Maritime Stakeholders Make Case For Nigerian Cadets Training

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have called on private and government owned organisations to invest in Nigerian cadets through sea time training.

 

The stakeholders lamented that lack of sea time would affect the future of the cadets in Nigerian owned maritime academies.

 

According to them,training of cadets aboard tugboats and smaller crafts would not bring out the best in their quest to be future seafarers .

 

Speaking at the 5th edition of “A Day with Nigerian Maritime Students” with the theme, “Beyond Sea Time”, organized by Platforms Communications in Lagos on Monday, Chairman of the conference and President of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Dr. McGeorge Onyung called on the government and private sectors to invest in the shipping industry, as a way to boost capacity for the youths.

 

 

The SOAN President urged the students to take their studies very serious and forget about the challenges that they might encounter in the course of their studies .

 

Onyung said “you have capacities as adults to do exploit, so, I say to you, people don’t go to Olympics to try, you go there to get a gold medal, so, don’t say, I went to school, I have tried, I want you to go and get a gold medal”.

 

On his part , former President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMMS) , Captain Ade Olopoeniyan called on the government agencies, maritime colleges as well as maritime stakeholders to fashion out better ways of providing sea time experience for Nigerian cadets in order for them to have proper practical training onboard ships.

 

Olopoeniyan told the students that the fact remained that most of them would not have the opportunity to practical training on a ship even though the conference was themed “beyond sea time”.

 

He said, “I know that a lot of cadets here, when you finish, you will not be able to get that mandatory twelve months on a ship or if the ship is not trading, you are not getting enough practical training. If the ship will just be at anchorage for about six months or nine months, you won’t get any training, you are just on a ship, you are not getting enough experience.

 

“So, the government agencies that are here, the ship owners, stakeholders even the maritime colleges should begin to think of better ways of sea time for cadets so that they can have proper practical training onboard ships not just a ship staying at anchorage for twelve months then you come back and you have not learnt anything”.

 

“And as Dr. Onyung has said, there are so many opportunities at sea, a lot of vessels are operating in Nigerian waters and are being manned by foreigners. If you can get more Nigerians qualify as competent seafarers, then, there won’t be any need for a lot of foreigners on our ships even on the coastal side. So, it is a rewarding experience. Again too, if you have a certificate, you don’t only be on coastal vessels, you can be on foreign going vessels where you get to know the world, different countries, different cultures, different experiences. And of course, that is why I actually got a lot of education. By travelling round the world, you are going to get a lot education from that. So, it is a rewarding experience.

 

“Then, beyond sea time, maybe after you have gotten your classified by universal certificate or classified by Nigeria certificate, you can now decide to come to your second career at shore which was what I did. After I became a captain on a ship, I came down to work ashore, which was my second career and I worked in the Ministry of Transport, I worked in NIMASA and I have retired now. And I am actually into my third career now by just doing consultancy services.

 

” So, I have had three careers as a seafarer which if you are serious, you can emulate what I have done by actually having first, second and third career as seafarers”, he stated.

 

Similarly, Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Bashir Jamoh ,stressed the need for the ferry business to be utilised effectively.

 

He called on government to invest massively on shipping building which would serve as an alternative for cadets and seafarers to be gainfully employed.

 

Meanwhile ,the convener of the conference and Managing Director/ of Platforms Communications, Mr. Sylvanus Obasi noted out that the 2019 edition of the conference was very crucial as it we set to address two important issues captured in the two papers presentations for the day’s occasion one of which was targeted at examining the place of the Nigerian youth in the enormous potentials in the Nigerian maritime industry.

 

Obasi added that the second paper would bring to the limelight the challenges that could deter a Nigerian seafarer from continuing his seafaring profession and also proffer solutions on how relevant government agencies, regulators and concerned stakeholders could work together to solve the challenges so that the seafarers could easily progress to the next level of their career.