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Too many people are after my job in NIMASA—-Jamoh cries out, explains reasons for malicious campaign against him

Bashir Jamoh, DG, NIMASA
The Eyewitness Reporter
Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has given an insight into the barrage of allegations against him in recent times in some sections of the media.
Reacting to the recent attack on him which borders on financial prolificacy, nepotism and corruption, the DG of NIMASA said all these campaigns of calumny are sponsored by people who are after his job in NIMASA.
Speaking with an online medium, The Nigerian Economy, in a telephone interview from Ghana where he was attending a conference, the embattled NIMASA DG declared that he was tired of hearing the barrage of allegations which has become a pastime for his distractors.
He also attributed his travails  to his close relationship with former President Mohammed Buhari which he claimed  his accusers are exploiting to drag him in the media.
Jamoh is married to Buhari’s niece and his daughter is married to Buhari’s nephew.
“From what I gathered, one, they (his enemies) are looking at my relationship with the previous government.
“Two, too many people are after my seat. I think they are the ones sponsoring all these malicious accusations, but it is not enough for me to deny the accusations.

“I want to charge all journalists to delve into the issues and see for themselves, whatever accusations they have against me”

Jamoh said he was getting tired of hearing the myriads of accusations against him, wondering what it all portends for his enemies and the country at large.

Jamoh denied all the accusations and reports of corruption against him saying that budgeting is done according to the needs and priorities of the agency and approved by the national assembly.

“Some of these allegations have gone to the SSS. I am very tired. I think in the future many good people won’t like to work for the government because there is no point for me burning my youthful age serving my country.

“I spent seven years serving Kaduna State Government, and now, 30 years serving the Federal Government, only for somebody to take paper and biro and start to write fictitious lies against me. What will I do with this money?

“This is not the first time these people are doing this. They alleged that I have N45 trillion. The entire budget of NIMASA from its days as NMA till today is not up to that.

“The bank they said I have N1.5 trillion, the entire banking assets and deposit of that bank are not up to N1.5 trillion.
” I have never maintained an account with Fidelity Bank. I don’t have a foreign account and I don’t have any company account.
“My account is one salary account. So how do I get that money? They said that I inflated the NIMASA budget.

“How do I inflate the budget, when the budget goes through the national assembly?

“They said the budget for training went up by 500%. I was the head of training at the agency before I was promoted to the Executive Director level.

“Since 2020 when we had COVID, we don’t have large sums for training.
” This matter was taken to the National Assembly and is well known.

“Journalists can visit our office and ask for our financial reports. I am always transparent.”

Jamoh insisted that he was not ready to join issues with his detractors, noting that he deliberately declined approval to all statements written by the agency’s Public Relations Department in reaction to some of the allegations.

“Just last week, the same media organization reported that we didn’t deploy the Deep Blue project. Can you imagine that?

” The Nigerian Navy, Army and Air Force are the ones manning the assets, not NIMASA and the Navy came to NIMASA recently to explain that these assets have been deployed and they are using them.
” The President wrote to direct us to release air platforms to the Nigerian Air Force, water platforms to the Navy and land assets to the Nigerian Army.

“And these assets were deployed accordingly and we have even seen the effect in the recent reduction in piracy.

“I am in Ghana now, and the Chief of Army staff is here too. He was the one who spoke on the operations of the Deep Blue Project and everybody was clapping.

“Last year, we had the NISA (Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association) dinner and the Nigerian Navy disclosed that their capacity had been increased by 50%.

“I have been quiet. The agency’s communication department has been writing but I don’t want to react by myself to these unfounded allegations.

” I want journalists to write. I just read here in Ghana about a civil society organization protesting in Abuja saying that allegations about me are a distraction. I don’t know them, but I am just reading it now here in Ghana.”

He maintained that every agency’s budget is tailored to meet the needs of the agency.

“If the budget increases, it depends on the priorities that we have. I don’t know what they saying, but I can state that nobody took a kobo for doing nothing.

“The training we had we made it more elaborate and tried to divide the training in terms of professionalism.
“So many professional trainings we were not doing before, now we do. I have put the agency on the global maritime page.
“Before I took over the management of the agency,  we didn’t have any vessel.
“Now we have five brand new vessels built with bulletproof,” he said.”
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Customs Steps Up Nationwide Green Tax Awareness Ahead of July 1 Rollout

Funso OLOJO, Editor

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intensified its nationwide sensitisation campaign ahead of the July 1, 2026 implementation of the Green Tax Surcharge and related fiscal adjustments, aimed at promoting environmental sustainability and encouraging the importation of cleaner vehicles.

The awareness campaign, held on Friday July 26th, 2026 at the Apapa Area Command, brought together Customs officers, licensed customs agents, freight forwarders, importers and other key stakeholders under the theme: “Implementation of the Green Tax Surcharge and Related Fiscal Adjustments.”

Representing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, the Zonal Coordinator, Zone A, Mohammed Babadende, said the exercise was designed to ensure stakeholders fully understand the policy before its implementation.

