By Enyeribe Anyanwu
Recently, some Nigerian shipping operators called for criminal prosecution of officials of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for abandoning the ₦50 billion floating dock the agency acquired over eight years ago.
The ship owners demanded accountability and justice, describing the whole scenario as an economic sabotage that has cost the nation billions of naira. Curiously, there has been no reaction from any quarters concerning this patriotic call. But checked from every angle, the demand is in order.
At the moment, the floating dock is being ravaged by corrosion in a remote part of Lagos Lagoon, and gradually becoming a wreck.
The sad story of the floating dock began in June 2018 when it arrived Nigeria without any preparation by its supposed owners to receive it and dock at a prepared place. Hence, from the time it arrived the Lagos waters, the floating dock started the journey to dereliction, being moved from one location to the other with millions of Naira being frittered away daily as berthing charges and maintenance costs.
From that moment till now, the floating dock has remained idle while gulping billions of Naira yearly. This is despite all the noise made in marketing the floating dock to Nigerians, especially the ship owners. It was bruited that the floating dock would drastically reduce or eliminate the cost of dry-docking Nigerian vessels abroad, as well as provide engineering training for students of Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.
As far back as 2019, Nigerians were told that the modular floating dock had been concessioned to a company, and would generate $65.6million (about N27.2billion) for government, and create over 800 direct and indirect jobs. The NIMASA management had also on several occasions spoken about plans and actions taken to make the asset operational and to begin to generate billions of Naira into government coffers, and saving Nigerian ship owners the enormous cost of dry docking their vessels outside Nigeria.
All these have ended as mere talks, as eight years down the line, instead of Nigerians reaping the much-trumpeted benefit of the floating dock, all they have seen is an asset that has turned to a liability, an asset that has become a symbol of economic sabotage and impunity.
Recent reports have it that the floating dock has been towed to and, abandoned at a bushy water front in one of the Lagos lagoons where it is rusting away and providing shelter for hoodlums, criminals and prostitutes.
One can recall that in 2021, the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) raised the alarm that the N50bn Floating Dock acquired by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was becoming derelict and had been removed from the Lloyd’s Register. While remaining idle and abandoned since it was built in 2016, it had not been surveyed and had to be yanked off the Lloyd’s Register, having gone out of class.
Unfortunately, this alarm was not heeded, and the situation has now deteriorated to almost the point of no return.
The floating dry dock was built by renowned Damen Shipyards Goringchem of Netherlands. According to the marine engineers, the NIMASA floating dock is one of five types of dry-docks used for ship repairs. It is a submersible platform that is specifically designed and used to repair vessels. It is a mobile facility that can be navigated to the location of a disabled vessel at sea, carry the vessel, and navigate back to base where the disabled vessel can then be repaired and restored back to service.
This is the asset that is wasting away, being ravaged by corrosion, not at a dockyard but at a bushy location. While this is going on, Nigerians are still being regaled with beautiful speeches and promises.
All the hue and cry by ship owners, the media and maritime stakeholders over time have fallen on deaf ears, changing anything.
From Ziakede Patrick Akpobolekemi who initiated the project to Dakuku Peterside who nurtured it, and took delivery of the asset to Bashir Jamoh, and to the present Director-General of NIMASA, Dayo Mobereola, Nigerians demand accountability. They are tired of sweet talks, promises, and motions without movement concerning the floating dock.
Because of the present condition of the floating dock, the criminal handling, and considering that there is no immediate action being taken to salvage the ill-fated floating dock and make it operational, one cannot help backing the call for the prosecution of the past NIMASA executives and all their collaborators in and outside government that have brought a brand new government asset to a lamentable state of disrepair without working for a day.
It is incontrovertible that the NIMASA floating dry-dock stands as a symbol of government waste and mismanagement; hence, any call for prosecution of NIMASA and government officials, including the so-called concessionaire of the floating dock, and all those who have a hand in this criminal mismanagement cannot be faulted. Nigerians really deserve justice over the floating dock.
If those behind this wastage of national asset and resources are not brought to book, more of such wastages will continue with impunity –at the detriment of the tax payer and the economy.
