About three years and few months into the life of the present administration, senior maritime journalists are to unveil a book which captures the performance indices in customs operations and general maritime development.
Part of the book presentation is a seminar with a topic titled ‘3 Years After Marine & Blue Economy Ministry, How Far, How Well?. This paper will be deliered by the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola.
The book is about the comprehensive examination of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in both revenue generation, anti-smuggling operations and transformation within the country’s broader economic and trade architecture.
The book also places particular emphasis on the reform trajectory and institutional performance under the leadership of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR as well as the maritime agencies, while situating these developments within the wider policy direction of the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It presents a timely contribution to ongoing national conversations around revenue optimization, trade facilitation efficiency and institutional accountability.
The book equally captures activities in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy since its creation in 2023.
In particular focus are its agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN).
The book which is authored by two maritime journalists, Chief Timothy Okorocha and Mr Francis Ugwoke, and titled “Customs Operational Revolution and Maritime Development Under President Tinubu’ is billed for presentation on June 18, at Shoregate Hotels, 29 Joel Ogunnaike Street, GRA-Ikeja, Ikeja, Lagos, (opposite Lagos Marriott Hotel) by 10 am.
Okorocha and Ugwoke have covered the sector for decades, ranging from when they were Maritime Correspondents in Daily Times and Thisday Newspapers respectively to when they established their own industry publications.
The book unveils in many ways the trade facilitation efforts of the present crop of leaders in the Customs Service under Adeniyi.
It also unearths the value addition of the Customs Service in revenue generation more than ever before, placing the organization in a top-notch position to be reckoned with and coming after the heavily relied upon oil sector.
Similarly, the book highlights the narratives as far as key developments are concerned in the core maritime sector with emphasis on accolades recorded in the country’s good outing when she returned to the Category C Seat of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after close to a decade.
The return, the book notes, would not have been possible if not for the successes in the piracy war in both nation’s territorial waters and the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), a development that has made it possible for Nigeria to challenge attempts by multinational shipping lines/conference liners to impose war risk surcharges, among others on cargoes destined for Nigeria
The book also points to different weaknesses, challenges in customs operations, maritime development efforts and what experts insist must be addressed going forward.
Okorocha who is the Publisher/Editor-In-Chief of THIS PAGE NEWSPAPER based in Lagos, was the former Daily Times Bureau Chief in charge of the six South/South states, with Headquarter in Port Harcourt. At one time, he also served as the Newspaper’s Acting City Editor at its Kakawa office in Lagos.
He holds an Advanced Diploma in Journalism from the Times Journalism Institute (TJI) Lagos, a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Financial Management, and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calabar.
Ugwoke is the Managing Director of Sea Visions & Services Limited (Publisher of Shipping Day Online/Magazine), and was the Chief Maritime Correspondent, Regional Editor (South East), Group News Editor and Online Editor at different times for Thisday Newspapers.
While working in Thisday Newspaper, he won the first Best Maritime Reporter Award in 1997 organised by the Maritime Media Limited (Publisher of Shipping World Magazine). He holds Advanced Diploma in Journalism from Times Journalism Institute (TJI) and Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU).
As part of the seminar, the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Modereola and the Executive Secretary/CEO, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Dr. Pius Akutah, are all expected to deliver papers on different topics covering strides and challenges in their organisations in the past three years and few months of the present administration.
