Not many gave him a chance to succeed when in August 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed him to midwife the newly created Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Coming from the hangover of the lacklustre performance of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, whose eight years tenure as Transportation Minister was nothing but lacklustre, the general expectation that this time around, a core industry professional would be picked, not another politician.
But this was not to be. For an industry bedevilled with myriad of problems ranging from the non-disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF), Nigeria’s perennial failure to make the IMO Category ‘C’ seat, to the discrimination against products of the cadets of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, as largely half baked, critical stakeholders in the maritime sector were hopeful that President Tinubu would get it right by naming a professional to oversee the new ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. There is no doubt that Oyetola’s appointment took a lot of stakeholders by surprise.
As a one-term Governor of Osun State, he was written off as ‘ non-performer’ who like Amaechi, would just come and play politics and leave the stage thereafter. I was one of those strong critics of Oyetola. As one of his critics, we had called him “Baba Go Slow”. We had concluded that nothing good would emerge from his tenure as Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
But my chance meeting with Dr. Charles Akinola, who has worked with Oyetola for close to two decades both as his Chief of Staff as Governor of Osun State and as Minister, would change all that. Charles had confided in me sometime last year that Oyetola was “strategically slow”, and a good listener. “Mr. Beks, you will need to get closer to him to appreciate the depth of his knowledge and his philosophy in life”, Akinola had told me .
Dr. Akinola admitted that a lot was going on in the ministry, but that part of the challenge was that activities of the Minister were hugely underreported. It was like winking in the dark, he had told me. He said under his leadership, Nigeria now has its first ever Marine and Blue Economy Fisheries and Aquacultre Policy.
Oyetola’s bold initiatives, he explained, had also rubbed off positively on decades the Apapa gridlock, attracting large container carriers to Nigerian ports.
Oyetola’s commitment to workers welfare is evident in the signalling of an upward review of the minimum wage in the shipping industry to about N200,000.
As a relentless advocate for indigenous ship owners, Oyetola had told me at an interview that the CVFF represents more than just an access to financing, it is a strategic tool for deepening local content, strengthening the presence of Nigerian operators in both domestic and international waters.
He explained that the actions and inactions of previous administrations belong to history.
What matters now, he explained, is the deliberate course correction that is already under way.
Oyetola says under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this administration has demonstrated a clear political will and an unwavering commitment to revitalizing the maritime sector, particularly through the development and promotion of indigenous shipping capacity which is critical to Nigeria’s long term economic sovereignty.
For a sector which had not witnessed any direct government intervention for more than two decades, the directive by Oyetola to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to immediately commence the disbursement of the about $700 million CVFF could not have come at a better time.
On its part, NIMASA has enlisted the services of 12 Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) from the initial five to facilitate the process.
Under the guidelines approved by the Federal Government, NIMASA will contribute 50 per cent, 35 per cent by the PLIs, while each applicant is to cough out 15 per cent.
Oyetola is looking at a timeline of between now and six months for actual disbursement to commence.
If this happens, and which is very likely, with NIMASA running against time to beat the Minister›s deadline, Oyetola would certainly have proven every doubting Thomas wrong. This singular action has the possibility of turning around the fortunes of the maritime sector, and also leaving in its wake the prospects of creating thousands of jobs.