*Amaechi lists criteria for appointive offices under Buhari
Inundated by stakeholders apprehension on the possible disruption of port operations with the appointment of a politician as the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC), the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has given insight into how and why Hon. Emmanuel Jime emerged as the most capable candidate for the job.
In what seems like a revelation on the criteria President Mohammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) party adopt for selecting people into appointive offices, Amaechi acknowledged that the humble, honest and patriotic disposition of Mr. Hassan Bello, the immediate past chief executive officer of NSC had set a standard for the kind of personality needed to bear the flag of continuity in NSC.
The seeming general apprehension as stated by the Minister on who takes over the mantle of leadership in NSC arose from the fact that the agency is the nation’s port economic regulator and so a bad choice in leadership succession could lead to chaos in the port industry.
Speaking penultimate weekend at the reception organised in honour of the new ES of NSC in Lagos by his brothers, Tiv Professionals in Lagos, Amaechi said, “President Buhari appointed Emmanuel Jime as the ES of NSC because he is a gentleman. Another gentleman has just exited there in the person of Hassan Bello. Both of them have a common feature of being loyal and honest Nigerians.
“Many people in Shippers” Council and Federal Ministry of Transportation were really apprehensive with the appointment of Jime in NSC. But I told some of us that I know him in politics and I can see a gentleman and so I can assume that he is a gentleman”, the Minister added.
According to him, some members of staff had threatened to retire and exit the system with Hassan Bello for the fear of the unknown but he urged them to wait and see the personality of who is to replace Hassan Bello before taking a decision. Amaechi narrated how one of the workers who had issued the threat of leaving worked with Jime for one week and made a volte face.
In his eulogy of the person of Hon. Jime, the Minister noted, “He cares about people like Hassan Bello. Bello goes to the extent of knowing your personal problems that is why most staff of NSC were worried about his exit. I once asked him if he ever knows how to say no to people. I told him to learn to say no. He never said no to me. Jime is like Hassan , very kind and honest. I am sure that is why we are here to celebrate him. That is what qualified him for the position”.
Amaechi who was the special guest of honour at the event, added, ” He hardly argues. He is jovial and very quiet. He is not like us who take decisions on the spur of the moment hoping that we are correct. But if we make mistake the correction takes its later course. When he(Jime) wants to take a decision, he thinks it through and act, like Hassan. They want it right at all times.”
The event provided the opportunity for the Tiv Professionals and nation to express their gratitude to President Buhari and Amaechi for giving their son, Hon. Jime the opportunity of taking appointment into government offices twice under the APC government.
Hon. Jime was appointed as the Managing Director of Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority(NEPZA) after his gubernatorial election in 2015 under APC. A former Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly and a two- time member of House of Representatives under the then ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
In his response at the event that featured the presence of all the heads of maritime agencies and the Nigerian Railway Corporation(NRC), the celebrant, Hon. Jime said the event gave him the opportunity to express his gratitude to Mr. President for his appointment as the ES of NSC, saying, “It is true that since this government came into power, I have been appointed into government offices twice by him. I want to join the rest of us in making the appeal that before the end of this administration many of us here will find favour in taking up appointments. But we have to work hard to earn the trust because this is politics. All I can say to the Minister is thank you so much. Thank you so much for being a gift to all the agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation. I thank the Tiv Professionals who have put this event together.”
“This occasion affords me the opportunity in a special way to feel loved and redeemed. I was initially reluctant about it but when I remembered the incident during my gubernatorial elections in 2019 in which it was said that I was not Tiv enough, I had a change of mind. A story was told that my mother was a Fulani woman and because Buhari wanted to take over the Benue land he brought his cousin and that is me. So, when the Tiv professionals wanted to honour me, I felt that my redemption has come. So, after today nobody dares refers to me as less a Tiv man because I am a full blooded Tiv man”. Jime said.
