Dakuku, Jamoh and the Soul of NIMASA
By Francis Ugwoke
By now the leadership direction in the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is clear. The incumbent Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside , will by Tuesday complete his tenure. He will hand over to his Finance and Administration Director, Dr. Bashir Jamoh who will take over as the new DG Wednesday. For Dakuku the underground political move to retain office is over. The rug is being rolled off his feet most unexpectedly. He no doubt fought to remain in office but lost out. The picture of what has happened in NIMASA is one in which Dakuku and Jamoh fought political games discreetly over a period of time. The two are formidable game players considering their backers. But one has to fall by the way side for the other to win. Yet, the development in NIMASA could be likened to an Igbo adage about two men contending over a piece of land, one of them armed with yam and busy planting, while the other looked, apparently in dismay. Before the latter knew it, the man with the yam had won the case because it does not pay to leave the land fallow. Dakuku may probably have believed he could be retained for obvious reasons. While he was carried away by this political strength, Jamoh had moved far ahead of him to get the title. This was where Dakuku’s smartness and intelligence may have failed him. A lot of error in calculations. But call it the intricacies of politics. It is also providence.
What was amazing in the power struggle is that Dakuku with all the resources spent on a section of the media seemed to have lost the support of the media at such a critical time. It is not surprising as the politics of the so-called approval limits for the DG came to the fore. And so his opponent gained instead. Majority of the maritime media celebrated and continue to celebrate the news of Jamoh’s appointment. It appeared as if it was an opportunity to nail Dakuku. It has been indeed very bad press recently for a chief executive who has spent four good years in such a multi-dollar organiastion. It raises a lot of questions for which no answers will be provided in this piece. This was not so for Jamoh who has been hailed as the idol of the media. To compound Dakuku’s chances were allegations raised in a petition by some workers against him. Dakuku is yet to respond to the allegations believed to be part of the spanner thrown on his wheel. He needs to respond to the allegations for record purposes.
On the part of stakeholders, one thing may have worked against Dakuku too. The failure of the government to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) was a big issue for him. Many were of the view that he needed to have worked hard to ensure that this was possible during his tenure. Though the Minister of Transport, Hon Rotimi Amaechi was also an obstacle, Dakuku was expected to have used his closeness to the Minister to iron things out in favour of stakeholders. The industry needs the fund to add to its fleet and address issues of comatose situation among indigenous companies. Talking about Dakuku’s failure to get a second term, sincerely speaking it does not appear that any DG of NIMASA has been able to get a second term after spending the first term. Some did not even finish the first term and were fired. The only former DG that secured a second term but lost it within two months was Arch. Ferdinand Agu. He was a victim of power play by Senator Chimaroke Nnamani who used his closeness to former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop Agu from enjoying his second term.
Jamoh whose is to take over from Dakuku has 32 years working experience . Jamoh, author , joined NIMASA in 2003 as an assistant chief commercial officer, eastern and central zones. He is 56 years old and holds a PhD on logistics and Transport Management from the University of Port Harcourt. He holds a Master’s Degree in Management from Korea Maritime and Ocean University, post-graduate diploma in management sciences from Bayero University, Kano and diploma in accounting from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He is from Kaduna State and the present President of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA). By Wednesday, he will step into a very big shoe which many stakeholders are optimistic will size him. If he takes over Wednesday, this will go a long way in bringing calm over the anxiety of the past few weeks.
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