Senate, Reps joint c’ttee summons NIMASA’s chief executive, risks arrest

TRACKING____ Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, risk being sanctioned should he fail to appear before a joint investigative committees of the National Assembly.

The joint committee investigating the breach of Nigerian laws by foreign vessel owners in the coastal region of the country had earlier walked out the representatives of NIMASA from the public hearing on Tuesday.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Sen. Teslim Folarin and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Rep. Legor Idagbo, berated Peterside for shunning the invitation of the joint committee despite several reminders.

Sen. Folarin described the action of the Peterside as unfortunate, before ordering leader of the NIMASA team to the investigative hearing to leave the venue of the hearing.

He said that “it is very unfortunate that men in position of authority would flagrantly shun the invitation of the Senate. I spoke with Peterside about this event. He was supposed to come three weeks ago, but he didn’t come.

“We rescheduled this event because of him. I called him and asked him to pick a date and he picked today, only for him to write the clerk three days ago that the Senate committee was coming to see him.

“This is an investigative hearing which supersedes any other engagement. We won’t sit here and be wasting our time. We will give him one more chance, just one chance. If he fails to honour the next invitation, we know what to do.”

Also, Chairman of the House Committee on Local Content, Rep. Idagbo, while corroborating Sen. Folarin’s position berated the NIMASA boss over his behaviour.

He stated that “I think we should be ashamed of ourselves as Nigerians. A situation where invitations are sent out and all we get are excuses. I am aware that Sen. Folarin had conversation with the director general of NIMASA and he picked this date.

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“The director general went through his calendar and picked this date only for him to send representatives to us today. This committee’s invitation got to him first before that of the House, but he chose to ignore us.

“What the director general of NIMASA should have done is to explain to the House committee that he already has an invitation to an investigative hearing from this joint committee. He could even honour our invitation and still meet up with his appointment with the House committee.

“We cannot continue like this as a country. We sit down at the comfort of our offices and live large. We copy what happens in other countries yet we fail to do what they do there. We fail to respect constituted authority.

“You people (NIMASA) should be ashamed of yourself. How do we move forward as a country if we continue like this? What engagement is more important than this type of investigative hearing. This type of attitude is unacceptable.”