Dakuku Peterside: We Inherited a Primitive NIMASA

Dr. Dakuku Peterside, a former House of Representatives member and immediate past governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, is currently the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), a job he took up precisely a year ago, when he was appointed  by President Muhammadu Buhari. Although an agency believed to be riddled  with corruption , Peterside has since assuming office, proven to be different with his many out-of-the box initiatives in redirecting the focus of the agency and reclaiming its place in the maritime sector, both as a regulatory and revenue-generating bureau of government. In this interview with Olawale Olaleye, Peterside, who claimed to have inherited a grossly unsophisticated agency with its headship often stifled from taking initiatives as a result of suffocating procedures, even when such is meant to drive the growth of the organisation, reckoned that it has not been easy in the last 12 months repositioning NIMASA. He too has not relented in his effort to not only change the modus operandi at NIMASA, but of course, the way of thinking of its members of staff. He said this much and addressed other ranging issues believed to be inhibiting the effectiveness of the agency. Excerpts:

#As the DG of NIMASA, how have you fared?

It’s been both challenging and interesting. It’s been a very rewarding experience. I have been involved in the executive arm of government as well as in the legislative arm of government. But this is my first involvement in a regulatory agency. An interesting thing is that this place is peculiar. It is a place, where you have no friend because your duty is to force others by the authority of the law to comply and people ordinarily do not like to comply...