafarers continue to do business in Nigeria’s cabotage waters, with no local ships as competitors.
At the assumption of office by the current management, hope went high for a positive change and a real Tons development to begin in the maritime sector, especially as the Nigerian government also changed. There were promises of turning the maritime industry around and returning billions of naira to the government from the sector, but no improvement, no better harmonisation and no good fortune has been seen in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
Last month, Peterside, the NIMASA chief said the agency had stopped waivers for foreign vessels to operate in Nigerian cabotage waters, while informing Nigerians that his enforcement of the cabotage act had led to creation of 7,000 jobs and raising cabotage platforms and vessels by about 32 percent.

His claims came in spite of cries of local operators that foreign vessels were having a field day in Nigeria’s coastal waters, while some maritime workers accused him of bringing too much politics into his job as chief executive of the maritime regulatory agency.
Peterside, who abandoned the glary reality about the underdevelopment of Nigeria’s cabotage trade however, told the Alumni of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron that the enforcement of the cabotage compliance strategy put in place by his NIMASA to “stop waivers on manning for prescribed categories of officers in vessels engaged in the cabotage trade has increased the number of Nigerians onboard vessels by 7,000.”
He said the implementation of cabotage policies was not a job for NIMASA alone, stressing that NIMASA cannot enforce the cabotage act all on its own.
“NIMASA alone cannot achieve the aspirations, intents and objectives of the Cabotage Act. I believe that we have not done very well but there is need for improvement. The greatest thing that can happen to us to achieve the Cabotage law is collaboration and cooperation. If we leave NIMASA to drive the Cabotage law, till tomorrow, we will not achieve anything. But if the regulator, stakeholder and industry all come together, that is the only way we can achieve the aspiration of the Cabotage law,” he stated.
“We have started a process of cessation of granting of waivers which all of us agreed has been abused over time. In the area of manning, we have put in place what we call the new cabotage compliance strategy,” he maintained, adding, “We are going to create incentive for those who are going to build vessels in-country.
He however said a new policy to ban importation vessels for cabotage trading was getting the support of other agencies of government, which input are needed to enforce the ban.
“We have got the buy-in of Customs, Central Bank, NNPC and other stakeholders to enforce ban on importation of vessels for cabotage trading. We have decided that certain categories of vessels cannot be built outside this country by the end of next year,” he said.
This is not the first time the NIMASA boss would be making promises of creating incentives for shipyards in Nigeria. In October 2015, shortly after he became the director general of NIMASA, he had embarked on a tour of all NIMASA formations and maritime operators facilities across the country.

 At the Onne Free Trade Zone, where the West Atlantic Shipyard operates, he had made the same promise. He also promised to acquire vehicles and marine platforms to help NIMASA officials go deeper into the waters to enforce cabotage regulations, but till date, the promises are still hanging.

However, the newly appointed DG, Jamoh, who hails from Kaduna, is also the current president of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria. The 56-year-old holds a PhD from the University of Port Harcourt, specialising in logistics and transport management.

He also holds a master’s degree in management from Korea Maritime and Ocean University, a post-graduate diploma in management sciences from Bayero University, Kano and a diploma in accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Jamoh is also said to have 32 years of professional experience in the transportation and maritime sector.

He is  the author of the book, Harnessing Nigeria’s Maritime Assets: Past, Present and Future. Jamoh joined NIMASA in 2003 as an assistant chief commercial officer, eastern and central zones. He served with the Kaduna state government before transferring his services to the then National Maritime Authority in 1994.