By Omoh Gabriel
President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday approved the suspension of Mr. Temisan Omatseye from office as the Director-General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, while appointing Mr. Adeniran Aderogba as the Acting Director-General.

A statement released by the Agency yesterday and signed by C. N. Nwokocha, Head Public Relations, NIMASA said: “President GoodlucK Jonathan today (yesterday) approved the appointment of Mr. Adeniran Aderogba as the Acting Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

“This follows the suspension from office of Mr. Temisan Omatseye as the Agency’s DG/CEO vide a letter ref T.0588/s.1/TA2/12 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Mr. P. J. Major. The suspension is to allow for an unimpeded investigation being handled by the Economic and Financial Commission, EFCC.

“Until his appointment, Mr. Adeniran Aderogba was the Agency’s Executive Director Administration and Finance. A graduate of the University of Lagos, Mr Aderogba is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN.

Mr Aderogba, who has vast experience in the Financial Service Sector, was involved in raising significant foreign capital for the domestic sector in areas such as telecoms, financial services, hospitality, oil & gas and infrastructure”.                                                        Adeniran is a Chartered Accountant. Prior to joining Calag he worked with KPMG (Chartered Accountants) and MBC International Bank. He was Executive Director – Investment Banking & Treasury – at First Atlantic Bank Plc before consolidation, where he oversaw Treasury, Investment Banking, Corporate Banking, Private Banking and Collections.

Adeniran has served the Money Market Association of Nigeria as Secretary General and Vice President and was involved in the introduction of such landmark banking products as NIBOR and NIFEX and the foreign exchange (FX) two-way quote dealing system in Nigeria. He has attended several courses across the globe, including the London and Harvard Business Schools and is a recipient of several excellence awards.

Omatseye was appointed July last year to replace Dr. Shamsideen Dosunmu as Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) A statement from the Ministry of Transport at the time noted that President Umaru Yar’Adua has approved the sacking of the erstwhile NIMASA boss but, however, did not give reasons for his removal. The statement also noted that two of the three Executive Directors of the agency were also relieved of their appointments.

Adeniran Aderogba was appointed then as Executive Director to over see the finances of the agency and Barr. Ibrahim Zailani who takes over as Executive Director Maritime Labour and Cabotage.