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Tag: Patrick Akpobolokemi

  • EFCC alleges plot to frustrate ex-NIMASA DG’s trial

    EFCC alleges plot to frustrate ex-NIMASA DG’s trial

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday alleged there was a plot to frustrate the trial of a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi.

    He and three others were arraigned last Friday before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court.

    They were accused of converting N2.6billion as well as defrauding the Federal Government to the tune of N795.2million.

    Their trial was billed to begin on Monday, but counsel for the third defendant, Lanre Olayinka, was absent.

    He wrote the court, saying he traveled abroad for an urgent medical treatment.

    But EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said Olayinka’s absence was a ploy to delay the trial.

    “My learned friend did not provide sufficient explanation. There is nothing stating the whereabouts of other lawyers in his chambers.

    “When the case was adjourned last Friday, he never mentioned that he planned to travel or that he booked a ticket.

    “This is a clear manifestation of the defendant’s determination not to allow this matter to go on,” he said.

    Oyedepo urged the court not to grant an adjournment, saying he was ready to go on with the case having brought two of his witnesses.

    However, Akpobolokemi’s lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), said he needed more time to discuss with his client.

    “The point is that it will be difficult to represent the first defendant when I have not conferred with him,” he said.

    Ruling, Justice Buba said the “days of luxury” for the judge, lawyers and defendants during trials were over.

    “You cannot delay this trial. You can take it to another court, but you cannot stall the trial in this court. If anybody is not comfortable, let me return the case file to the Chief Judge,” he said.

    “Whether the defendants are able to perfect their bail terms or not, it should not affect the trial of this case, because even if an accused is not granted bail, he can still prepare his case.

    “It is fair enough that this court, conscious of the day to day trial, granted bail to all the accused without any formality. Notwithstanding the non-perfection of the bail condition, this court would have gone on with the trial.

    “The only snag is that third accused is not represented. Olayinka’s letter, to this court, is of no moment because he was in court with Mr. Shamsudeen Abubakar last Friday when this matter was adjourned till Monday.

    “This court must warn that any counsel who takes up a defence of an accused must come to terms with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, which has limited the number of adjournments to not more than five times.”

  • EFCC arraigns ex-NIMASA DG on fresh theft, fraud charges

    EFCC arraigns ex-NIMASA DG on fresh theft, fraud charges

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday arraigned a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, on new charge of converting N2.6billion.

    He was also accused of defrauding the Federal Government to the tune of N795.2million.

    Akpobolokemi was arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba along with three others – Capt. Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan – and three companies, namely Blockz and Stonz Limited, Kenzo Logistics Limited and Al-Kenzo Logistic Limited.

    In a 22-count charge, they were accused of converting a total of N2, 658,957,666 between December 23, 2013 and May 28 this year. The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

    Akpobolokemi and nine others, including two companies, were earlier arraigned before Justice Saliu Saidu of the same court on Thursday.

    They were accused of conspiring among themselves to convert N3.4billion belonging to NIMASA. They had also pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    In the November 23 charge signed by Festus Keyamo and Rotimi Iseoluwa, EFCC said Akpobolokemi, Agaba, Nwakuche and Juan conspired to convert and converted N437.7million between December 23, 2013 and March 13, 2014 in Lagos.

     

  • EFCC arraigns ex-NIMASA DG, others over N3.4b theft

    EFCC arraigns ex-NIMASA DG, others over N3.4b theft

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday arraigned a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi.

    He was arraigned along with nine others, including two companies, before Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

    They were accused of conspiring among themselves to convert N3.4billion belonging to NIMASA.

    The commission said the sum “was derived from stealing.”

    EFCC said the alleged offence contravenes Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition/Amendment) Act of 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3).

    The others are – Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Felix Bob-Nabena, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, Governor Juan, Ugo Fredrick, Timi Alari and two companies Al-Kenzo Limited and Peniel Engineering Services Limited.

    According to the charge dated November 20, signed by Festus Keyamo and Rotimi Iseoluwa, the accused persons converted the sums between December 2013 and July 15 this year.

    In count one, the defendants allegedly “conspired among themselves to commit an offence, to wit: conversion of the sum of ‎N1,151,214,000.00, property of NIMASA, which sum was derived from stealing.”

    EFCC said on December 23, 2013, the defendants allegedly converted N861.5million. On July 7 and 15 this year, they allegedly converted N235.4million.

    Akpobolokemi, Agaba, Nwakuche and Al-Kenzo were accused of converting N60million which they “derived from stealing.”

     

  • NIMASA spends over N32b on seafarers’, cadets’ training

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)  has spent over N32 billion  on 3,938 Nigerian seafarers’ and 44 cadets’ sea time training abroad, its Director-General, Patrick Akpobolokemi, has said.

    He told reporters in Lagos that NIMASA spent about N8 million on each trainee, adding that the aims are to stem criminality on our waters as well as end foreign dominance in the industry.

    Akpobolokemi, represented by the Executive Director of Maritime Safety and Shipping Development, Capt Ezekiel Bala Agaba, said NIMASA also trained 1,498 dockworkers in the first-half of the year, to boost cargo handling.

