By Stephen Ubanna
When Adegboyega Oyetola, a former governor of Osun and political ally of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was appointed the minister of the newly created ministry of marines, and blue economy, on August 2023, not many industry operators give him opportunity to succeed.
This is because of his lack of knowledge on how the nation and global maritime industry operates. But the former Osun state governor who likes challenges and how to confront such was said to have hit the ground running by the putting the necessary structures in place like a thorough bred politician to prove bookers wrong that he can deliver on his Presidential mandate.
The minister who was said to have been confronted with the problem of turning the new ministry into another major source of revenue for the Federal Government by using ocean resources, solve the persistent boat mishaps in Nigerian waters and the Apapa Gridlock to facilitate the movement of truck laden cargoes and other vehicular movements in and out of the port environment with ease without endangering lives appears determined to succeed.
Determined to curtail the persistent boat accidents in Nigerian waters, he was said to have taken the first major bod step by inaugurating a special Committee on ‘’prevention of boat mishaps last February’’. The Committee was said to have been given 21 days to carry out the national assignment.
Acting out the script of the ministerial Committee on prevention of boat mishaps in Nigerian waters and the Nigerian Inland water ways Authority, NIWA, under the close watch of Bola Oyebamiji, may have encouraged the workaholic minister to officially flag off on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the distribution of 42,000 life jackets to waterway users across some selected marine states in this first phase of the exercise.
Some of the marine states that were said to have benefited from the distribution of the Life jackets in this first phase of the exercise include Lagos, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross river, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Niger, home state of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, a rtd , Army General.
In flagging off the distribution of the life safety jackets in the north central state of Niger; the minister of marine and blue economy had declared that each of the beneficiary states will receive 3,500 of such life jackets in this first phase of the strategic safety prevention exercise Describing the initiative as one of ‘’the most comprehensive federal responses in recent times to curb the persistent loss of lives on Nigeria’s waterways’’.
The minister who had said that the boats mishaps were a fallout of human error, poor equipment, and non-compliance with safety measures was said to have called the trend ‘’a national emergency which had had underscored the need for the collective action’’.
Besides the distribution of safety jackets to some of the marine states across the country, the minister may have gladdened the heart of the boat users when he announced the Federal Government’s introduction of the Inland Waterways Transportation Regulations, 2023, described in maritime circles as ‘’the Waterways Transportation code’’, aimed at standardizing operations, enforcing compliance and creating more structured environment for investment and safety in Nigerian waters.
Femi Oloruntola, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, in his remarks had stressed the importance of wearing life jackets, urging boat owners and operators who are legally responsible for providing the jackets to their passengers to always do so as the government has stepped in ‘’to bridge the gap which had existed over the years’’.
He noted the ministry of marine and blue economy official duties in Niger state, on April 29, 2025, was to reiterate and encourage the use of life jackets by inland and coastal waterways users in the marine states to curb the alarming boat accidents. ‘’Safety on Nigerian waters is the first rule and remains the government top priority list’’, he had said.
Appealing for continuous sensitization and public education to promote the life jacket usage, he had said that it is the only it will be popularized among the passengers using the country’s inland and coastal waterways to get to their riverine Communities or markets.
Officials of the ministry and NIWA, may have used the opportunity provided at the Launching of the safety jackets in Niger state to call on the authorities, traditional institutions, waterways users, and the boat transport operators ‘‘to fully embrace the use of the safety live jackets, comply with safety standards, and promote a culture of accountability and preparedness across Nigeria’s Inland and coastal waterways’’.
Mohammed Umaru Bago, governor of Niger state, may have taken advantage of the distribution of the safety jackets to some selected marine states in the state to speak out on the battle that had been waged by his government to prevent waterways mishaps.
The governor who was said to have been represented at the Flag off event of the distribution of safety jackets to some selected marine states across the country, including Niger, by Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, who is the third in hierarchy in the state, had lauded the minister ‘’for Launching the campaign for the distribution of the safety jackets in the state’’, revealing that ‘’the north central state had recorded the highest casualties from boat accidents in 2024, alone’’.
The Niger state House of Assembly Speaker may have spoken the mind of Bago, the state governor, when he reechoed the government’s determination ‘’to address the issue of boat mishaps frontally through strict enforcement and proactive intervention’’.
