CHIBUIKE AMAECHI: REPOSITIONING NIGERIAN MARITIME INDUSTRY FOR GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS .
By Edet Okpo
To those who knew Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for who he is and what he always represents in words and deeds in Nigeria’s contemporary and unfolding socio-political discourse and developmental narratives, his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari into the Federal Executive Council as Honourable Minister of Transportation three years ago was welcomed as providential, discreet, foresighted and meritorious. Hence, his celebrated appointment was both a commiserate reward for excellence in selflessly championing the cause of the Change phenomenon and the implicit faith President Muhammadu Buhari has in his unshaken loyalty and wealth of experience to strengthening the present administration.
It did not therefore really matter the mischievous antics by adamant conservatives and Orwellian propagandists who inconsequentially tried to hinder the process of his confirmation as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We can recall with a sense of refreshing triumph and vindication the comedy of errors and melo-dramatic scenes that were zealously but vaingloriously orchestrated by some sanctimonious Members of Nigeria’s apex Parliament in apparent conspiracy with some envious aristocrats who were afraid of what support and strength Amaechi will become to the Change Agenda he championed. Although this is past tense in the context of this article, one outstanding lesson learnt in the whole contrived spectacle was that no man alter even the smallest divine arrangement.
Comprising land, rail, Water and Air, the transport sub-sector of the Nigerian economy is as dynamic, vibrant, massive, composite and sometimes volatile as it must seen to be. This is so because this sector contains and contends one of the highest percentage of the country’s self-employed labour force and a whopping number of transportation experts. Analysts were therefore of the opinion that the appointment of Chibuike Amaechi was very suitable, considering that he is a master strategist, pragmatist, realist and positivist who sees every challenge as a garden of opportunities for positive differences.
The landmark step Amaechi took on arrival in office was to engage government and stakeholders on robust interactions on development of modalities for the creation or restoration of a Master Plan for the sector. The highly commendable outcome was the 2015 National Master Plan, aimed at achieving sustainability based on a tripod model of – Rehabilitation, Restoration, Procurement - so that the nation does not suffer the Dutch disease of losing what has been improved. It was targeted at increasing opportunities through procurement, bringing infrastructure to a level that can support productivity and positioning it in a way that procurement can be enhanced.
No gainsaying stating that in the last three years, the Nnamdi Azikiwe, Abuja Runaway and its Port Harcourt counterparts have been transformed into real international standards. Beyond this, there has been incremental growth in the sector. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria 2018 Data, GDP from the sector recorded an all time high of 253325.52 in the fourth quarter of 2017 at a growth rate of about 3 per cent, when compared to previous years. Besides, abandoned rail networks in certain parts of the country have since bounced back.
The Minister had during his screening by the Senate said that he willingly accepted the ministerial appointment in the spirit of patriotism and trust in his tested ability to deliver on promises, having had enormous experiences in public office management as well as a helicopter view of commonplace challenges in the transport sector.
Perhaps one area of most outstanding performance by the Minister of Transportation is the sweeping transformation that gives more global attention to the Nigeria's Maritime sector and proactiveness caused to be witnessed in the country’s premier maritime institution, the Maritime Academy of Nigeria located in Akwa Ibom State. Until his emergence as Minister of Transportation, Stakeholders may have begun losing participatory interest, investments and hope in the then dwindling institution that ostensibly and figuratively proved allergic to all models of transformation because of the hydra-headed rot that observably had its taproot in poor leadership and total breakdown of operational rules.
But the Minister was prompt, explorative, circumspect and clinical in approaching the challenges. Just few months in office, as part of his strategic plans to redeem the lost vision of the Academy, he set up a 7- man Ministerial Committee made up of seasoned maritime experts with a fact-finding mandate to the 41-year-old Academy. The Committee started its work on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 with a facility tour of MAN.
Justifying this step, Hon Amaechi made this prophetic and memorable observation: “The situation in MAN, Oron will need a technical committee, or a consultancy firm to evaluate what the situation is on ground, agree on what to do with money coming from NIMASA, and agree on what to do about the institution”. “We need to carry out a surgery of that institution. We don’t need God in this one. God has given the enablement; so what is left is to go and do the work. Once we can turn MAN Oron around, we can start training our cadets locally”, he stressed.
Next, the Committee having completed its first assignment, the Minister only changed its nomenclature, sustained the status quo, expanded the scope and membership to 8 (with the introduction and appointment of Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua as Rector) and transformed the Committee into an Interim Management Committee (IMC), with a lifespan of six months but with an expanded mandate “to restructure and reposition the Academy for regional and international competitiveness”. Assignment completed within scheduled time, Commodore Duja Effedua then officially took over the mantle of leadership of the Academy. It cannot be forgotten that, to back up the new Rector with another administrative framework, the Presidency also officially constituted a Governing Council for the institution.
Still fresh on the mind is one of the excerpts attributable to the Rector on his assumption of duty: “It is time we told ourselves the truth than continue to pander sentiments. The state of this Academy is very bad; very worrisome. It is shameful that the Academy is the way it is today forty years after its establishment in 1977. Political interference and other frivolous justifications have adversely affected the growth and development of the Academy. We all should think about the soul of the Academy that has been sold out because of politics and personal interests. It is time these negative factors be reversed in the general interest of all Nigerians. And I stand here to promise that I will do my very best to justify the enormous confidence the Federal Government and Minister of Transportation reposed in me”.
Part of this success story will be the Passing-Out-Parade of Cadets on Friday, November 2, 2018, an exercise that had not been held in the past seven years. That the Hon Minister for Transportation is expected to attend the event in person, the first time he is visiting the Academy since inception of office, may be an indication that he is very happy with what he has heard and must be there to see it physically. Findings have shown that the Host Communities of the Academy are in high spirit to receive this game-changer in the fortunes of the Academy.
Every generation has its heroes and iconic leaders to whom challenges are like smokescreens to greater heights. The story of Chibuike Romitimi Amaechi today is that of resilience, determination, responsibility, experience, excellence and patriotism in fighting the common good for the greater number. If there is a man practical experience has fine-tuned He is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi; if there is any Man who has experimented and succeeded with ingenious initiatives, he is Amaechi, and if there is one man whose integrity and values critics have not succeeded at tarnishing, the man is still Chibuike Amaechi. Welcome Sir, to the Academy you have stamped your fingerprint!
Edet Okpo is an Uyo-based Journalist, Maritime observer and public Affairs Analyst.
0 Comments