    Sea-time training for seafarers has  become a major challenge since the collapse of the national  line, hence, placing the seafarers aboard vessels has become a priority for NIMASA.

    The Nation learnt that NIMASA is set to float a new national carrier to give the seafarers the training at home and stop the huge amount spent on their training abroad.

    Akpobolokemi said: “Currently, if we decide to go and hire or procure a vessel to train cadets, we are looking at N23 million per year on each cadet, and I am sure you know that NIMASA cannot afford that. We are not funded by the government. It is funded by three per cent of vessels that come to Nigeria, if our trade goes down and vessels don’t come; we don’t earn money, there is no point hiring vessels and over the year we won’t be able to maintain them.

    “This is why we have decided to go a cheaper road by sending the cadets to available vessels all over the world, and the cost goes down from N23 million by owning a vessel, to about N8 million per cadet which is being prudent,” he explained.

    “We are not relenting in our quest to ensure that all beneficiaries of this programme acquire sea-time training, which was a challenge in the past.”w

    Apart from that, the agency has introduced a programme for ratings under which 200 beneficiaries will be sent to the Philippines for training, while another set of 100 beneficiaries will also proceed to Malaysia for training.

  • Here we go again

    Here we go again

    •Plan by NIMASA to float another national shipping line is antithetical to the privatisation programme

    Government, it seems, works in wondrous ways in the sense that the more it reforms, the more it refuses to change its ways. Take for instance, in the last three or so decades, the buzz word among economic managers has been ‘privatisation’ of public companies and businesses. Large bureaucracies have been established in the pursuit of this objective. Many government- controlled businesses have been passed to private hands over this period and many more are on the line.

    To augment the argument against government ownership of commercial businesses, numerous state -owned firms like national airlines, shipping lines and telecommunications companies were run right into the ground, irrespective of their mammoth sizes.

    It is in this light that we worry at the announcement by the apex maritime regulator, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that it has secured approval from the Federal Government to set up a new national shipping line. NIMASA’s director-general, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, made known this new policy at a workshop, revealing that the new carrier may set sail in about six month’s time. And that is about 24 years after the last one – the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) was caught up in a disastrous storm. The NNSL was an exceptionally pathetic case and represented the best reason why government must never dabble into any competitive business venture.

    At the peak of its glory in the late 1970s, NNSL was among the largest carriers in the world, boasting dozens of fleets of ship. But in less than two decades, the company capsized, so to speak, with all the ship seemingly vanishing into thin air and no one having given account of what transpired till date.

    Today, NIMASA plans to take us back to those days of official profligacy if not brigandage when national assets were nobody’s assets. Even though the NIMASA management claims to be considering a public-private partnership this time, we still need to be wary because what is at stake is our common wealth. While we concede that it is within the purview of NIMASA to embark on such a venture and that the failure of a previous effort should not mean a foreclosure of the idea of a national carrier, there are, however, a few points to ponder.

    First, we must take detailed stock of what transpired at the NNSL and how it met its ignoble end so that we may be better guided this time. Second, are national carriers still in vogue in the face of aggressive reforms and privatisation of government businesses? Third, and perhaps most important, the NIMASA management must remember that floating and running a shipping line is not its core business. It must prove a certain level of mastery and efficiency in its primary duties which include safety of our marine coastlines; regulation and development of shipping and maritime business in Nigeria as well as maritime environmental concerns. It is also expected that NIMASA would carry out a thorough cost-benefit analysis to determine that the decision to set up a national carrier is an economic one and not an ego trip.

    While we urge NIMASA to concentrate on its regulatory functions, we also wish to call its attention to the security lapses on our territorial waters which have left them prone to incessant attacks by pirates in recent years. The recent burst of oil theft on our waters which has assumed an international dimension calls for a drastic review of NIMASA’s mode of operation in order to get it up to speed in its core functions.

    NIMASA would add more value to Nigeria’s maritime and shipping industry if it jettisons the idea of floating a national carrier and devote resource and energy administering the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund and drive the development of indigenous shipping lines. That seems to make more economic sense, ultimately.

     

  • Reports on piracy misleading, says NIMASA boss

    Reports of attacks on ships on the nation’s territorial waters are sometimes exaggerated, the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr Patrick Akpobolokemi, has said.

    He told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Marine Transport that NIMASA is collaborating with some security agencies to stem criminality.

    The NIMASA boss said the collaboration with the Navy and the Air Force had helped to reduce attacks on ships and cargoes.

    “Not all the cases of reported hijacks, piracy and robbery on our waters are genuine. Some of these cases are hyped to undermine us and shore-up insurance premium to Nigeria. I am not saying that piracy does not occur in our domain, but it is exaggerated. We are working tirelessly to reduce piracy and illicit crimes on our waterways to the barest minimum through these collaborative efforts,” he said.

    Akpobolokemi said NIMASA under his watch was committed to positioning Nigeria as the best maritime nation in Africa, by 2020.

    He said the budget performance of NIMASA in terms of revenue generation showed an improved performance as at October 31, when compared to last year’s, indicating that the agency is set to meet its target before the end of the fiscal year.

    urged the Federal Government to formulate and implement good policies that will galvanise the required change in the nation’s maritime sector.