Hajia Hadiza Idris Kuta, the state Commissioner of Transport, who may have joined the House Speaker to express appreciation to the minister of marine and blue economy to have selected the state among other marine states across the country to officially Flag off the distribution of the life jackets in this first phase of the exercise , had thanked the former Osun state governor who was said to have also spent millions of naira to procure additional three passenger oats, a water ambulance and patrol boat, which was said to have been donated to the state alongside the 3,500 jackets , had said that it will go a long ‘’ way to further bolster the state ‘s marine safety efforts’’.
In the goodwill messages that were said to have been delivered by the Representative of the Etsu Nupe, Brig. Gen. Yahaya Abubakar, rtd, who incidentally is the Chairman of the Niger state Council of Chiefs, and Chairman, Niger state House Committee on Transport, Chairman of the Association boat Operators in the state, and various Community Leaders , they were said to have unanimously commended the minister of marine and blue economy for ‘’the timely intervention’’.
Enough on reports on the prevention of boat accident on Nigeria Inland and coastal water ways. We turn to the minister’s efforts in addressing the gridlock at the Apapa environment. The minister who had revealed the fierce behind the scene battles that had led to the eventual clearing of the Apapa gridlock, described by maritime operators as ‘’a debilitating crisis that had crippled operations and economic activities at the Lagos ports over the last two decades was happy that the problem had been solved once and for all.
The no nonsense minister who is determined to crush any person posing as a threat to him not to achieve his Presidential mandate to ease the movement of cargoes and services at the Lagos ports , may have taken the ample opportunity provided by the Study Group 4, members, Senior Executive Course 47, of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies , NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau state, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, to speak out.
The minister had alluded to the long and difficult journey to restoring order to the Lagos maritime corridor, described as an important maritime corridor in the West and Central African subregions, stating that victory did not come easily.
In achieving the target, he had told the NIPSS, Study Group members, senior Executive course 47, that he had ‘’ to confront and dismantle entrenched interests and well-organized syndicates who had for years fed fat on the chaos surrounding the ports and their access roads’’.
He may have shocked the NIPSS study Group members when he asserted that ‘’the Apapa gridlock wasn’t natural but human-induced’’. He noted that there were people who had built careers and empires on the dysfunction of of the Lagos corridor, which may have informed why he has to use all the available force to break into this cycle of people who didn’t want change.
He had recalled that on assuming office in August 2023, it became clear to him that the Apapa gridlock which was not natural must be tackled headlong if the Nigeria’s economy is to survive.
He noted that despite the administrative inefficiencies and infrastructural collapse that was said to have been encountered by him in the process to clear the busy Apapa road as the system had been hijacked by the entrenched interests, he was still determined to clear the road and make motorable.
He had remarked that ‘’clearing the Apapa gridlock meant going against years of collusion, corruption, and carefully motivated disorder’’. With the backing of the Nigerian President, the ministry and the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, officials were said to have identified the patterns, unmasked the players, before taken a decisive action to deal with criminal elements. ‘’It was gritty and risky, but it had t be done’’, the minister had told the NIPSS study Group 4, members.
He had said that the ministry could not have succeeded in repairing the failed portion of the Apapa road without the support of Engr. Dave Umahi, a former governor of Eboyi state and now minister of works.
He had recalled that in December 2023, he had formally reached out to his Counterpart in Works, Engr. Ubahi, requesting for urgent intervention on the failed of the Apapa port access road and he did not hesitate in doing so. The works minister was said to have ‘’responded with commendable agency’’, the former Osun state governor had said.
He averred that he could not have succeeded in clearing the infamous Apapa access road without the involvement of Gov. Babajide Samwo-Olu, governor of Lagos state who was said to have used Executive Orders, in removing the shanties and other illegal structures on the port road. An elated Oyetola had said that ‘’with the road fixed, access restored and a new digital system introduced for truck scheduling and movement’’, the once-notorious Apapa gridlock quickly began to ease and finally disappeared.
It was not surprising that for the first time in 20 years of the Lagos ports operations, ‘’trucks no longer spent weeks, waiting to pick up cargo at the port as port users had begun to experience seamless movement while haulage costs dropped significantly by as much as 6% just as NPA, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, terminal operators and shipping companies revenues appears to be growing at the ports.
Many believes that if past ministers of the old ministry Transportation overseeing the nation’s maritime had taken the bold initiative to tackle the problems at the nation’s maritime industry, inherited by the new ministry of marine and blue economy, around the Lagos ports, particular, and the issue of boat mishaps, have the situation would not have been as bad as to given Oyetola, the minister of marine and blue economy a cause to worry about that he has taken much of 2024 and now to fix.
