Peterside’s book on NIMASA offers useful insights on maritime sector, says British professor

Chris Bellamy, a British scholar and professor, has commended ‘Strategic Turnaround: Story of a Government Agency’, a forthcoming book by Dakuku Peterside.

The 300-page book by the former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is scheduled for release in January 2021.

In a statement by Olayemi Onakunle, general manager of Safari Books limited, on Thursday, Bellamy said the soon-to-be-released book provides essential insights into the Nigerian maritime sector.

“The book Strategic Turnaround is a definitive case of successful high-level change management and essential insight into the maritime sector of an emerging maritime power,” he said.

“Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside’s book, Strategic Turnaround, showcases the radical reform of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the entire maritime sector in Nigeria by its leaders and key stakeholders”.

The scholar said ‘Strategic Turnaround’ would contribute meaningfully to the growth of the maritime sector which is crucial to Nigeria’s economy amid the challenges facing it.

“Nigeria’s maritime sector is of great importance, not only for indigenous transport but potentially globally. Oil is one of the critical cargoes,” he added.

“Nigeria hopes to compete with the Philippines in provision of seafarers. However, it also faces challenges. It lies on the Gulf of Guinea, which in 2013 surpassed Somali-based piracy in the western Indian Ocean as the world hot-spot for piracy and armed robbery at sea.”

Bellamy, who is a professor emeritus of maritime security at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, also lauded the book’s story style which explores serious leadership, management and maritime concepts.

He commended the book’s “straightforward narrative that makes it easy for every scholar to understand how Dakuku’s leadership team applied leadership and management principles to change the maritime industry in Nigeria.”