    Akpobolokemi urged domestic and foreign investors to invest in the nation’s maritime sector as over 5,300 vessels called at the nation’s sea ports last year.

    Also delivering a paper on the ‘Maritime Sector: Gateway to Nigeria’s economic transformation’ at the event organised by the Maritime Reporters Association (MARAN) in Lagos, last week, Akpobolokemi, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Mr Isichei Osamgbi, urged government’s agencies operating in the maritime sector to synergise to boost the sector.

    He said with appropriate synergy and information sharing, the sector would be transformed and yield huge revenue for the country.

    Akpobolokemi praised the National Assembly for its plan to amend the Cabotage Act and make it adaptive to the nation’s maritime industry.

    He listed the achievements of the agency during the period under review to include enhanced safety and security of the maritime domain through regular patrols, building a corps of qualified maritime professionals under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) scheme, establishment of Institutes of Maritime Studies in four universities, establishment of a Maritime University, establishment of a Science and Technical College and construction of a ship yard and dock yard.

    Others are regular funding of Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, recruitment of qualified professionals in line with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Audit requirements, enhanced flag and port state administration, submission of the instruments of ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 to the International Labour Organisation and procurement of boats through a PPP arrangement to boost enforcement.

    Appraising the agency’s performances, the Committee commended the budget performance of NIMASA this year.

    Its Chairman, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi noted that the management of the agency has been spending more on capital projects than overhead and described the step as a necessity and good omen if all sectors of the nation’s economy are to move forward.

    Ugwuanyi said his commitment will continue to support NIMASA in order to ensure maximum efficiency in the transformation of the maritime sector.

    The Committee also applauded the NSDP of NIMASA as a veritable tool for wealth creation and pledged its unflinching support for youth development in the sector.

    Speaking on the Cabotage Act, Ugwuanyi, however, said the committee had noted the concerns of the agency for an amendment to the law to make it more adaptable to the Nigerian maritime realities.

    He said: “We have noted your concerns about the Cabotage Act and have already made a presentation to the House Committee on Rules and Business. Very soon, the amendments will be presented to the House for consideration.”

    The Chairman however, urged NIMASA to support the aspiration of MAN towards transforming into a degree awarding institution, as that would further enhance capacity development in the maritime sector.

  • NIMASA chief deplores procurement law

    The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, has described the procurement law as outdated and inimical to the agency capacity building programme.

    He told The Nation that the bureaucracy associated with implementing the law, makes it antithetical to the agency’s programmes. Maritime administration, he said, is a security platform that requires urgent attention to meet domestic and international obligations within a limited time.

    The agency, he said, was canvassing the establishment of a maritime university, in addition to putting more resources into the maritime academy to bridge the human capacity gap in the sector, hoping that the procurement law would not stall the programme.

    He said the Act that established NIMASA stipulates that the agency must give five per cent of its statutory three per cent levy to the academy, adding that NIMASA received an approved budget of N2 billion intervention fund for Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron in Akwa Ibom State to boost human capacity development.

    The cash, he said, could only be released to them after passing through the bureaucracy attached to the law.

    Despite the bureaucratic nature of the law under which they are carrying out their core responsibilities, he said the agency would continue to boost training to empower people in their businesses; create employment opportunities for Nigerians in the sector and train young men and women in some maritime fields so that the human capacity gap could be closed in a few years.

    Akpobolokemi said NIMASA would send another 800 youths abroad to study Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and Nautical Sciences so that the problem of human capacity, which led to the liquidation of the Nigeria National Shipping Line, could be resolved.

    On the procurement law, he said: “Our procurement laws, to be honest, are very obsolete. They are not in alignment with current realities. The law alone is enough to make budget performance very poor. In maritime administration for instance, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) does not want to listen to complaints about our local law, because there are international parameters they would want to apply in judging all of us carrying out the same responsibilities across the globe.

    “Nobody cares about the local circumstances you are facing. For instance, if they expect you to pay their dues today and you did not pay because you are following one endless process, that is your own personal business; it has nothing to do with them.

    “Also, if you are supposed to police your territorial waters for peace and stability and because of procurement bureaucracy, bureaucracy of the civil service and the rest of them, you cannot meet up, it is your own personal problem, nobody takes it as an excuse. So, maritime administration is more or less a security organisation, and once we accord it that status, a lot of things can be expedited for the good of the agency and the country,” he said.

    He said one of the major problems confronting NIMASA is the delay in carrying out their core responsibility of securing the waterways and capacity building. In everything they do, he added, time is very essential.

    On oil theft, the NIMASA boss said the agency is making progress based on its collaboration with other security agencies to secure the waters. Some vessels and equipment would be deployed to secure the nation’s maritime domain soon, he said.

    Because of past mistakes, he said the agency is taking its time to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) so that the money will not go into wrong hands.

    He said as part of their capacity building efforts to support indigenous operators, the first batch of beneficiaries would emerge soon.

    “We have been to the ministry and we are at the final stage for the beneficiaries to get the fund to develop them. I know that once we are able to get this first set through, the coming sets will not be problematic or challenging,” Akpobolokemi said.