By Stephen Ubanna,
Bashir Jamoh, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, is a happy man. Jamoh’s source of happiness is the several awards which he had received both within and outside the country in the last one year for his outstanding leadership potentials, which he has successfully used to reposition the Nigerian Maritime domain.
Some of the awards include”the Distinguished Merit Award for exemplary leadership achievements in Maritime Education in Nigeria from the Institute of Leadership and Development for the Public Good”, in Kansas, in the north American Continent of the United States, US. This is in addition to the merit awards from the Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria; and International students of the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano and other awards, too numerous to count.
Note that the Maritime Regulatory Agency under the close watch of Jamoh have received global accolades from notable organisations, including the International Maritime Organisation,IMO, over Nigeria’s anti-piracy efforts which had made the nation’s water’s as one of the safest in the world today as most of the Pirates operating in the Nigerian waters had relocated to other countries in the West and Central African sub-regions or gone underground, for fear of playing into Jamoh’s monitoring officers and Naval personnel’s hands.
His Laudable achievements in the nation’s maritime sector is so pronounced that the International Maritime Bureau, IMB, could confirm that the agency anti-piracy wa is yielding appreciable results in all its ramifications. IMB had reported that for the first nine months of this year, there have only been four recorded piracy attacks and sea robbery incidents in Nigerian waters compared to 17 in 2020 andnd 41, in 2018. .
Indeed, the latest of such award that have been given to the NIMASA, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, was the prestigious ‘‘Zik Leadership Prize in Public Policy’’ for 2020. The organisers of the award, the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre,PPRAC, had said that Jamoh was honoured for his ‘’giant strides in repositioning the Agency with initiatives that had inspired tremendous positive changes in the nation’s maritime domain’’.
An appreciative NIMASA boss, had thanked the organisers of the awards, which was held in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve center for deeming it necessary to consider for the ward . Jamoh, who could not hide his feelings, said“I grew up hearing of and watching the great Zik of Africa on TV’’. He recalled that back in those days in school”We were taught about Zik as one of the country’s founding fathers”, stressing that ” I could never have imagined that one day will be receiving an award in his name”. Hear him: To be a recipient of the Zik’s prestigious award is very humbling.
He may have singled out President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army General for a ‘‘special Appreciation’’ for giving him the opportunity to serve the country at the highest Level of Director General of NIMASA, in the nation’s maritime sector which have thrown up the Administrative potentials in him. He noted that without the top level appointment, he could not have had the opportunity’ ‘to contribute to the country’s maritime sector, let alone being recognised for ‘‘the Zik Leadership Prize in Public Policy”.
Jamoh, was said to have been accompanied to the event by his wife, Hajia Zulai jamoh, and one of his children, and several other dignitaries from the state who were amazed as friends, guests and industry stakeholders, poured encomiums on the Kaduna state born Administrator.
The NIMASA Director General, however, believes that he could not have attained the height he had reached in the nation’s Public sector without the support of the wife, Hajia Zulai Jamoh. He stopped short at saying that“No success story is ever complete without the home front and the foundation it provides’’ –This may have informed why he had repeatedly thanked Hajia Jamoh, describing her as ‘‘the star of the family’’ . He disclosed to the admiration of the signatories and other invited guests at the event that, the wife has continued ‘‘to provide him with all the daily support and encouragement he needed alongside all the children to excel.”
Nasir El-Rufai, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, during former President Olusegun Obasanjo Administration and governor of the north western state of Kaduna , who was said to have planned to be at the PPRAC, award ceremony billed to hold at Eko Hotel, in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve center, as jamoh, an indegene of the state, was being honoured but could not make it due to pressing state matters. However, he had sent a powerful delegations led by Hon.Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani Speaker, of the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
There are indications some other important top government functionaries, including Traditional Rulers, found their way to the PPRAC event in Lagos to identify with Jamoh, the NIMASA boss, who many believe is being prepared for a higher responsibility in the state in the future.
Anya O. Anya, a Professor and Chairman of the PPRAC award event had said that the NIMASA helmsman and the other awardees which include Anyim Pius Anyim, a former Senate President and one –time Secretary to the Governement of the Federation, Governors Babajide Sanwo-olu of Lagos State, and Abdullahi Sule of Nassarawa State, as well as Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director, GMD, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC, Mele Kyari, had emerged after a ‘’rigorous and detailed screening process’’.
Chief Mac Nwabara of the Advisory Board of PPRAC described the awardees as ‘‘people of character and achievement who had made humanity and Nigeria, in particular, proud in their different endeavours’’.
