The attempt by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s media supporters to dismiss Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei’s tenure at NIMASA by asking how many Delta North indigenes he employed or what projects he personally attracted is built on a false comparison.
Ochei served as Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services one of three Executive Directors working under the Director-General of NIMASA. He was not the Director-General, Minister of Transportation or chief executive of a state government. NIMASA itself confirms his appointment to that specific portfolio.
His job was essentially maritime labour administration, protection and welfare of seafarers and dockworkers, development of indigenous maritime manpower, industrial relations and implementation of the labour aspects of Nigeria’s Cabotage regime. These are among the statutory responsibilities NIMASA assigns to Maritime Labour Services.
And there are documented footprints from Ochei’s tenure.
As Executive Director and Chairman of the National Joint Industrial Council, he participated directly in negotiations for improved wages and working conditions for dockworkers and seafarers. He also represented NIMASA’s Director-General at the launch of the electronic registration and biometric identification platform for seafarers and dockworkers.
Under the Cabotage side of his portfolio, Ochei was involved in efforts to strengthen indigenous participation in Nigerian shipping. In 2023, when the Ghana Maritime Authority came to Nigeria to understudy Nigeria’s Cabotage system, Ochei was the official who explained Nigeria’s experience, legislation, enforcement procedures and four pillars of Cabotage to the delegation.
That is measurable responsibility within the mandate he was given.
THEN THERE IS THE OKOWA CONNECTION
Perhaps the most revealing evidence comes from Government House, Asaba.
In 2021, NIMASA’s Executive Management visited then Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. Victor Ochei was part of that delegation, and NIMASA’s official report and photograph identified him alongside the Director-General during the meeting.
At that meeting, NIMASA highlighted major maritime interventions in Delta State, including the Nigeria Maritime University at Okerenkoko, the NIMASA Science and Technical College at Okoloba and a proposed ship-repair yard. The agency also stated that more than 1,000 Delta indigenes had benefited from its overseas maritime scholarship programme.
Significantly, Governor Okowa himself acknowledged NIMASA’s contribution and expressed appreciation for the scholarships given to Deltans.
Nobody needs to falsely credit all those institutional projects to Ochei personally some predated his appointment. But that same honesty means nobody should now pretend that the NIMASA management in which Ochei served had no meaningful connection or impact in Delta State.
COMPARE LIKE WITH LIKE
The weakest part of the attack is attempting to measure an Executive Director of a federal regulatory agency by the standard of an Executive Governor who controlled an entire state administration for eight years.
If Ochei’s critics insist on making that comparison, they invite the more important question:
Who had greater executive power, greater control over public resources and consequently a greater responsibility to deliver transformational development?
Certainly not an Executive Director of one department in NIMASA.
Let Ochei be judged by the responsibilities attached to his office and let Okowa be judged by the enormous powers and resources available to him during eight years as Governor.
Compare mandate with mandate.
Compare opportunity with results.
Compare responsibility with performance.
On those terms, the argument that Ochei achieved nothing at NIMASA simply does not survive the documented record.
Rt Hon (Engr.) Victor Ochei remains the choice of the people of Delta North
Austin Edemodu PhD is an Abuja based Journalist and Public Affairs Analyst.
