By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr Dayo Mobereola as the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for a renewable term of four years to replace Mr Bashir Jamoh, whose tenure recently expired.
His appointment was announced in a statement late on Tuesday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale.
Mr Mobereola holds a PhD, and an M.Sc in Transport Economics from the University of Wales, United Kingdom.
He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport, in England, and a fellow of the same institute in Nigeria.
He had previously served under the president as a civil servant when he was the Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) from 2003 to 2015 and was also the Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State from 2015 to 2016 under then governor of the state, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.
In the private sector, he was Deputy Managing Director and Project Development Director at AFM Consulting Plc, London.
Mr Mobereola was also a Senior Economist at British Petroleum Shipping Limited, London.
The President said he expects the new Director-General to “bring his vast experience to bear in his new role and to achieve the mandate of NIMASA in providing world-leading standards of maritime safety administration, maritime labour regulation, marine pollution prevention and control, and search and rescue,” according to the statement.
He also expects Mr Mobereola to improve “cabotage enforcement, shipping development, and ship registration, in accordance with the policies and programmes of his Renewed Hope Agenda for the sector as guided by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.”
Mr Jamoh, earlier this week, handed the affairs of NIMASA to the Executive Director for Finance and Administration, Mr Chudi Ofodile, following the expiration of his four-year tenure on March 10, 2024.
Speaking during the handover ceremony at NIMASA Towers in Victoria Island, Lagos, Mr Jamoh expressed gratitude to the federal government for allowing him to serve in the capacity of NIMASA Director General and urged the next leadership of the agency to consolidate on the gains of the past four years.