INTERVIEW: “It Took Us About Two To Three Years To Actually Get MCOE Accreditation”…Abdulkadir Ahmed

“The Shipping Industry Is An Industry Based On International Standards”….. Abdulkadir Ahmed

The Managing Director of NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML), Abdulkadir Ahmed in a chat with some journalists in Lagos, spoke extensively on the recently accredited NSML , Maritime Centre of Excellence (MCOE) by the UK’s Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA); vis a vis other shipping related sundry issues . Our correspondent Roland Ekama was part of the robust interaction

 

Excerpts:

We assume we know the core business of NSML, which is shipping. But you have gone into developing a training institution. So what’s the reason for that?

Thank you for that question. Shipping business is a highly technical business. But the foundation of that business is about competence. It’s about competent people, we can have ships, and ships will not move themselves people ultimately run vessels and due to the nature of shipping, it’s important that those who are running vessels are competent.
So for us, training isn’t just simply a side activity it is fundamental to what we are in the shipping company. That ability to attract, develop competent seafarers who can manage vessels safely reliably and efficiently is very, very important, so that’s really the essence of it.
The Maritime Centre of Excellence isn’t just a training institute, it is a marine project consultancy and training outfit, so it goes beyond just training because obviously, competence is a marketable skill especially when it comes to shipping and the MCOE is that entity within NSML that is able to provide that service of course and the ability to provide that service requires that you have competent individuals that are constantly being trained, kept abreast of new developments so that they will continue to effectively and efficiently manage our assets as well.

“There will be no need for us to be sending people abroad for training, let us domesticate training services as much as we can”…..Ahmed

Are the services of the institution just for NSML staff or is it open to other shipping companies?

Yeah, so maybe just to give you a perspective and I’m sure you’ve heard this before in terms of the evolution of NSML as an entity. Why was it created in the first instance? Before NSML was created, before even NLNG, the first train was built, the NLNG shareholders acquired vessels and those vessels were manned and managed offshore.
So, NSML was created with the sole purpose of domesticating international maritime skill sets, locally. And providing opportunities for Nigerians to participate in that sphere. And when it was created, it was created purely from a manning point of view. So, it was NLNG Ship Manning Limited. Basically that entity that employed the seafarers developed them and then deployed them onto vessels. And part of that evolution as we move along. The next step, of course, is to now take over the technical management of the assets, the vessels themselves. Before then, that activity was done by foreign companies offshore.
The same process of development went through when people were developed, capacities and competencies were developed and once we got to that level where we were comfortable, we now took over the technical management of the vessel and when we did that NSML then evolved into NLNG Ship Management Limited.
As we went along, we then took over the technical management of the Bonny terminal, as well then, set up the Maritime Centre of Excellence, which is a training consultancy and project management entity.
The entire business was centered towards providing services in-house but the evolution of the company entailed that once we are able to provide those services in-house we will be able to branch out and provide those services externally, and that also really led us in looking at our vision which is really around being a leading integrated and international maritime services company supporting the growth and development of the Nigerian maritime industry and the best way we can do that is to reach out to the industry and work with the industry and provide services to the industry.
So to cut a long story short, the activities of NSML isn’t just simply limited to Nigeria LNG. Of course, NLNG will always remain a core customer, but our services and activities cut beyond NLNG energy and also it is open to third parties within the Nigerian and African energy logistic business.
I think one of the things about running a company such as ours is the fact that you have to train and retrain and refresh. And we just don’t have the centers here to do it.
And having to always ship them abroad all the time to do it was a challenge. We then decided, let’s set the centre in-house. Again, domestication, just as you said, will bring Nigerians to manage the ships.
There will be no need for us to be sending people abroad for training, let us domesticate training services as much as we can. Yes, it was a lot of investments but then we did it and then we were able to domesticate and get all the accreditations so I just wanted to add that that little bit is also part of the plan.
Domestication brings more value home because before then, all these people, the trainings are done abroad, we paid a lot of money to do all these trainings trying to bring more value, the cost of invitation, the cost of all the arrangements, everything now, a lot of values in terms of saving Nigeria a lot of foreign currencies which would have been used to train people abroad is now brought home, that is value addition to the economy, so the deliberate attempt to improve service to the economy.

I want to ask you about how much?

Well, for instance your flight to UK and now you do this training in Nigeria, you have brought the cost, the general cost alone down. I think yesterday at the conference at Sheraton talks was on NIMASA training people all over. Now, we are bringing this training home and now you have to do this training in Nigeria, we bring the general cost down. You know by domesticating the training you cut 70% of the cost. Because usually the costs are usually your flights, your estacodes, your living expenses there. And even the training costs, the cost there is also high.
But if you can cut all of that out, you can then cut the training to at least 30%. In our own case, what we had even seen, it even gives access for more people. For example, if you have a budget to train a certain number of people, if you have to send them abroad you can only do about five or so but if you domesticate the center you cut the cost by 30% and then train a lot more people.
So for us, it was more or less like a strategy and I think it would not just be for our company as he pointed out.
We have other IOC’s, other external bodies coming to us because they have seen exactly the same value, just cutting their costs, by so doing, they can send more numbers, it helps and then you get the same international standard and value.

