NIMASA moves to bridge manpower supply gap, trains 2,505 cadets

Determined to address the issue of shortage of manpower in the nation’s shipping sector, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has dispatched another 655 cadets to study Nautical Sciences, Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture on scholarship in maritime institutions in Egypt, India, Philippines and Romania under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).

This will bring the number of cadets that are training abroad under NIMASA’s full sponsorship to 2,505 when added to the first batch of 1,500 trainees that are currently studying in other parts of world including Malaysia.

Investigation has shown that the development of quality seafarers through NSDP is a direct response to the dearth of seafarers in Nigeria, which resulted from the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL). Currently, the average age of a Nigerian seafarer is put at 60 compared to the global average of 35.

It would be recalled that NSDP programme was initiated by NIMASA in 2008 under a 40:60 percent arrangement where NIMASA is expected to bear 40 percent of the total cost of the training while the state of origin of the trainee bears the remaining 60 percent.

However, the slow response of states in the programme led NIMASA into taking up the full responsibility of training seafarers. Statistics show that only about 15 states including the Federal Capital Territory are participating in the programme, five years after it was initiated.

Speaking at the send-off ceremony held on Monday at the Maritime Resource Development Centre, Kirikiri, Lagos, Idris Umar, minister of transport, noted that NIMASA through NSDP has created an enabling environment for manpower development and capacity building in the maritime sector and urged state governments to use the opportunity to develop capacity among youths so as to help in reducing youth restiveness and poverty among the unemployed.

According to him, manpower development is also necessary owing to the fact that cabotage regime cannot be fully implemented if Nigeria does not have the required calibre of seafarers to man indigenous-owned vessels and other Nigerian-flagged vessels. “This will help to address the issue of capital flight, which has constituted a drawback on our economy due to the domination of Nigerian-flagged vessels by foreigners,” he said.

Listing other efforts towards addressing the issue of shortage of manpower in the nation’s shipping sector, the minister said his ministry has been strengthening the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, by providing it with infrastructural and technical capacity towards making the academy more responsive to human capacity development. He disclosed that efforts are currently on course to make the academy a degree-awarding institution by affiliating it to the World Maritime University, Malmo, Sweden.

Also, NIMASA is perfecting arrangement to establish Institutes of Maritime Studies in four Nigerian universities – University of Lagos; Niger Delta University, Amasoma, Bayelsa State; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State. The objective of this is to contribute in training high quality maritime professionals towards addressing the gaps in the maritime industry.

Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, director general of NIMASA, while delivering his welcome address, said the agency believed that NSDP would ensure that Nigeria in the nearest future would become Africa’s hub for the supply of skilled manpower in the shipping sector, thereby justifying the resources and support invested in training the entire cadets.

“NSDP holds the future for the development of nautical scientists, naval architects and marine engineers who will close capacity gaps in Nigeria’s ship building value chain, ship manning and contemporary ship operation and navigation. It is also on record that the Nigerian oil and gas sector is also waiting to enjoy the fruits of the NSDP as the oil and gas sector maximises the provisions of Nigerian content law in the fabrication of oil and gas platforms and sundry marine engineering activities,” he said.

The NIMASA boss, who said that NSDP was initiated by the agency due to the need to sustainably improve capacity for the conduct of its Flag Administration and Port State Control duties, added that investment in the development of maritime human capacity was the best way to grow the nation’s maritime sector.

He further urged the cadets to make Nigeria proud by exhibiting high sense of citizenship. This, he said, was necessary because NSDP had become a reference point in the development of youth empowerment intervention programmes in Nigeria.

By: Uzoamaka Anagor