Need to retain N960bn loss to foreign seafarers through manpower development

Nigeria’s shipping industry has been losing about N960 billion annually as capital flight due to the domination of seafaring jobs in the country by foreign seafarers arising from the inability of the Nigerian shipping sector to build capable manpower.

Specifically, Nigeria has in the last two decades lost track of training qualified seafarers for its shipping sector after the demise of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), the nation’s foremost national carrier that was owned and liquidated by government in the 1990s.

Also, Nigeria, which has over 800km of coastline, depends largely on importation of finished products as well as exportation of its crude oil. But the country has the potential to create employment and wealth for a good number of its population in the shipping industry.

During the days of NNSL, Nigeria was able to train the bulk of today’s master mariners who are currently ageing. Those mariners were trained according to international standards and received their Certificate of Competency (CoC).

But today, the country suffers huge infrastructural and human capacity gaps in its maritime industry such that the current age of an average Nigerian seafarer is 65 years against the global average of 35 years. It has become very difficult for the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, the same academy that trained the present crop of ageing master mariners, to train fresh manpower due to lack of training vessels resulting from the demise of NNSL.

Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, director-general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), in a recent capacity building workshop for journalists held in MAN Oron, Akwa Ibom State, confirmed that the Nigerian economy loses about $6 billion annually as capital flight to foreign seafarers who dominate the jobs in the nation’s shipping industry.

Delivering a paper on the theme ‘The Role of the Maritime Administration in Building Capacity for the Shipping Sector’, the NIMASA boss, who was represented by Isichie Osamgbi, deputy director, public relations, NIMASA, said it is estimated that Nigeria loses about $3 billion annually to foreign seafarers, but if the remunerations of other foreigners employed in Nigeria’s shipping and logistics chain were added, the amount would probably be about $6 billion.

According to him, retaining about $6 billion annually would help in improving the standard of living of Nigerians by creating jobs for the unemployed as well as in minimising crime in the society.

Report has it that out of the $16 billion remittance into the Philippines by the overseas Filipino workers, $7 billion is generated by Filipino seafarers. “If Nigerian seafarers working abroad can attract this much into the economy, it will have a positive impact on the nation’s GDP,” the NIMASA boss explained.

He, however, said the agency through the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) was targeting to train about 5,000 seafarers by 2015 to ensure that the nation could earn huge foreign income from Nigerian seafarers working on foreign-flagged vessels.

Developing manpower, he noted, was not only the fastest means of harnessing the vast opportunities that abound in the nation’s maritime industry, it would also enable Nigerians to take over critical aspects of the shipping and logistics trade in the hands of foreigners.

Formerly, when cadets from MAN Oron graduated from the school, they were immediately sent to the NNSL to undergo their sea time training to qualify to obtain the internationally-recognised Certificate of Competency. Today, the reverse is the case as over 5,000 cadets who graduated from the academy in the last five years are yet to undergo their sea time training.

Joshua Okpo, rector of MAN Oron, said it would cost the nation about N2.1 billion annually to train about 250 cadets on sea time to obtain their CoC in countries like Malaysia, Turkey, Philippines, among others.

“We have located a ship to help us in sea time training of 250 cadets annually, but we are handicapped by lack of funding. Thus, the need for the Federal Government to make appropriation for sea time programme in the budget,” he said.

On the other hand, the nation’s indigenous ship owners, who were supposed to take over the role of providing opportunity for sea time training for cadets after the demise of NNSL, are yet to find their feet in the nation’s shipping business due to foreign domination and low indigenous participation resulting from lack of capacity.

In the face of this, therefore, Bolaji Akinola, president, Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), has urged the Federal Government to make provision for the acquisition of training vessels for the academy in the 2014 budget. This, he noted, would enable the nation to conserve the N960 billion annual loss to foreign seafarers as well as the N2.1 billion that would have been used annually for sea time training of 250 cadets.

The academy, according to Akinola, needs more resources different from the funding from NIMASA to enable the it increase its capacity to train seafarers, help the nation to earn foreign exchange, stop capital flight created by training cadets abroad, and put an end to domination of employment by foreigners.

By: Uzoamaka Anagor