It is not going to be an easy task. The assessment of a leader will always be on the basis of history. The clock will start ticking as from today. We wish you fair wind as you sail." These were the exact words of chairman of the board of Nigeria Ports Authority (NMA), Chief Olabode George.

He was formally welcoming the new NPA Managing Director, Alhaji Aminu Dabo to the Lagos corporate head-office. Having been board chairman for more than one year, Chief George, may be the right person to alert the new helmsman that the NPA is not likely to be as easy as managing urban reorganisation and town planning.

Alhaji Dabo (an architect) was until his new appointment, the Kano State Commissioner for Lands and Physical Planning. He was reputed to have built more than 5,000 housing units for civil servants in the state. This is in addition to constructing 35 roads. Apparently because of the high expectations that any NPA boss must come from the shipping sector, there was a lot of scepticism over the appointment of the Kano indigene. In the first few days after the appointment, there was general apathy to his entry into the gate way to the nation's economy.

Even from within NPA, shock gave way to helplessness as the workers discussed their fate under the "stranger with no maritime experience." "We would have preferred anybody from anywhere in the industry since the government had decided that a new managing director must be appointed," a highly respected member of the shipping community had told Champion Transport.

The expression on the faces of the board members and the management team which gathered at NPA board room to witness the change of baton from the erstwhile helmsman, Mr. Joseph Akagwu to Alhaji Dabo showed clearly that it was indeed a new beginning.

But unknown to many outside the turbulent maritime industry, the new management team which Dabo is heading is inheriting not just a fat purse, but a myriad of problems. And as if to reiterate that, a group of aged and weary dock workers were at Tin Can Island Port last week. The dockworkers who carried placards had stormed the port demanding payment of their retirement benefits having lost their jobs. Ordinarily, the question would be that it should not be a sole NPA problem. But NPA is the master stevedore and the authority to which the dock labour contractors are accountable.

Although, Dabo is coming into NPA at a critical period of privatisation, the sooner he attends to the perennial unrests within the dock labour system the better. As much as the Joint Dock Labour Industrial Council (JODLIC) has recorded tremendous success, a lot is still being expected especially from NPA. From Champion Transport's investigations, critical issues that are still pending which include renewal of the contract of the stevedoring contractors, the workability or otherwise of the recently-introduced payment by tonnage. Apart from this, the new managing director's first acid test may be the employment scam which erupted in the last days of his predecessor.

Expectedly, the two in-house unions in NPA have remained quiet even as there are confirmations that there had been no meeting yet between Alhaji Dabo and the leadership of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) as well as the Senior Staff Association (SSA).

Obviously, the point of disagreement is the contentious issue of ports privatisation. Whatever the new managing director's briefing might be, he must deploy strategies to whittle down the stiff opposition which the union leaders maintained right from the days of Mallam Bello Gwandu whom Akagwu succeeded on October 1, last year.

For the six months when Akagwu was in charge, the popularity of the union leaders soared as they rode on the crest of anti-ports privatisation campaign to garner more respect from thousands of NPA workers who saw (and still see) the duo of Messrs Onikolaese Irabor and Pire Park Maidambe of the MWUN and SSA respectively as symbols of the "struggle."

Alhaji Dabo is also coming into NPA at a time when employment (or renewal of the contract) of stevedoring contractors have been highly politicised.

In fact, his successor battled against powerful forces unsuccessfully to streamline the operations of the dock labour contractors. Matters about their contract renewal got to a head early this year when the Transport Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe was dragged into the intrigues and blackmail of dock workers contracts renewal At a point, forces against the continued retainership of the dock labour contractors had to label the immediate past managing director as too weak to act; a reason they adduced for the apparent breach of the directives contained in JODLIC's Decree 37 of 1999.

In fact, Champion Transport confirmed that the obvious inability of JODLIC to punish the erring contractors was because NPA's former boss could not wriggle his way out of the overbearing influence of the powerful stevedoring contractors. A source in NPA informed that there were memos from JODLIC to NPA on how to deal with the contractors. He did not treat this matter until he was removed, a top official lamented.

It was also gathered that JODLIC does not have the power to effectively punish the dock labour contractors because it is only a regulatory agency which can only withhold the registration of any erring dock labour contractor and nothing more. The power to ensure compliance rests with NPA which is the employer of the contractors.

Even though there is nothing the new managing director can do about privatisation, but to work towards its full actualisation, the issue of irregular employment of more than 500 persons in total defiance of a presidency directive pegging the number to far below 500. Although result of ministerial investigations into the scam is yet to be made public, it was gathered that the irregularity was perpetrated by powerful individuals in the authority. In fact, our investigation revealed that the hands of the board and management were visible in the employment scam.

Another major headache for which Dabo's predecessor was rendered ineffective was the relationship among the executive directors, the management and the board; in the centre of which was the former managing director. Coming from "outside" as it were, the new managing director may have to contend with the loyalty of the general managers and some of the executive directors. Only one of the four appointed directors came from outside. Mr. Victor Agu, who is in charge of corporate services, himself a political appointee may have no choice, but to tag along with his managing director.

The trio of Capt. Olugbenga Abidoye, executive director (marine and operations), M.T. Ibrahim (finance) and B.G. Yakassai had been general managers in charge of eastern operations, finance and engineering respectively before their elevations. The extent of success or failure recorded by the new managing director would depend more largely on the four executive directors. Already, there are speculations that the new managing director is working on fresh disposition even as it has been confirmed that some general managers would be kicked out.

The success of Alhaji Aminu Dabo in NPA may not be the completion of ports privatisation. He will certainly be judged on the basis of the extent of industrial harmony, his ability to diligently clean up the stevedoring system and of course, the attainment of faster turn - around time for vessels. This would largely depend on availability of cargo handling equipment but more importantly on the willingness of the workers (including dockworkers) to discharge their responsibilities.