Experts want shipping firms to invest in training of seafarers, bridge manpower gap
For Nigeria to bridge the long manpower gap caused by dearth of manpower supply especially seafarers to man Nigerian owned vessels including foreign oceangoing vessels that call Nigerian seaports, shipping companies operating in the country need to invest in the training of cadets, shipping experts have said. .
According to them, the best seafarers in world are those who come through a cadetship scheme. This is owing to the fact that the familiarity that comes with such training enables them to perform well in their responsibilities.
Recall that the demise of the Nigeria National Shipping Line (NNSL) and the consequent loss of sea-time opportunity for potential seafarers as well as the challenge faced by the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron in turning out employable seafarers, have been jointly blamed for the dwindled fortunes of Nigerian seafarers. This development has led to mass unemployment as well as the prevalence of fake and ill-trained seafarers.
Alarmingly, the percentage of employable seafarers in Nigeria is very low basically because cadets have difficulty getting sea time opportunities, failure of which denials them from sitting for the Certificate of Competency (CoC) that will make them internationally acceptable.
The deteriorating conditions of seafarers, indigenous ship owners say, is due to lack of adequate training, which could only be addressed by encouraging Nigerian ship owners to grow their fleet.
BusinessDay check reveal that it takes four to five years to train a seafarer from cadetship to officer, which cost millions of naira.
Confirming this in Lagos on the occasion of the Seafarers’ Day organised by Maritime Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Greg Ogbeifun, president of Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), said this can be achieved if government helps in harnessing the existing fleet of all shipping firms, and also creates a data base of vessels.
Ogbeifun, who noted that government needs to establish a national fleet and provide support funds for the indigenous players to acquire more vessels, also said that the private sector should be encouraged to develop marine training facilities like those prevalent in the Philippines and India who were the leading providers of marine officers in the world.
He called for the establishment of regulatory agency similar to the Merchant Navy Training Board in the United Kingdom to mobilise vessel owners to mandatorily provide and implement training scheme for seafarers from cadetship level to senior deck and engine officer levels.
The shipping mogul said the situation has become so bad that there were more seafarers now with fake certificates than those with genuine ones. “There were about 4,000 acclaimed seafarers in the country whose qualifications were questionable to the extent that Nigerian companies have been left with the challenge of identifying well trained and qualified seafarers to man their ships”.
He stated that Nigerian maritime academies have continued to produce hundreds of seafarers every year, who have little or no hope of sea-time opportunities. “The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) being the agency that is saddled with the responsibility of maritime labour have to do more than it doing currently to improve the situation.”
According to him, while the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) which has seen many young Nigerians beginning a career in seafaring was commendable, it has failed to meet the manpower need of the nation’s maritime sector.
On the Cabotage regime which is supposed to improve the development of indigenous ship owners, Ogbeifun said that the policy, which has lasted for over 11 years, has done little to build capacity among Nigerian ship owners.
“Our ship owners are largely indebted to banks in a bid to stay in business. This has impacted negatively on the fortunes of seafarers, as companies can only engage workers when there are vessels to execute contracts. The Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF), designated as a special fund for development of local shipping, has about N50 billion that is still waiting for years without disbursement.”
Continuing, he said: “There were expectations that reviewing the Cabotage Act in addition to disbursing the CVFF to local shipping companies are necessary to grow indigenous capacity so that jobs can be created.”
Ogbeifun called for the political will to get the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and oil majors to give contracts to indigenous operators, so that more jobs can be created for seafarers.
He called for support programmes such as simulation/training centres and facility; seamanship training centre; implementation of policies, rectification/domestication of conventions and regulations; standardisation of training processes and incentives for organisations that embark on training as the only way to meet the expected level of competency for seafarers in Nigeria.
Jide Olugunwa, vice president of the National Association of Masters Mariner (NAMM), who bemoaned the challenges faced by the seafarers, advised the regulatory body and other stakeholders in the industry to look inward and give priority to the survival and effective participation of the seafarers.
According to him, NIMASA, MAN Oron and other training institutions in the country need to collaborate with each other to train cadets so as to bridge the manpower gap in the sector.
UZOAMAKA ANAGOR-Ewuzie