“This sensitisation is designed to ensure that every stakeholder clearly understands the policy before implementation. Our objective is to eliminate uncertainty, promote voluntary compliance and guarantee uniform application of the Green Tax Surcharge across all commands,” Babadende stated.

Delivering a technical presentation, the Comptroller in charge of Tariff, System Audit and Coordination, Murtala Muazu, explained that the Green Tax Surcharge is different from conventional fiscal measures and would therefore require a separate assessment process.

He disclosed that the Service has simplified implementation through the HS Code declaration platform to facilitate seamless compliance by importers and clearing agents.

Muazu also revealed that the Federal Government has reduced import levies on vehicles from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, while import duty on used vehicles has been slashed from 15 per cent to five per cent to cushion the impact of the new environmental surcharge.

Area Controllers who participated in the sensitisation urged importers, licensed customs agents and the trading public to embrace the initiative, stressing that the reduction in import levies would lower the cost of doing business, promote legitimate trade and ultimately reduce transportation costs.

Stakeholders welcomed the policy but called for sustained public enlightenment to deepen understanding and ensure seamless compliance ahead of the July 1 commencement date.

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Headlines

Beyond Lagos: The untold realities of Nigeria’s Eastern corridor seaports

Monday Discourse with  Ibrahim Nasiru
When the World Bank and S&P Global recently released the 2025 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), the headlines understandably erupted in celebration.
For Tin Can Island and Apapa to land in the global Top 20 for performance gains is undoubtedly a historic milestone.
Yet, for seasoned maritime analysts and industry stakeholders, a glaring question remains: what about the rest of Nigeria’s coastlines?
While the satellite data accurately captures a localized turnaround in the Lagos pilotage districts, it simultaneously masks a stark regional imbalance.
The narrative of Nigerian maritime modernization cannot begin and end in Lagos.
 To truly turn the tide, the conversation must expand to the Eastern Corridor encompassing Onne Port, Port Harcourt Port, Calabar Port, and Warri Port.
The fundamental issue is that the World Bank’s CPPI relies strictly on automated vessel AIS data tracking.
It registers a win when ship turnaround times shrink at a berth, but it completely shuts out the structural and geographical deficiencies that prevent large vessels from even sailing into Eastern waters in the first place.
Modern deep sea shipping lines require drafts starting at 15 meters.
While multi-billion naira investments and natural depths allow Lagos and the expanding Lekki Deep Sea Port to receive mega-vessels, Calabar Port remains severely hindered by an un-dredged channel hovering around a shallow 6 to 7 meters.
Port Harcourt suffers from similar shallow constraints. Without aggressive, patriotic capital dredging projects, the devils in the details ensure that these regional Ports remain underutilized, regardless of how much digitization is deployed on paper.
It is easy for policymakers to announce massive financial interventions.
Critics are entirely right to point out that the Federal Government’s massive Port modernization plans must yield measurable metrics on the ground, not just political headlines.
However, recent data shows that commercial viability is waiting to be unlocked.
In overall cargo throughput metrics, Onne Port has consistently proven that the Eastern flank possesses massive economic power when given the operational room to breathe.
The roadmap for greenfield developments like the Ibom deep seaport and others exists, but real execution under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework will be the ultimate judge of these investments.
The current operational reality forces an unnatural economic bottleneck.
 Importers in the South-East and South-South regions frequently clear their goods in Lagos, only to transport them across hundreds of kilometers of volatile highways back to Eastern markets.
This layout drives up logistics expenses, completely wiping out the macro efficiencies celebrated in recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) trade surplus figures.
The next institutional hurdle for the Managing Director of the NPA, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, is the implementation of a unified, cooperative Port development strategy.
This requires more than just launching an electronic call-up system; it demands a deliberate re-alignment of tariff structures that actively incentivizes shipping consortia to divert traffic to regional hubs.
Ultimately, a Port system is only as strong as its weakest link. Celebrating the World Bank validation of Apapa and Tin Can is fair, but treating it as a nationwide victory is premature.
Until the institutional bottlenecks, channel depths, and security challenges of the Eastern Corridor seaports are solved with the same urgency applied to Lagos, Nigeria’s maritime sector will continue running on half its cylinders.
True maritime competitiveness is not won by building an elite logistics island in one state, but by unlocking the full economic potentials of the nation’s entire coastline.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja
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Features

Beyond Lagos ports: Why NPA should position Eastern ports for global recognition

Chief Nasiru Ibrahim

Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru focuses on why government should look beyond Lagos ports and position Eastern ports for global recognition.

Our feature last week on the World Bank Top 20 ranking for Tin Can and Apapa Ports sparked an intense industry debate.

The biggest question raised: What about the rest of Nigeria’s coastlines?

Dropping tomorrow morning, June 29th, 2026,we go beyond the Lagos headlines to break down the hidden operational realities of Nigeria’s Eastern Ports.

Don’t miss “Beyond Lagos: The Untold Realities of Nigeria’s Eastern Corridor Seaports”

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