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| Capt. Fola Ojutalayo |
Capt. Fola Ojutalayo, a Senior Lecturer in the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, Lagos, on Wednesday said appointments of heads of maritime agencies should not be politicised.
Ojutalayo, who stated this in an interview in Lagos, urged the incoming administration to allow professionals to develop the maritime industry.
He said like the Health industry, government could not bring anybody to head any cadre of the Health industry; adding that the same thing with the Justice Department, Finance and Security.
``The first thing for any government to do, who want to achieve a great milestone in the maritime industry is the de-politicisation of our maritime industry and the professionalisation of the maritime industry.
``And when I mean professionalisation of the maritime industry, I mean patriotic professionalisation. That is where it starts from.
``We have some young, dynamic, good professionals in Nigeria that we do not need to go outside to go and get much of expertise to come and do that for us.
``You have people who are heading the industry; are more of politicians and administrators, who do not have the nitty-gritty of the intricacies of their policies.
``The framework with which to implement the policies and the operational module with which to implement those policies.
``And in case you run into murky waters, how do you handle and get yourself out of it. You need expertise to be able to do that.
‘`Like the health industry, you cannot bring just anybody to come and head any cadre of the Health industry; the same thing with the Justice department.
``Both states and Federal Government, you have lawyers running it.
``The same thing with Finance, the same thing with Security, so why will Maritime be politicised?
Ojutalayo said that only about 25 per cent of the maritime industry had been utilised, when the industry could generate as much as five million jobs if professionals were allowed to run it.