NIMASA faces ejection for rent default

• Multi-billion naira resource centre rots away

Nigeria’s apex maritime regulatory organ, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), owes the landlord of its operational office overseeing the Lagos Port Complex (LPC), Apapa, Lagos State, a princely sum of N30 million, covering outstanding rents and service charges for 2015 and 2016, according to investigations.

The landlord has however threatened to eject the staff of the agency from the rented property.

This is even as the NIMASA Lagos Port Office is mulling relocation to a nearby alternative property for its “exclusive” rentage, having labelled its co-tenants in its present location “security risks” to its operations.

It was learnt that the NIMASA Lagos Port Office incurred the arrearage from its occupancy of extensive space for documents archive and offices on the third and fourth floors at the four-storey Atlantic House along Wharf Road, Apapa, Lagos, and a stone throw from both the NIMASA Head Office, the nine-storey Maritime House, on Burma Road, Apapa, and the LPC.

It was learnt that the Atlantic House landlord is allegedly seriously considering ejecting NIMASA from his property over the multimillion Naira debts, and being persistently treated shabbily by NIMASA officials in the course of attempts to get the Agency to settle the arrearage.

The landlord, it was gathered, has complained bitterly that, at various stages of the negotiations to recover his money from NIMASA, he had been treated like some contractor hustling for jobs.

While the drama between NIMASA and the landlord plays out, at its Tin-Can Island Port Office, the Agency is contending with not the issue of arrearage,  but that of having been allocated very inadequate space by the Seaview Properties Limited (SPL), a subsidiary of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), NIMASA’s sister-parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

A visit to the NIMASA Tin-Can Island Port Office revealed the ugly sight of documents overflowing from several so-called Ghana-Must-Go bags stacked along the passage.

In a related development, the building housing the NIMASA Western Zone Headquarters at Marine Road, Apapa, Lagos, has been designated as risky by the NIMASA Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who has ordered that integrity tests be conducted on the structure to determine its suitability or otherwise for continued occupancy.

Peterside, who was on a tour of the NIMASA operational facilities in the Western Zone Monday, added that the integrity tests would determine solutions to promptly making the depreciated structure wholesome again for safe occupancy.

Curiously, these slew of accommodation issues are swamping NIMASA while its prime property, the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), is lying fallow, long abandoned by successive managements of NIMASA.

However, the long years of neglect of the NMRDC by successive administrations of NIMASA may be over soon, if the incumbent management effects its plans to rehabilitate the complex located just off the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway at Kirikiri, Lagos State.

Checks by at the NMRDC revealed that it has transformed into a veritable ghost town, and is a far cry from the hub of maritime intellectual and capacity building activities it was aimed to be.

It would be recalled that on December 14, 2015, after his maiden tour, and only visit to date to the NMRDC, Transportation Minister Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi had roundly condemned what he described as the neglected and poor condition of the complex.

Curiously and amidst the multiple accommodation hiccups, NIMASA headquarter is housed in a tall and magnificent 9-storey building.

However, the NMASA management has confirmed that concerted efforts are on to inject life back into the expansive grounds of the NMRDC and make it meet the great expectations of stakeholders.

Confirming the impending resuscitation of the NMRDC, the Head, Corporate Communications Team of NIMASA, Hajiya Lami Tumaka, stated: “Upon assumption of duty, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, committed himself towards making sure that NIMASA is not just a high performance, research-based organisation, but that stakeholders are able to see the Agency in that light. He has consistently demonstrated this resolve and is committed to restoring the glory of the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), which has been abandoned by previous administrations, to be the intellectual hub of the Agency and indeed the Nigerian maritime industry.

“Already, due process requirements are being followed to give the complex a new look starting with advertisement for renovation of the buildings and equipping of the e-library, Learning Centre, Guest House and offices.”

Tumaka posited that NIMASA possesses the requisite human capacity, as has, according to her, been acknowledged by the Director-General and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Member States Audit Scheme (IMSAS) team that visited Nigeria for an audit recently.

She added: “It, therefore, stands to reason that the NMRDC is on its way to reclaiming its lost glory.”

Analysts opine that, with the extensive office facilities at the NMRDC, NIMASA should not be frittering scarce financial resources on renting accommodations for its operations, particularly when the complex is easily accessible by sea to the Lagos ports in Apapa and other areas further afield in the State of Acquatic Splendour.

Industry watchers posit that the rehabilitation of the NMRDC will boost maritime security and safety in Nigeria and other parts of the West and the Central African region, noting that the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (RMRCC) for the region is located at the complex.