OCEANSIDE NOTES: Celebrating PortNews at thirty
Dr. Musa Akinyemi
If this is the first matter chosen by me as a regular and guest columnist of a newspaper, I may have therefore decided to be a professional journalist of the maritime genre. But of course, I am not a professional journalist, instead, after teaching briefly under a State Ministry of Education between 1979 and 1982, I have been in Shipping and Transport Administration for decades with academic pedigree going forward.
In settling down, if I were to get the job done effectively and acceptably, I shall decide to arrange an extensive rendezvous with the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the thirty-year-od PortNews, Prince Olawale Oni to obtain from the main source, what it was like and how things were from the beginning.
Every journalist is inquisitive. He or she is eager either to hear something for a news story, therefore ready to record you, interview you, expecting you to show him an image, picture or scene worthy of a headline or an advertisement. And that is the way it was for the past 30 years with the Port News crew.
In 2025, the newspaper clocked 30. This meant that it began publishing since 1995. That take-off year was significant for Nigeria in her maritime annals. The columnist was then a senior personnel in the Technical Operations Department of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). That was the year that announced the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL). So, from 1995 to 2025, three decades of maritime milestones must be remembered and celebrated with public acclaim.
Celebrating PortNews at 30 afforded me the opportunity of meeting for the first time directly and sitting at the High Table with the nation’s former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho who was Chairman of the occasion, amongst other distinguished industry stakeholders that made the events of the day brilliant and beautiful in all segments. Remembering Nigeria should put in more efforts to achieve consolidated greatness means that her citizens must rise up again together to inject more knowledge and skills to addressing her shortcomings across the sectors and professions.
I may have been permitted to start interviewing the 30th anniversary celebrant, the Publisher/Editor-In-Chief of Port News right away. He should be able to let us have some understanding of what he experienced at take-off. “Beginning from darkroom production in the 90s to present-day digital, fast-paced production, through heartrendering economic upheavals in Nigeria, Port News has weathered the storm, dishing-out positive developmental maritime and aviation reportage. The newspaper’s forte basically is painting Nigeria in bright colours through terrific writings. Over thirty years, Port News has witnessed well-enough, good and bad, and participated…, and could afford the luxury to be judgemental”.
Related Posts
The publisher has just told us from the foregoing that it was not a smooth set sail, no, it wasn’t a sail through. Maybe I should hold brief for him. (1) In the beginning, production of the newspaper was from the dark room. (2) The first maritime newspaper, Freight Monitor, where he worked, packed-up after ten (10) months. (3) He became jobless but summoned hope. (4) After publishing the first edition of Port News on 6th November 1995, there was no money to print the next edition. (5) How the “Tell them you are from me” by the then TCIP Command PRO and current Comptroller-General of the NCS, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi did not only open the door that was closing on the newspaper, it consolidated its arrival and survival, even Port News, indeed, it had created the genre of maritime journalism that has given jobs to hundreds of Nigerians today. Can we learn anything from those five (5) points? I should believe we are here to.
Who is out there saying that the role of the media is inconsequential in the making of the extra-large and expanding maritime sector? As important as the maritime sector to the realization of the nation’s economic goals, so is the media observation and watch-keeping of the sector. Thirty years experience is a big deal and it commands authority.
“Nigeria’s maritime industry has a unique trait, a characteristic peculiar only to her. It has never witnessed or been grounded by Nigeria’s many recorded economic crises. On the contrary, it is this sector that is the buffer, the saving grace that always bails Nigeria out. Check through industry records. At what time, in what year did the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency not meet set revenue targets?” What an industry, a strong reminder from the Welcome Address by Wale ONI at the 30th occasion!
This is to state with emphasis here that the maritime industry is now more in dire need of support for its survival and sustainability than any other time, distant or immediate past. Let us take an uncommitted look at the existence and times of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) as an instance. If at a period in its more than three decades of flying our national flag across the oceans of the world, the Line was with a fleet of thirty-nine (39) vessels, and since the year ending 1995 nothing was left, then, someone who out of patriotism and loyalty remains undetachable from the nation should either be that maritime professional, maritime enthusiast, or maritime journalist who asks, “whither the Nigeria maritime carrying capacity?” If it has travelled, that means it is on a voyage, and it would soon disembark or arrive in port. It is only when our carrying capacity is back that our maritime nation status is credible, noble and applaudable.
Perhaps it is based on this expectation that this column wishes the nation wholesome recovery from all our maritime ailments, knowing full well that they are technical or man-made and therefore preventable or curable.
Dr. Musa Akinyemi is Rector, Crown Maritime Academy, CMA; and Secretary-General, Association of Licensed Maritime Academies of Nigeria, ALMAN. He can be reached by E-Mail: akinyemimusa359@gmail.com or on WhatsApp Only: +2349091138377.
