That Amaechi’s Last Minute Inauguration of Maritime Agencies Board

Controversy seems to be the middle names of the erstwhile Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

That being the case, it is, therefore, not surprising that he vacated the office of the Minister of Transportation in a blaze of controversy.

A few hours to his packing his bag and baggage and leaving the cabinet office on Friday 13th May 2022, Amaechi inaugurated the boards of some parastatals and agencies under his ministry. Incidentally, the day May 13 was the day President Buhari hosted a valedictory session for former ministers who had just resigned from his cabinet because of their political aspirations in the ongoing political process.

As one of the presidential aspirants under the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi was at the valedictory party having succumbed to the President’s directive that all the members of the Federal Executive Council running for elective offices should resign from the cabinet. President Buhari had on May 11, 2022 in a memo signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, ordered all those running for offices in the forthcoming elections to resign their appointments.

Amaechi was one of the political appointees who refused to do the right thing, and resisted the stringent calls by Nigerians for them to resign from the federal cabinet in line with the electoral laws.

Having been caught in the web of the President’s intervention, Rotimi threw in his own resignation letter, and attended the President’s valedictory session.

But before attending the farewell session, the former transportation minister hurriedly inaugurated the boards of some agencies under his ministry, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), and the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).

This last minute inauguration has turned out to be another source of controversy for Amaechi, as it is being hotly challenged by industry stakeholders, with many calling for the dissolution of the inaugurated boards.

According to the National Coordinator of Niger Delta Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance Group (Niger Delta TAG), Chief Julius Godspower, there must be “something fishy somewhere about the hasty inauguration of the boards by the former Minister”.

“One hopes that the new leadership of the Ministry will look into that action and reverse it. The former Minister has a penchant for impunity and disregard for due process, which is rather unbecoming and must not be allowed to stand,” he said.

The President Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS), Nigeria Chapter, Dr. Chris Osoba Ebare, while commenting on the issue, asked the new Minister of Transportation, Senator GbemisolaSaraki, to dissolve and reconstitute the boards.

In his own reaction, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Apapa Port Chapter, Dom Onyeka, said, “Obviously, Amaechi did the inauguration for selfish interest. He even appointed his campaign DG as the Chairman of the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding of Nigeria (CRFFN). He does everything with impunity.”

Onyeka further said, “Bringing in people who have shown interest in one political office or the other into the agencies’ board is a strategy to campaign and woo those boards’ constituents to himself. And this is against the directive by Mr. President. It is so unfortunate.”

Truly, maritime industry stakeholders are displeased by Amaechi’s last minute inauguration of the boards whose members were appointed since early April. Obviously, this was one of the functions he ought to have performed earlier but which were sacrificed on the altar of politics and politicking.

However, having ignored to perform the function this long, the best Amaechi should have done is to leave the responsibility entirely to his successor. At least, that would have been the first official function his successor, Gbemi Saraki, his former junior minister should have performed. But Amaechi preferred to do it before hurrying away from the office in order to ingratiate some of the board members who are his close allies, or as being alleged, in order to use them to further his political ambition.

Indeed, Amaechi’s penchant for controversy is unrivalled in Buhari’s civilian administration. Many instances of his arbitrary actions and decisions abound, especially concerning award of major contracts in the departments and agencies in his ministry. Some of those arbitrary actions are still being challenged in court by stakeholders and concerned citizens.

Now that the stakeholders are calling for the dissolution of the inauguration of the boards of the agencies because of the way it was hurriedly done, it will be proper for President Buhari to take a second look at the exercise and the motive behind Amaechi’s last minute inauguration. The President must not forget that for a government that sees itself as fighting corruption, transparency is key. Viewed from all angles, the last minute inauguration of the boards is hazy and smells of self-interest.

It is expected that Gbemi Saraki, the substantive Minister of Transportation, would raise a memo to that effect. This is with the view to having a board that will be respected, and that will serve the people and not narrow interests.