…Takes over from Ogbeifun
A medical doctor, Dr. Mkgeorge Onyung yesterday emerged the new President of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) in a keenly contested election adjudged by members and observers as free and fair.
Onyung takes over from the foremost shipping mogul, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun who pioneered the leadership of the association in the last four years having served out his constitutionally recognized two terms.
Dr. Onyung beat his closest rival Engr. Alfred Okoigun with twelve votes to ten to emerge the new President of the association.
The election which held at the Avenue Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos saw the returning officer and member of the Board of Trustees of the association, Barr. Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi announce Mr. Eno J. William as having emerged the 1st Vice President with twenty-two votes while Mr. Sonny Eja also emerged as the 2nd Vice President with a total of twenty-two votes.
Mr. Babalola Adefarati also emerged the new Financial Secretary/Treasurer with a total of twenty-two votes while Engr. Lucky Akhiwu and Engr. Stan B, Athekame who contested for the position of Chairman, Technical Committee had a tie as both garnered eleven votes each leading to a run off which eventually saw Engr. Lucky Akihwu garner a total of twelve votes to defeat Engr. Stan B. Athekame who polled ten votes.
The election also produced Mr. Wisdom Nwagwu as Chairman, Training and Capacity Building Committee, Dr. Louis Ekere as Chairman, Ethics and Privileges Committee while Mrs. Iroghama Obuoforibo was returned as Chairman, Finance and Membership Committee, all emerged with a total of twenty-two votes each.
Speaking shortly after his election as the new president of SOAN, Dr. Mkgeorge Onyung acknowledged that the task before him and his executive was very enormous even as he pledged to ensure a very smooth relationship between the association and all its regulators, stakeholders and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) so that the shipping industry would actually move forward.
He assured that they would be creating a very formidable team in the association that would engage all the stakeholders and work with them, negotiate, advocate and ensure that they engaged them positively for the benefit of the association.
On the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF), he said,” I believe they (NIMASA) are working on it; we are going to create a team that will address every issue that affect our members. CVFF is one of them, we will look at it critically and look at the best way that we can work to achieve its disbursement. CVFF was created for the benefit of the indigenous ship owners and the fact that it has not been disbursed all this while means that something needs to be fine-tuned.
“I would want to come back with my team to look at the possibilities and what is the real nagging problem so that we can now work and address it for a win win situation. What CVFF stand for and what it is meant to achieve is all stated in the Cabotage Act, we will have to go and look at it like said and see how we can explore all the benefits and all the purposes and all its intentions to the benefit of our members”.
On his part, the outgoing President, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun while pledging to use his contacts, time and resources to see to the success of the new administration advised the leadership to engage the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), NAPPIMS and other stakeholders more for the benefit of the members.
Going down memory lane, Ogbeifun said,” You heard that we started from a very humble beginning at a time when there was turbulence in the industry by reason of other bodies that were in existence and ran into difficulties; the perception of the government and the industry of the association that existed then were very contrary. They were seen as being belligerent, confrontational, fighting the system, fighting the government, that didn’t help the course of the ship owners.
Eventually, when the few of us realize that unless we change the tide, the whole ship owners irrespective of where you belong were going to be grouped as belligerent, as fighting government, as not seeing anything good. So, we decided to take a different turf. So, the first challenge I have as the President of SOAN was to get the industry, government agencies and relevant stakeholders to understand that SOAN is a different entity of ship owners, with a different mission to change the story.
“So, it took a while for them to begin to listen, to begin to give opportunities, to begin to hear us and that was the most challenging period. But thankfully today, I would like to say that SOAN has become a critical stakeholder in the maritime industry. Even in the Nigerian government, they recognize that they now have an entity that they can engage to be able to implement their policy.
“On a personal note, I would like to say that I was lucky to have a group of owners who believed in the course, there were challenges but we were able to overcome them. The executive that we had in the two terms worked tirelessly as much as was within their capabilities and don’t forget that it was during these four years that the oil and gas industry witnessed a dramatic fall in the oil price”.
Meanwhile, the date for the inauguration of the new executive will be announced later.
Photo: The Returning Officer, Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi (m), the incoming President of SOAN, Dr. Mkgeorge Onyung (5th left), the outgoing President, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun (4th left) and members of the new executive shortly after the election in Lagos Tuesday.
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