Stakeholders in the maritime industry have urged the Federal Government to dissolve the boards of some agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), and the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), which were “hurriedly” inaugurated by former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi in Abuja last week.
President Muhammadu Buhari asked all members of the Federal Executive Council contesting for elected posts to quit by Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, confirmed the President’s decision in a document dated May 11, 2022.
On Friday, May 13 – two days following the President’s decision – Amaechi inaugurated the Boards of the affected agencies, and President Buhari attended a valedictory session for the former Ministers on the same day.
“Obviously, Amaechi did the inauguration for selfish benefit,” stated Dom Onyeka, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Apapa Port Chapter. He even made his campaign director general the chairman of the Nigerian Council for Freight Forwarding Regulation (CRFFN). He gets away with everything.
“Bringing in people who have expressed interest in one political job or another to the boards of the agencies is a plan to campaign for and woo the constituents of those boards to himself.” And this is in violation of Mr. President’s directive. It’s really unfortunate.”
Stanley Ezenga, the Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), spoke out against the boards’ hasty inauguration, while Dr. Chris Osoba Ebare, the President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS), Nigeria Chapter, asked Senator Gbemisola Saraki, the Minister of Transportation, to dissolve and reconstitute the boards.
Chief Julius Godspower, the National Coordinator of the Niger Delta Transparency, Accountability, and Good Governance Group (Niger Delta TAG), claimed there must be “something fishy somewhere” concerning the former Minister’s quick inauguration of the boards.
“One expects that the Ministry’s new leadership will investigate and overturn that move. He added, “The former Minister’s tendency for impunity and contempt for due process is pretty unseemly and must not be allowed to stand.”
