NIMASA Should Upgrade Database Of Nigeria Seafarers… Macfoy

A critical player in  the manning agents sub sector, has called on the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to review the list of Nigerian seafarers saying that the current database of seamen in the country is outdated if any.

Chief Executive Officer Ocean Deep Services Limited , Mrs Rollens Macfoy in a chat urged the Director General Dr.Bashar Jamoh and his management team of NIMASA to increase its awareness campaign on registration of seafarers in Nigeria .

Recall that maritime stakeholders have accused the apex maritime regulatory agency of failing to compile a comprehensive list of seafarers thus working with an outdated list.

To this end, Macfoy who made the call recently in Lagos ,stressed the need for more sensitization for up to date database of Nigerian seafarers, adding that such information is key for the development of the maritime industry.

She affirmed that if the database of seafarers are accurately captured, it will help the government to holistically attend to their needs.

“NIMASA all the time says they have the data and we also see some seafarers that say they don’t know anything about NIMASA but my belief is that Rome was not built in a day.

“If there is a publicity like media publicity, newspaper publications, radio jingles that if you are seafarers in Nigeria, registration is ongoing now, cone and register.

“NIMASA is doing SID but not all of them are doing it so we need them to be awakened, to be aware.

“We need more sensitization and again, we need to let them know why they need to do this registration for proper data to be captured and so that their problems will be holistically looked at.

On implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 domesticated in Nigeria in 2012, Macfoy said that the process was too slow.

“MLC convention implementation is not fast enough but I don’t know of it is Nigerian factor.

By Roland Ekama