COVID-19: Launch of Dakuku Peterside’s book on NIMASA postponed

The launch of ‘Strategic Turnaround: Story of a Government Agency’, a book by Dakuku Peterside, former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has been postponed. 

The book launch was earlier scheduled for January 28 alongside a public lecture to mark Peterside’s 50th birthday at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

But in a statement to TheCable Lifestyle on Wednesday, the organising committee said the book launch will now hold on March 25 at the same venue.

The committee said the postponement, which was arrived at after extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders, was to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

It explained that the measure became imperative after it discovered that the list of confirmed attendees was already in excess of the allowable limit dictated by the protocols put in place by the presidential task force (PTF).

It said the public lecture, titled ‘Security and Economic Growth: Leadership in Challenging Times’, would be delivered by Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state.

“The joint organizing committee has been closely monitoring the outlook of the Nation’s Covid-19 trajectory, and how it would likely impact the event. It has therefore become evident that this event would not hold as earlier scheduled and the inconveniences are highly regretted,” the statement read.

“Given the number of confirmations of participation received and the sheer interest generated in this book, this postponement has been a truly difficult decision to make. Nonetheless, we recognize that it is the most responsible option at such a time. We sincerely apologize to all those who have already made travel plans.”

Peterside’s 300-page book examines his four-year management stint at NIMASA.