Some staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have expressed concerns over a proposed concession deal that would see 13.5% of the agency’s revenue handed to a private company for the next 15 years — a move they described as fraudulent and financially reckless
The proposal, which has reportedly been approved by NIMASA management and is awaiting the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval, would grant Royal Diadem Consults over ₦261billion across the contract period, based on the agency’s current average annual revenue of ₦129billion.
In exchange, the firm proposes to invest ₦7.54billion — largely as a loan — to develop a Maritime Electronic Management System (MEMS) aimed at digitising and enhancing the agency’s operations and revenue systems.
A NIMASA employee, who has worked there for over 10 years across different projects/units (including Deep Blue Project, Revenue Optimisation, Enforcement, Fees Review and Billing System Management), believes the scope of the project is overstretched and underresourced.
He added that NIMASA could easily bear the proposed costs and does not need a revenue-sharing concession to implement a project of this scale.
“The Agency can pay for the project out of its current revenues, like it did with other more substantial projects in the past, like the Deep Blue Project, which the Agency spent $214 million on with a logistics budget of ₦7 billion yearly during the project’s implementation. The Agency also spent a significant amount of money on the design and implementation of its Sage X3 ERP project without the need to concession any part of its revenue,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation.
He explained that the issues NIMASA is facing pertain to the lack of enforcement capacity to ensure compliance with existing laws and regulations, “and although the use of technology can aid with that, the lack of enforcement capabilities in the project will not allow for the project to deliver its expected results.”
The staff member also noted that the merits of the project were not considered properly before it was approved.
“To the utter surprise of most of the staff, there was no elaborate review committee containing members of all relevant operations departments as the scope of the project impacts on them and their assessment of the project could have led to a more wholesome outcome as issues currently being observed in the project would have been raised in its examination.”
Another employee who has worked at NIMASA for decades across multiple departments (including MEM, SDD, Safety, Cabotage, FSD, Audit, and Deep Blue) described the proposed concession agreement as having multiple red flags.
“The project in totality is a fraud meant to defraud the agency and keep it struggling financially to meet its core mandate of safety, security, and shipping development,” he alleged.
“From my experience, investing a mere ₦7.5 billion on a MEMS project is significantly not enough to prompt an increase in revenue to a level where we should guarantee a return of up to 15 per cent to anyone. There is no investment in critical maritime surveillance and enforcement infrastructure, no shared operational responsibility, and no asset deployment.”
He also asked why the proposal review was done in secret and “hidden away from the majority of relevant departments”.
Meanwhile, in one open letter to NIMASA director-general, Dr Dayo Mobereola, on Saturday, May 3, concerned staff members described the proposal as a “fraudulent, under-the-table attempt” to concession the agency for a “mere ₦7.5 billion”.
It was gathered that the development comes amid growing discontent about the administration of the agency’s director-general, Dr Dayo Mobereola.
In another letter dated April 20, 2025, circulated among employees of the agency, NIMASA workers had lamented the neglect of their welfare.
The letter read, “Since your assumption of office, you have offered nothing but disappointment. No salary structure. No promotions. No welfare packages. No basic staff gestures like Sallah or Christmas rice — a tradition you’ve casually discarded. You’ve shut down the staff health check initiative like it meant nothing. Clearly, you do not care. But understand this: your indifference will come back to haunt you.
“Enough of the lies. Enough of the empty speeches. Enough of the silence. If you have no intention of implementing the approved June/July salary structure from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then brace yourself — because we will not sit quietly while you trample on our rights.”
A second open letter by a “concerned staff member” shared in April made similar complaints and accused Dr Mobereola of not implementing the hardship allowance and new salary structure, despite their approval.
“The agency is stagnant, and this can be seen clearly not only in internal affairs but also externally – there has been no new operational development or enforcement drive on IMO conventions across departments. It feels like we’re on autopilot – and not in a good way,” the author alleged.
However, another letter to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy by NIMASA staff under the aegis of “Citizens United Against Corruption and Impunity” on March 18, 2025, accused the agency leadership of perverting procurement processes, inflating contracts, and abusing estacode through frequent foreign trips.