Give us a rough estimate of the cost?

 

Again, these are internal estimates and because like Dr Effiong mentioned, what you’re talking about in shipping, is not just simply that training is static it’s a continuous process so you can’t even just simply say, I’m putting a number today. Because certification, recertification, is a continuous process. And what it gives us is, for us, our people are continuously being trained and kept abreast of new developments.
As we said, the industry is evolving very fast. Changes are happening and what you knew yesterday may have changed today and you need to relearn and learn again. So it’s really not putting value to it but it’s about financial value or the qualitative value of having the ability to continuously train and develop your people.
Let me also make something very clear, right. We are not saying that MCOE will completely remove the need to train people overseas. No.
And part of that is what I’ve always indicated, that the shipping industry is an industry based on international standards.
What you do in one location is exactly what’s being done in another location. And sometimes part of that training is about also working or being involved in certain training in different climes so that you see what they do and you validate what you equally do to be sure that yes am doing it in accordance with the global standard. So, we still send people, people still go abroad to train.
However the MCOE provides the veritable institution locally where as much as possible, we can prepare some of those training programmes, and its open to the entire industry not just limited to Nigerian NLNG.

I am thinking that this accreditation that you have just gotten may bring some kind of pressure on you in terms of adding value like you have said, how prepared is NSML in absorbing that pressure.
Secondly, what are the criteria for admission of who can come for training and what academic qualification is required. Enlighten us on that?

 

So, first things first. The element of accreditation is not just simply looking at your curricula. It’s about looking at your readiness. So when the MCA came to audit the MCOE, they were looking at the readiness of the institute to effectively and qualitatively provide those courses.
If they felt we were not ready, if we did not have the capacity, it doesn’t matter that the curriculum is good, they wouldn’t have accredited us. So, in terms of readiness, absolutely, we wouldn’t have gone for accreditation if we were not ready. We are a training center and we’ve identified those programmes, those courses that we have the capacity and the facility to effectively and efficiently provide, and when we went for that accreditation, that was what they came to evaluate. Not just simply the curriculum, but equally the physical capacity to effectively provide those courses. So accreditation itself tells you that, yes, we’ve been adjudged by a stringent, independent auditor to be capable.
So we are not concerned about whether it will bring the challenges or not, no! we are ready and that was why we went for it.
Permit me to give a background to the question first, what the accreditation highlights is your standard,
One of the things that we’ve always said, is that shipping is like an international profession and then you have to have international standards.
I was one of the founding staff of the MCOE, we sat for an entire year just developing the processes and the structures to actually get it to that good standard level. MCOE accreditation is one of the highest standards you can ever see at the international level when we want talk of UK, US. What it means is that they spent a lot not just on investment, training, getting the centre up to that particular level, and a lot of investment, we had support from our parent company and all of that to be able to actually achieve it. When it came to the audits and the audit itself is just a test of your own process of that course.
And everybody that came to do audits had said, this is absolutely fantastic. This is world class. And it was very easy for MCA to just come. They did a desktop review, and they had zero comments. And then they had the auditor come over, and he was absolutely blown away. But then there was a lot of work at the backend just to get to that kind of standard. There’s a lot of investments, a lot of hard work, and it took us about two to three years to get all the documents in a row to actually get that accreditation. So again, the accreditation is just a testament of our standard and nothing more.
I think one of the errors that we see is that you see people running after accreditation without really focusing on the standard and I think it should be the other way round, you spend a lot of time getting your standard up and then you can worry about accreditation later. For us, that is critical because again, we have assets we have vessels that is why we need to train people to quite be of standard, it’s quite important for us.
But in terms of the acceptance, these are maritime centric courses. A typical seafarer will require about 20 different certificates to be able to operate in our field and these are all international certificates.
Typically, we have always been going abroad and then we decided to set up the center where we will start domesticating some of these courses. So, these two courses that we’ve highlighted are those sort of courses that we don’t need to send anybody abroad for, not only in our company, all the other companies around.
We’ve been inundated with several requests since we’ve made that announcement and they can all come here and do the sort of training and it’s one of those ones that they can do and then get refreshed but then again it’s for seafarers who are working as officers on board ships especially international going ships and these certifications are international certifications.

Where does NSML intend to be in the next ten years in terms of providing training and also vessel operation? We are talking about your growth plan, also looking at all this now, how much impact do you think this training will have in marketing Nigerian human capital abroad and again, you have said domestication has reduced cost of training to about 70%. So what’s the market?

