The Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh, has failed to address allegations of nepotism in the appointment of heads of the agency’s four zonal offices and its Abuja Office.
The NIMASA DG also sidestepped allegations of northern domination of Port Service Controllers under the agency’s four zones.
SHIPS & PORTS reported exclusively on Monday that all the four zonal offices of NIMASA, which are by far the most important structures in the agency, are headed by northerners.
The zones are Western Zone based in Lagos, Central Zone based in Warri, Eastern Zone based in Port Harcourt, Northern Zone and the Abuja Office.
The NIMASA Western Zone is headed by Kabir Murnai from Katsina State, the Central Zone in Warri is headed by one Bappa M. Musa from Borno State, the Eastern Zone is headed by Yusuf Barde from Katsina State while the Northern Zone is headed by Waibe Auta from Plateau State. The NIMASA Abuja Office is also headed by a northerner named Musa Zalani Attah from Adamawa State.
Also, all but one of the Port Service Controllers (PSC) in all the zones are northerners, mostly from Jamoh’s native Kaduna State. They are Sani Zaria for Apapa and Abubakar Jiga for Ibeju Lekki, both under the Western Zone. The Port Service Controllers in the Eastern Zone are Nuhu Umar for Port Harcourt, Mohammed Ibrahim for Onne and Ibrahim Umar for Calabar while the Head of the Central Zone, Dappa M. Musa from Borno State, also acts as its Port Service Controller covering Oghara, Sapele, Burutu and Forcadoes. Only one out of the existing seven PSCs of the agency, Chizoba Anyika (Tin Can Island Port), is a southerner.
NIMASA spokesman, Osagie Edward, in a statement issued on behalf of Jamoh on Monday, danced around the allegation of nepotism at the agency without mentioning the glaring domination of the zonal structures by northerners. Instead, he went off tangent to write about the distribution of directors and heads of departments and units in the agency. The statement failed to mention the vexed issue of nepotism across the agency’s four zones and the Abuja Office.
The statement, however, further exposed the anomalies in the agency and how Jamoh has entrenched nepotism and cronyism through the placement of his kinsmen in key positions.
While details of these will be revealed in future publications, SHIPS & PORTS stands solidly by its story on the allegation of nepotism in the agency’s zonal structure.
Meanwhile, some staff of NIMASA on Monday called SHIPS & PORTS while others sent messages to express appreciation to the maritime news leader for exposing the shenanigans in the agency.
The excited staff raised more allegations of infractions being committed under their present Director General, which will be duly investigated and published.
The workers reiterated the call on President Bola Tinubu to order a staff audit and investigate the affairs of NIMASA under Jamoh.
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