Remodelling Nigeria's Seafarers Development Programme
Yet that impression is deceptive.One
undercurrent that has triggered the discontent among ship owners for the
quality of training offered by MAN and which discontent is eroding the
foundations of the academy is the knowledge that the academy does not have access
to a training vessel on which cadets can gain sea time training. Reliable
records from NIMASA show that the last time the academy enrolled cadets for
mandatory sea time training was some 20 years ago – about the same time the Nigerian
National shipping Line (NNSL) collapsed. Since then, series of proposals for
the procurement of a training vessel for the academy has been swept under the
carpet by NIMASA. According to Joshua Okpo; the Rector of the Academy in a
recent interview with Daily Independent,while
NIMASA is making a huge budget for the aspect of sea time training for Nigerian
cadets abroad under NSDP, MAN is cap-in-hand begging for a training vessel for
her cadets.
According to maritimesales.com, a new
cargo ship could sell for between 5 million and 10 million dollars, which
approximates to between 750 million and 1.5 billion naira. Evidently, with the 30
billion Naira budgeted as cost of training for the 5000 Seafarers abroad,
NIMASA could procure at least 20 new cargo vessels which could also serve as training
vessels. Yet what MAN is requesting for is just one vessel. It is pertinent to
note here that the training of a Seafarer is incomplete without the mandatory
hours at sea which qualifies him for the Seaman’s Certificate of Competence
(COC). The Certificate of Competence is issued to Masters, Officers, Radio
Operators and Ratings forming part of a watch, who meet the standards of
competence relevant to their particular functions and level of responsibility
on board. Considering the international and dynamic nature of the business of
shipping, the absence of a training vessel for a training institution like MAN
and consequently the lack of sea time training for her cadets is a serious defect on
her reputation and integrity and which defect has rubbed off on the National
Diploma certificate it offers to hundreds of graduates each year.
Contempt for MAN has spread beyond
the ship owners as government; the owner of the academy, through the agency of
NIMASA has continued to declare her products as unemployable. In fact, the sad
news making the rounds is that most of the graduates of MAN end up as Commercial
Motorcycle (Okada) Riders while Nigerian vessels engaged in cabotage, which
practically should have been an avenue for their sea service as deck or
engineer cadets, are manned by Philippinos and other foreign crew. The reason
for this is not far-fetched. Beside the absence of a training vessel and other
besetting infrastructural problems of the academy, the government would rather
politicise issues of Seafarer development for the interest of their cronies than
doing the needful. Otherwise, why is NIMASA spending so much in foreign
universities training green horns selected by politicians at the states when
thousands of graduates from MAN are roaming the streets simply because they
could not access a sea-going vessel where they would complete their training
and qualify for NIMASA’s certification as Officers?
The broad unhappiness on the part of
MAN cadets and graduates stems from the fact that the government though very
much aware of the huge financial losses accruing from the nation’s inability to
face stiff international competition as it marches towards achieving full
potential as a maritime nation, chooses to waste financial resources overseas
which ordinarily would have been used to provide adequate training facilities
for MAN.It is ironical and at the same time disheartening to know that even the
MOU, which Nigeria signed with Turkish Shipping Concerns, Piri Reis University
in Istanbul, Turkey, and World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden,
co-ordinated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to take on board
vessels Deck and Engineering Cadets of MAN for sea training as slated for April
2014 was postponed by government with the recurring flimsy excuse for lack of
funds. Little wonder why students seeking proper training now attend the South
African Maritime Training Academy in Cape Town, Regional Maritime University in
Accra, Ghana and others outside the shores of Africa.
While Regional Maritime University,
Accra may not own a dedicated training vessel because
Ghana as a country has a thriving national shipping line – the Black Star Line,
which offers sea time opportunities to cadets of the university, the SA Agulhas
1 is a Dedicated Training Vessel - a pioneering initiative and South Africa’s
first fully operational dedicated training vessel. The vessel is an
educationally equipped and on-the-job learning set-up that enables South Africa
to join the ranks of elite maritime countries. The dedication of SA Agulhas 1
as a training vessel is a great milestone in the history of South Africa’s
maritime industry and has gone a long way to unlock South Africa’s maritime
training potential to the end of entrenching the faith of the global maritime
companies in South African Seafarers. With this development, South Africa of
recent times is fast becoming a destination for quality seafarer training with
cadets enrolling from within South Africa and beyond.
Seafarers across the country want the
government to stop paying lip service to the affairs of MAN. Anyone who has been
to the academy and has seen the level of uncompleted and seemingly abandoned
projects on ground would wonder why NIMASA is even embarking on proliferation
of maritime training centres all over the country. For what would it profit this
country if the academy alongside the newly commissioned Maritime University of
Nigeria (MUN) and others continue to roll out cadets and incompetent maritime
manpower every year without a glimmer of hope for gainful employment? It is on
record now that MAN has over 5000 cadets that have not had access to sea time
and pointers abound that some of them have resorted to piracy and illegal oil
bunkering, which on its own is a fast growing security and economic challenge
in our territorial waters. The government should do all within its power to
actualise the vision and mission of the academy in training the youths if they
still believe the youths are the future leaders of this country and as such
need to be groomed and drilled into seasoned professionals.
The National Seafarers Development
Programme of government by NIMASA needs to be reviewed to give priority
attention to completing the training for the thousands of cadets from MAN who
summarily are abandoned. The issue of facilitating
sea time experience for cadets should no longer be a concern of just the Rector
and the Alumni of MAN. Government should take it for what it is; as a mandatory
aspect of the curriculum which must be covered. Rather than the economic drain
pipe which the NSDP has proved to be in reality, NIMASA should consider a more
justifiable and equitable use of its resources to better the lot of a greater
number by acquiring a training vessel for the academy and by extension for all
maritime training institutions in Nigeria. If it works for Ghana,South Africa,
Egypt and the rest, it should be made to work for Nigeria. The Maritime academy
of Nigeria must be assisted through proper funding to live up to expectation as
the pioneer institution charged with the responsibility of driving the process
of training seafarers and port workers and also to help develop our cabotage
regime and contribute to coastal trade as well as help to man our vast expanse
of the Gulf of Guinea.
Chigozie Chikere
Member, The
Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT), Nigeria.
Rector, Emdee
Shipping & Maritime College, Apapa.
E-mail: grandefather@yahoo.com
Phone:
08039504536
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