So, let me start with, what I would suggest is in my field, my area of expertise, which is where do we see NSML in the next 10 years. And remember when I started, I also gave you a trajectory of where we are coming from. Because I always said, where you’re heading to doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It depends on where you are coming from. And NSML as an entity started out as a ship mining entity. And we then evolved into a ship management entity.
And now we are an integrated marine, shipping and marine services company being able to provide a plethora of shipping and marine services I don’t want us to end up assuming NSML is a training entity no, maritime training is an aspect of shipping and marine services so what do I see NSML in next 10 years? Basically we are already on that path towards being an integrated shipping and marine services entity able to provide all the plethora of shipping and marine services both ashore, offshore and Internationally.
Of course our core business still remains the technical management of vessels, that is the foundation of our business and we’ll continue to do that but part of our growth and diversification is to go into terminal management which we are already in, in terms of marine projects and consultancy, which the MCOE is into, vessel design, construction supervision, are all of those activities that we are into. We equally are expanding into offshore support. Tugboat, we already manage the marine crafts, marine services in Bonny and that’s also an activity that we intend to expand into and we’re doing. And again, the idea is in ten years what we will have is an entity that has grown beyond who we are today to be a full-fledged integrated shipping and marine services company able to provide services both ashore, onshore and internationally.
What does that mean? Like I said, we are a shipping company, We are a marine services company, but we’re also clear in terms of where do we play. We are in the energy logistic business. We’re not in a container business, our sole purpose is to enable those in the energy business to move product from one location to the other and that’s what we’ll continue to do and the whole essence of it is that we will grow to become the number one, we are the number one LNG technical shipping and marine services company in Nigeria today, but the idea is to grow beyond Nigeria into West Africa, across Africa and internationally. And we are on that path already.

 

I will appreciate sir if you share your challenges with us. I also want to know if NMSL can compete favourably with its foreign counterparts, I also want to know if you train cadets, and if yes, I want to know why is NIMASA sending out cadets for training outside Nigeria?

 

Let’s talk about challenges. So we see the shipping and marine business like any business with opportunities and with opportunities come challenges. Our role is to simplify challenges. So, there are challenges obviously within the context of shipping; and those challenges are not just peculiar to us, it’s an industry set of challenges. One of them is regulation, Fast evolving regulation. Regulations are changing, new regulations are being put in place, technological advances are some of them, availability of skilled manpower globally is there, and if we look at Nigeria with the peculiarity of ease of doing business in Nigeria, but like I’ve always said, the essence of business is to find solutions to challenges because if there are no challenges, then we won’t be in business so those challenges from our point of view are also opportunities.
Taking the availability of seafarers for example, Nigeria is a country with more than 200 million people. From the last count, I think 60% are below the age of 30. So we have a large pool of young people that have the capacity to be seafarers. It’s about providing them the opportunity.
So yes, there are challenges of skilled manpower. The training center is basically aimed or targeted at, at least addressing some of those challenges.
We cannot do it alone, but at least we are contributing to that.
Regulations, that’s the beauty of the industry, it is a highly regulated industry and rightly so because safety is critical, reliability is critical and therefore it has to be regulated because any mistake could be catastrophic.
So there are regulations and part of why we are in business is ensuring that we take those regulations, take those standards and ensure we fully adhere to them. So, on one hand, yes there are challenges, but ultimately that’s why we’re in business.
The ease of doing business is a reality in any environment. But the beauty is that the government has recognized that the role of government is to create an enabling environment for business to thrive. And the ease of doing business is something that is constantly being addressed. Whether it is with the regulators, whether it is in the local environment, it’s something that we all have to adapt to and show we find a way to make the best of it.You asked a question on whether we can compete internationally, whether our vessel could compete with international flags.Absolutely, we are already competing internationally, right, we’re not just simply competing on cost but also completing on quality and competence.

Are you ready to attract foreigners to train at your centre?

