…Seeks creation of two directorates to advance Ministry’s objectives
A former General Manager, Marine and Operations of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu has called on the federal government to consider designating the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy the Coordinating Minister of the Blue Economy to ensure proper coordination, leadership and control of the nation’s marine space.
Ebubeogu who made this call in a paper presentation tilted, “Governance of Marine Spaces in Marine and Blue Economy Model – Issues, Challenges and Approach”, which he delivered at the Quarterly Paper Presentation organized by the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners, NAMM in Lagos at the weekend, argued that in a heterogeneous environment where there were so many ministries and players who were not answerable to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, there were bound to be chaos.
“We have too many stakeholders that have interest in the marine space to practice this blue economy thing. Some come as regulators but even those that come as regulators, come from different angles. If you go to UNCLOS, Article 21 and all the things that a country should do, you will find out that for a country to enforce all this thing, customs will be there, immigration will be there, NPA will be there, NIMASA will be there, Ministry of Health will be there, Ministry of Petroleum will be there, everybody will be there and all these people are not answerable to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy. They are answerable to other Ministers.
“So, what I am advocating here is look, we have a precedent starting from the former President Obasanjo where they say there’s a Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. Right now, President Bola Tinubu has improved on it, we now have two Coordinating Ministers. We have the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy and we have Ali Pate who is the Minister of Health and Social Welfare and he is the Coordinating Minister of both.
“I am saying that in a heterogeneous environment where we have so many ministries and players who are not answerable to the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, why don’t we go a step further to designate the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy the Coordinating Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
“With that you will see that there’s a relationship between coordination, leading and control. And leading and control are some of the tools of proper management and with that, we can have somebody who through coordination can exhibit leadership and control and with that, the management and governance of the marine space where we are coming to prosper in this blue economy sector will now be sanitized and with that, we shall benefit from the marine and blue economy concept.
“I am saying that given the heterogeneity of the interest group especially in the private sector where we have players but those players are regulated by too many people and one thing that happens with businessmen is that they are always looking for least area of resistance. If they know that if they come to NPA they will meet brick wall, they will go to where their brother is the director”, he said.
Harping on the need for a clearing house in the blue economy space, he said, “Let me give you an example, I was GM Marine when the late Yar’Adua approved Ugwuta port for NIWA, in fact, NIWA did not come to FEC that day. So, Idris Umar said, look, you are a Master Mariner, there’s nothing you cannot defend, tell Mr. President the justification of having a port in Ugwuta. Overnight, I didn’t know I was that brilliant, not that I was brilliant, the grace of God came upon me, so when I presented my case to late Yar’Adua, he approved it.
“Years later, a governor called the same year and said, ‘I want to collaborate with NIWA to develop Ugwuta lake.’ He asked, how much do you want for your consultancy and I said it is not money yet, allow me to do some initial legwork. Do you know what I discovered? The Ugwuta lake connects the Degema river through the Urashi river and Urashi river links up Degema river which now will link you up to other channels that will now link you to connect Onne port or Rivers port which is the intent – for inland water transport to link with maritime transport.
“But guess what? At Degema, NDDC has gone to build a bridge that, even at high water, a fisherman will have to bend his head before he can pass. The intention is good but because there’s no coordination, there’s no clearing house, a good intention has spoiled another good intention. Who is NDDC? Government! Who is NIWA? Government! But because of lack of collaboration, lack of proper coordination where we would have had a clearing house, you see that this intent has stalled one other thing.
“That’s why I said that there’s a relationship between coordination and collaboration and control. Now, control and leading are two tools of management and to give the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy that indirect way of exercising leadership and control, is by coordination. If he coordinates it, the first thing he is going to do is to constitute a technical Committee, with fellow Ministers who have public interest in that space and what will they do? Anybody that has interest in that space, no matter where he is coming from, there must be a clearing house.
“When there is a clearing house, there must be sanitization and that sanitization is a function of the sustainability of the environment which is one of the SDGs. It is not because I have bias to the sector I come from, I believe that if the government makes the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy the Coordinating Minister of the Blue Economy, he will now make sure that somebody is listening to the man, to his director who is talking about how the marine space can be sanitized, governed and regulated properly for this blue economy to excel, at the same time, the environment is sustained.”
Ebubeogu who is also a former General Manager, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, added that for the Minister to function effectively as the Coordinating Minister of the Blue Economy, he should not carry the structure that he inherited from the Ministry of Transport to the Marine and Blue Economy but for him to go ahead to create two new directorates with two directors to head them.
“One, Directorate of Blue Economy headed by a director and then, a directorate of Marine Space administration. With those two, he can be sure to receive all that it takes in ensuring that all the balancing aspects of moving the blue economy model is sustained.
“That was why I had to come up with that illustration where I talked about the balancing act, where we need to, if you read my text, you will find out that one of the things that I recommended is that at the ministry now, I am suggesting that we should have two directorates headed by two directors, one should be director of blue economy and the other one should be director, Marine Space administration,all answerable to the Minister.
“So, this is the reason, for sustainability, we need to strengthen that component of our ministry that somebody will stay here and be saying, look, while we are pursuing our endeavors through the blue economy activities, the sustainability, the sanitization, the proper governance of the marine space is very important to attend to”, he concluded.
On his part, Captain Tajudeen Owolabi Alao, President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners, NAMM hinted that the concept of the Marine and Blue Economy was still not well known to Nigerian hence the decision of the association to delve into what he called a “topical issue” to raise the awareness of Nigerians about the concept.
“They see it from different angles and you could see from this presentation that we now have proper insight into what it is and how to move forward”, Alao declared.
Declaring the readiness of the association to lend support when called upon, he said, “The essence of our association is to advise the government, respective agencies and even the stakeholders, that this is the way things should be so that it can be sustainable for the generality of the people.”
He however maintained that the idea of designating the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy the Coordinating Minister of the Blue Economy was a policy statement which the association would present to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, believing that if he accepts the framework, it would add value.
Photo: Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu, former General Manager, Marine and Operations, NPA (standing 3rd from left) and Captain Tajudeen Owolabi Alao, President of NAMM (standing 5th from left) in group photograph with with members of the association, representatives of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council, NPCC and Marine Engineering Students during the Quarterly Paper Presentation organized by NAMM in Lagos weekend.
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