Opinion

Ochei At NIMASA: A Record Beyond Political Propaganda

Published

2 months ago

September 2, 2026

The attempt by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s media supporters to dismiss Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei’s tenure at NIMASA by asking how many Delta North indigenes he employed or what projects he personally attracted is built on a false comparison.

Ochei served as Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services one of three Executive Directors working under the Director-General of NIMASA. He was not the Director-General, Minister of Transportation or chief executive of a state government. NIMASA itself confirms his appointment to that specific portfolio.

His job was essentially maritime labour administration, protection and welfare of seafarers and dockworkers, development of indigenous maritime manpower, industrial relations and implementation of the labour aspects of Nigeria’s Cabotage regime. These are among the statutory responsibilities NIMASA assigns to Maritime Labour Services.

And there are documented footprints from Ochei’s tenure.

As Executive Director and Chairman of the National Joint Industrial Council, he participated directly in negotiations for improved wages and working conditions for dockworkers and seafarers. He also represented NIMASA’s Director-General at the launch of the electronic registration and biometric identification platform for seafarers and dockworkers.

Under the Cabotage side of his portfolio, Ochei was involved in efforts to strengthen indigenous participation in Nigerian shipping. In 2023, when the Ghana Maritime Authority came to Nigeria to understudy Nigeria’s Cabotage system, Ochei was the official who explained Nigeria’s experience, legislation, enforcement procedures and four pillars of Cabotage to the delegation.

That is measurable responsibility within the mandate he was given.

THEN THERE IS THE OKOWA CONNECTION

Perhaps the most revealing evidence comes from Government House, Asaba.

In 2021, NIMASA’s Executive Management visited then Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. Victor Ochei was part of that delegation, and NIMASA’s official report and photograph identified him alongside the Director-General during the meeting.

At that meeting, NIMASA highlighted major maritime interventions in Delta State, including the Nigeria Maritime University at Okerenkoko, the NIMASA Science and Technical College at Okoloba and a proposed ship-repair yard. The agency also stated that more than 1,000 Delta indigenes had benefited from its overseas maritime scholarship programme.

Significantly, Governor Okowa himself acknowledged NIMASA’s contribution and expressed appreciation for the scholarships given to Deltans.

Nobody needs to falsely credit all those institutional projects to Ochei personally some predated his appointment. But that same honesty means nobody should now pretend that the NIMASA management in which Ochei served had no meaningful connection or impact in Delta State.

COMPARE LIKE WITH LIKE

The weakest part of the attack is attempting to measure an Executive Director of a federal regulatory agency by the standard of an Executive Governor who controlled an entire state administration for eight years.

If Ochei’s critics insist on making that comparison, they invite the more important question:

Who had greater executive power, greater control over public resources and consequently a greater responsibility to deliver transformational development?

Certainly not an Executive Director of one department in NIMASA.

Let Ochei be judged by the responsibilities attached to his office and let Okowa be judged by the enormous powers and resources available to him during eight years as Governor.

Compare mandate with mandate.
Compare opportunity with results.
Compare responsibility with performance.

On those terms, the argument that Ochei achieved nothing at NIMASA simply does not survive the documented record.

Rt Hon (Engr.) Victor Ochei remains the choice of the people of Delta North

Austin Edemodu PhD is an Abuja based Journalist and Public Affairs Analyst.

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Opinion

RE: BLAIR “HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER” OVER SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN WHILE ADVISING NIGERIA

Published

2 days ago

October 20, 2026

The Gleamer

(A rejoinder to Gordon Rayner’s article of October 18,2026 in the Telegraph, UK
By Kehinde Bamigbetan
After reading this article, particularly the denials from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Federal Government of Nigeria, one is bound to question the editorial judgment that gives this piece any value.

In short, what did Gordon Rainer set out to do with this publication? Put a shine on Jupiter’s false and thoroughly empty narrative? Set up a former Prime Minister for blackmail and opprobrium? Or revive a dead case before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes?

Whichever, Rainer presents propositions which swallow their answers. His first argument that Blair might have undermined British national security interests is contradicted by the disclosure that the TBI has no contract to advise the Federal Government of Nigeria.

His second argument, that Jupiter was denied the execution of its licence, is contradicted by the fact that the company is unknown under Nigerian law. Rainer then admits knowing this fact and introduces the company as Jupiter’s partners.

For clarity and the benefit of his readers, these companies—Basin Mining Limited and Range Mining Limited—lost their licences for failing to pay annual service fees. Basin, for instance, owes N1,223,750,000, about £691,368.

The licences were revoked after the companies ignored several notices to fulfil their contractual obligations to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office. Penalties for non-payment are increasing daily, and the legal process to recover the funds is underway.

Rather than rescue its partners by paying their fees and penalties or allow the international settlement court to determine its case, Jupiter has mounted an international self-help campaign of calumny and economic sabotage against the government and people of Nigeria, using methods that threaten Nigeria’s security and diplomatic interests.

We believe Rainer is its latest innocent recruit, hoodwinked into propagating a false narrative by appealing to British national security interests when, in fact, Jupiter’s partners are, under Nigerian law, economic and security risks whose continued defiance of Nigeria’s laws endangers centuries of Britain-Nigeria relations.

The question Rainer should ask: if, indeed, Jupiter has a cast-iron case, why is it shedding crocodile tears and shopping for sympathy with false pretences and narratives?

Let’s give the clue: Jupiter’s promoter, Steve Davis, has leeched on Nigeria’s presidents since 1999 by pretending to be an international mining expert, and he has acquired an ego and assets far out of proportion to his financial and technical status.
He is so comfortable living above the law in Nigeria that compliance with regulatory provisions is a taboo, an affront to his bloated ego as a self-deluded “founder of Nigeria’s modern mining sector.”

Davis had a good time living his ego until Dele Alake became Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development in August 2023 and immediately launched a clean-up of the sector focused on zero-tolerance for non-compliance with the provisions of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Law 2007, a law that Davis boasts he contributed to making and should set an example by encouraging compliance.

The Minister was shocked that the Nigerian Mining Cadastre had a huge amount of unpaid statutory fees despite the government’s investment in the Electronic Mining Cadastre Plus (EMC+) automation, which digitised the licensing process and upgraded services to the mining sector.

In line with the law, the minister ensured debtors were duly notified, and defaulters duly gazetted before revoking their licences for flouting the regulation on the payment of annual service fees.

In November 2023, the minister revoked at least 1,663 licences, a decision that showed it was no longer business as usual under the new sheriff in town.

To show the government has a human face, it opened a three-month restitution window to address complaints and feedback indicating cases of extenuating circumstances.

But still basking in the euphoria of an ego that has outlived its era, Davis discouraged his partners from taking advantage of these opportunities for remorse. Instead, he threatened to exploit his global networks to frustrate the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He wasn’t joking. He launched a global disinformation campaign from his native Australia to Canada, from the United States to Europe. However, his lies evaporated as soon as the facts were laid bare.

Davis pulled his most ambitious stunt so far during Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s official visit to the United Kingdom in March this year, when he polluted the air with narratives designed to set Nigeria against the West by spreading blatant falsehoods and playing the victim.

But, as he found out to his misery, the whole public relations game was dead on arrival. A comprehensive statement clarifying the issues to the highly intelligent British media sent him into the cold.

All we ask is that journalists refer to the eternal maxim of the journalism profession whenever Davis knocks on their door: if in doubt, leave it out.

When a story like this betrays so many contradictions, the rule is not to encourage its spread. Every responsible journalist has the moral duty to kill it.

Kehinde Bamigbetan is a Journalist and Special Adviser to Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Federal Republic of Nigeria

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