I think first thing should come first, right? What’s the Nigerian phrase? Charity begins at home. Exactly. We’re not saying we’re not open to foreigners coming to train, but the idea is let’s again go back to that original purpose which is domestication of those skill sets. Definitely, there’s no reason why foreigners cannot come, and you know, We’re in discussions but ultimately the bulk of our spaces will be for those who require it the most, which for us, we believe are Nigerians.
So I’ll give you a typical example. We have a indigenisation objective, which we’ve attained. 85% of the seafarers on our vessel today are Nigerians. And it was a deliberate effort on our part to say, look we’re a Nigerian company and in line with our purpose we want to domesticate and you cannot domesticate by simply importing foreigners to do the job so it’s about developing people locally and giving them the opportunity and that’s why 85% of our seafarers today are Nigerians, from the highest to the lowest level.
We have 100% capability. 15% is just to allow cross-fertilization of ideas by bringing some foreigners into our operations.
Typically, to become a certified official, you have three phases. You have the Academic Phase and then you have the Practical Phase. We are working with the NIMASA on the Practical Phase already. They are sending, they don’t have the capacity to do the Academic Phase.
We can do certain aspects of it, but then we can do the full Practical Phase. So we have partnered with NIMASA, and we are giving them that sea time training that is required. But then they still would need to do the academic side, which they are doing.
We have covered some of them, and we are still expanding to cover the bulk of it. But just to correct that impression, we are working, with NIMASA on covering part of that training.To be a seafarer, the starting point is to have your initial certification. The COCs, that’s not what we do. So when NIMASA sends cadets to maritime institutions abroad, it is to have that initial certification, the COCs, now to get the COCs you have the academic and then the practical. We are not at the level of the COCs which is like your degrees. We’re not a degree awarding institution.So for them to achieve their COCs, they do the academic phase, and then they do the sea –time, which we’ve been working with NIMASA providing cadets with sea time on our vessel which is practical and then you get the COC, now that qualifies you to be a seafarer. But then the certifications we’re talking about are additions as you move along, as you recertify,. So, yes you are a seafarer and as you move along it’s the steps above the COCs that’s the area that we play so we usually say we are an advanced maritime training center not the primary one, an advanced one offering specialized training for instance, If you want to work on gas tankers there’s a certain type of training you need which is what we are doing, you want to work in oil company like offshore the same thing, for example if you want to work in container-ship, its a different set of certifications. So, we are specialized in energy as we talk about, from all types of energy from offshore to normal tanker vessels.

Can you beat your chest and say that NSML is on the right track and itching towards the goal you set for yourself or your mandates?

You know it’s a journey, and excellence is a moving target. So for us, it’s about the way we are structured. The intentions, the objectives and the processes and strategies that we put in place we are absolutely comfortable that we are on the right track.

“We typically do between 40 and 50 cadets on the modern vessels”……. Ahmed

Dr Effiong stressed ship building, and we saw his analysis and we felt that when will this happen in Nigeria. He gave figures saying about $250 million.

As we are today, the economy dictates how closer or how far is Nigeria to that goal of acquiring its own flagged ships? Is it in this century, Is it during your time? Is it after you?

So when you say during my time, it makes it sound as if I’m a government appointee or I’m a politician that won an election. So, let me be very clear. And I know sometimes we can be impatient with economic development.
Growth and economic development do not happen overnight. It’s really about the processes and the structures you put in place to ensure that you are on the right track. And let me be very frank. If we’re talking about, are we on track? I would say yes, we are on track. The singular activity of the federal government of Nigeria under President Tinubu, to create a focused ministry looking at marine economy tells you yes, we recognize that there are things that need to be put in place to ensure we attract. And I always say this that ultimately the primary role of government is to create the enabling environment for private capital to come in and invest. So we are on track.
To go to the specific about ship building, I know everybody wants to build a ship, right! and I have always said whether it is ship building or ship repairs. Again, no country in the world has the capacity to 100% do everything. No. It’s about the relationships that you build to be able to do it.
And I put It as the ecosystem that you have to attract competent people, to attract capital, to attract equipment resources, spare parts, all of those things to bring them together because shipbuilding is like vessel assembly, if you want to start from welding or whatever, you can start from there but very soon you get stuck because the engine is not there. So,, to cut a long story short, yes we are on track, but like I have said, we’re talking about an economic activity that is highly technical and therefore we need to be patient, have the foundation in place, and start building the ecosystem. That would enable it to happen. And I believe if we could build on that part, we would achieve it.
Whether it would be during my time or not, I don’t control my time.

How many vessels do you have under the management of NSML and how many cadets have benefited under your seat time training in your vessels?

So currently we have eleven LNG vessels under our management and two LPG vessels that is, 13 under our management of course the goal is to expand.
I am sure some of you remember recently we took over the technical management of one of the most advanced LNG vessels in the world GABTOROS and these are new vessels really that are cutting edge in terms of efficiency, decarbonization, carbon emission. So, we are one of the few ship management companies that have those kinds of vessels under our management today. We’re hopeful we’ll take a second one sometime next year.
But most importantly we are equally diversifying our vessel, the type of vessels that we manage, which is why we have now moved into managing LPG vessels. We have two vessels under our management.
We are hopeful because LPG again is something within the African setting we believe is a good area. So, we are quite hopeful that in the next year or so, we’ll have a couple more coming to our management.
With regard to the number of cadets that have been on our vessels, it’s over 200 in the last six to seven years we typically do between 40 and 50 cadets on the modern vessels. .