•  Agency faces eviction over unpaid N30m rent

Government, as well as the self sponsored Maritime cadets are now stranded following inability of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to either provide them with sea time, or the “discharge book”, a prerequisite for boarding.

Ironically, the cadets may actually be rottening away, just as the NIMASA’s multi-billion naira resource centre at Kirikiri also rots away, following successive management neglect, exacerbated by Government’s implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Cadets who spoke with the Maritime First lamented that not only has the agency turned them into liability to their parents and guardians, every effort made to placate the NIMASA management in the past six months had seen them being treated like beggars.

Minister Of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi

“The normal procedure after the academic work of both marine engineering and marine transportation cadets, is one year of shipboard training in order to get our certificates. So far little or no attention is paid to this requirement from the government”, one of them complained bitterly, speaking on conditions of anonymity for fear of reprisal, even as the others confirm their common reason for their further helplessness.

“In attempt to help ourselves, we have made efforts to get the necessary documents that will enable us get placement. One of the requirements is the seaman identification record book known as ‘’discharge book’’ which is a prerequisite for boarding. The discharge book is as important to seafarers as the international passport is to anyone willing to travel abroad.

“Without the international passport, one cannot apply for visa let alone travel. Likewise without the discharge book, seafarers cannot apply to any company for vessel placement.

‘’But for over a year the said discharge book has been unavailable and the said discharge book is under the purview of the apex maritime Agency, NIMASA.

Dakuku Peterside, NIMASA DG

“For several months, attempts have been made by us to contact the offices concerned to make available the discharge book but this, has till date yielded no positive outcome.

“We have not only become liability to our parents or relatives with whom we have been living with during this period, but we have also at times like this been left out in contributing to the revitalisation of the economy through maritime, as maritime stands to be the major economic gateway”, the affected cadets pleaded, begging Nigerians to help appeal on their behalf, to the federal government, NIMASA and every other relevant agency to please expedite action, and ensure “our sea time training; and in the absence of that, provide us with the discharge book we need to source for placements ourselves”, the cadets pleaded further.

Sadly however, though We forwarded their complaint to the Director General, Dakuku Peterside, through his whatsapp, the agency boss, as indicated by the cadets, has seemingly kept a blind eye.

But while the cadets rot away, their fate may not be too different from that of the Agency’s multi billion Naira Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), at Kirikiri, Lagos.

Checks at the NMRDC revealed that it has transformed into a veritable ghost town, and is a far cry from the hub of maritime intellectual and capacity building activities it was designed to be.

A visit to the once Maritime pride of place, not only looked like a ghost town, but the complex was thoroughly dirty, the library appeared empty, leaking and abandoned while the operational units appeared truly unkept.

It would be recalled that on December 14, 2015, after his maiden tour, and only visit to date to the NMRDC, the Transportation Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi had roundly condemned what he described as the inexcusable neglected and poor condition of the complex. The complex, sadly has worsened, despite Amaechi’s pitiable observation.

Meanwhile, a landlord to NIMASA, and managers to its operational office overseeing the Lagos Port Complex (LPC), Apapa, Lagos State is now at its wit’s end over how to recover from the agency, a princely sum of about N30m, being unpaid rent, caught up by the introduction of the TSA regime.

The sum indicated to be covering outstanding rents and service charges for 2015 and 2016, according to investigations might also have begun to seriously affect the landlord’s projection and capacity to discharge other duties, including timely salary payments.

It was further learnt that while the landlord was threatening to eject the staff of the agency from the extensive space rented for documents archive and offices on the third and fourth floors of the four-storey Atlantic House along Wharf Road, Apapa, Lagos, which is just a stone throw from the NIMASA’s nine-storey sprawling Maritime House Head Office, on Burma Road, Apapa, the management may already be thinking of vacating and relocating to a nearby alternative property for its “exclusive” rentage, having labelled its co-tenants in its present location “security risks” to its operations.

“Each time our Oga goes to NIMASA to negotiate for the payment, he always comes back looking sad and harassed”, disclosed one of the staff, highlighting what was described as “shabby treatment” by NIMASA officials in the course of attempts to get the Agency to settle the debt; adding it was always as if the manager was like some contractor, hustling for jobs.

In a related development, the building housing the NIMASA Western Zone Headquarters at Marine Road, Apapa, Lagos, has been designated as risky by the NIMASA Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who has also ordered that an integrity tests be conducted on the structure to determine its suitability or otherwise for continued occupancy.

Peterside, who was on a tour of the NIMASA operational facilities in the Western Zone last Monday, added that the integrity tests would equally determine solutions towards promptly making the depreciated structure wholesome again for safe occupancy.

When the development was however brought to the attention of the Agency’s Public Relations Manager, Deputy Director, Hajia Lami Tumaka, she debunked their threatened ejection, stressing that the agency and it’s landlord were in good accord.

“There is nothing of the sort as being published. For the records, the Agency has five offices in Lagos and none of them is under any threat of eviction”, Tumaka stated, stressing that the agency had met “its full rental obligation to the owners of the Atlantic House on Wharf road Apapa that houses its Apapa Port Office”,  she stated,

“To therefore allude that one of the Agency’s operational areas in Lagos is on the verge of eviction owing to outstanding rent running into tens of millions of naira is not only false but also a calculated attempt at embarrassing the Management of the Agency”, Tumaka stated further, adding that management would nonetheless remain “completely committed to the achievement of the Agency’s core mandate as encapsulated in the NIMASA Act 2007 as well as other instruments that the Agency is responsible for their implementation”.

She also posited that the NMASA management was adopting concerted efforts to inject life back into the expansive grounds of the NMRDC and make it meet the great expectations of stakeholders.

“Upon assumption of duty, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, committed himself towards making sure that NIMASA is not just a high performance, research-based organisation, but that stakeholders are able to see the Agency in that light. He has consistently demonstrated this resolve and is committed to restoring the glory of the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), which has been abandoned by previous administrations, to be the intellectual hub of the Agency and indeed the Nigerian maritime industry.

“Already, due process requirements are being followed to give the complex a new look starting with advertisement for renovation of the buildings and equipping of the e-library, Learning Centre, Guest House and offices” the image-maker indicated, noting that the agency possesses the requisite human capacity, as has, according to her, been acknowledged by the Director-General and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Member States Audit Scheme (IMSAS) team that visited Nigeria for an audit recently.

“It, therefore, stands to reason that the NMRDC is on its way to reclaiming its lost glory.”

Analysts opine that, with the extensive office facilities at the NMRDC, NIMASA should not be frittering scarce financial resources on renting accommodations for its operations, particularly when the complex is easily accessible by sea to the Lagos ports in Apapa and other areas further afield in the State of Acquatic Splendour.

Industry watchers also posit that the rehabilitation of the NMRDC will boost maritime security and safety in Nigeria and other parts of the West and the Central African region, noting that the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (RMRCC) for the region is located at the complex.

The RMRCC in Nigeria covers three West African countries, including Nigeria, Togo, Benin, and all countries in Central Africa, including Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).