Former NIMASA executive director gets seven years imprisonment

A federal court in Lagos has sentenced a former executive director at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ezekiel Agaba, to seven years in prison for laundering N1.5 billion.

Agba is also facing another trial alongside Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former director-general of NIMASA on a 12-count charge of conspiracy, forgery, and stealing amounting to N687 million.

He was in charge of Maritime, Safety and Shipping at NIMASA before 2015.

Agba and four other NIMASA officials and two companies were first arraigned in the federal high court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in December 2015 Justice Ibrahim Buba.

EFCC said that the officials Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Captain Ezekiel Bala Agba, Ekene Nwakuche and their companies- Blockz and Stonz ltd, Kenzo Logistics ltd and Al-Kenz Logistics ltd were charged for offences bordering on conspiracy, fraudulent conversion of funds, abuse of office and money laundering.

The ex NIMASA officials, according to the EFCC, exploited the establishment of international ship and ports security (ISPS) code to defraud the Nigerian government to the tune of over N1.5billion.