In the past couple of days since Daily Trend, an online publication, carried my interview captioned, “Blue Economy Ministry: Oyetola has nothing to offer, he can’t deliver “, my phone lines have been inaundated with calls taking serious exceptions to the content of the interview, which the callers argued cast serious aspersions on the Integrity and person of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, His Excellency, Gboyega Oyetola. I want to state categorically, that the intention of the interview and my statements therefrom, were not intended to bring to disrepute, this cerebral technocrat and accomplished Corporate icon, who until recently was the democratically elected Governor of Osun State, where he left his indelible footprints. In the main, my interview was borne out of my passion for an Industry which stakeholders insist, require a massive overhaul, if we must occupy our rightful position in the comity of Maritime nations. If anything at all, the recent performance bond between Mr Oyetola and the parastatals under his watch is a clear testimony to the fact that the Hon Minister means business and has elected to do things differently.
Consequently, I hereby declare, unequivocally, that under Mr Oyetola’s headship, a new dawn beckons and that given the calibre of the team he has assembled, he is certainly likely to deliver on his mandate .And finally, if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not have implicit confidence in Mr Oyetola, we would not have appointed in the first place to head such a critical Ministry. I hereby call on all stakeholders in the Maritime Industry to rally behind him.