Posted by By Godwin oritse on
INDIGENOUS Shipping Association of Nigeria [ISAN] has kicked against the appointment of Engineer Funsho Williams as chairman of the board of the National Maritime Authority [NMA], saying he [funsho] is not a maritime professional.
INDIGENOUS Shipping Association of Nigeria [ISAN] has kicked against the appointment of Engineer Funsho Williams as chairman of the board of the National Maritime Authority [NMA], saying he [funsho] is not a maritime professional.
Executive secretary of the group, Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, said that the group has done everything possible to ensure that seasoned maritime experts are appointed to head government maritime institutions, adding that politics as against professional competence is given priority when considering people for such appointments.
Ihenacho also said that until government changes its policy of putting politics before professional capability, the maritime industry will continue to suffer neglect.
The former ship captain explained that himself and a few other Nigerians are about the last generation of experienced seafarers whose contributions are necessary for the development of the industry.
Speaking in similar vain another retired ship captain Israel Obadan said that there are dearth of seafarers in the country, adding that if anything is not done to put a good training programme in place, it would spell doom for Nigerian and its citizens.
Obadan noted that the industry will continue to move in circles until the right calibre of people are made to man the right offices.
Speaking in defence of Funsho Williams' appointment, the Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, said that the newly appointment chairman of the board of NMA is a professional engineer.
He explained that government made sure that seasoned professionals were appointed into the boards of parastatals under the trnsport ministry.
It would be recalled that no maritime expert has been appointed as either the Director-General or chairman of the maritime regulatory authority since the agency was established almost twenty years ago.
While both the Director General [Festus Ugwu ] and the chairman of the board [Funsho Williams] are engineers, the immediate past Director-General of the Authority was Architect Ferdinard Agu.