NLNG, NMA partner on capacity building among cadets

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company says it is supporting the Nigerian Maritime Academy (NMA), Oron, to build manpower through training for the nation’s maritime industry, in its 2015 facts and figures report.

The NLNG Ship Management Limited, charged with the development of Nigerian shipboard personnel, was set up in response to the scarcity of shipboard personnel worldwide.

According to the company, in 2014 it sponsored 14 NLNG Ship Management Limited ratings through the academy such that the shipboard officers Nigerianisation policy had produced six captains and four chief engineers since its commencement.

As one of the biggest employer of seafarers in Nigeria, the company has about 364 seafarers in its employment list and the number is expected to increase to 385 by the end of 2015, according to the report.

“With the incorporation of its first subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport, in 1989, the LNG shipping industry in Nigeria was born. Currently, the NLNG through the NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML) is the biggest employer of Nigerian seafarers. The NLNG has trained hundreds of seagoing officers, some to the level of captains and chief engineers,” the report notes.

A breakdown of the analysis shows that from 2001 to 2014, a total of 240 cadets were said to have completed their training programme in the United Kingdom maritime colleges. As part of their training, all cadets would go aboard the BGT vessels for practical experience and to give them the required discipline for a successful career.

Also, in 2014, 13 cadets completed their three-year cadet-ship, and are currently serving on the BGT vessels as officers, and at the end of that year, the NSML had trained 25 engineering officers.

The report states: “The NSML currently has 194 Nigerian officers in its employment lists, and they independently manage the deployment and training of all officers and cadets.

“Because we did not have many Nigerians in the senior officers’ rank, in 2013, with the board approval, the NSML started recruiting foreign senior officers. By the end of 2014, the NSML had employed 43 officers.

“The NSML continues to direct employment and management of ratings as approved by the NSML Board of Directors for the BGT. Cadets and junior engineering officers are also being trained to obtain qualifications in motor ships and steam ships to allow the NSML to meet the additional challenges and requirements of the new build dual engine LNG carriers.”

As part of it corporate social responsibility (CSR), the NLNG has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with six Nigerian universities. Under the initiative, the company has committed to spend $2 million on each of the participating universities for the construction of modern engineering laboratories and procurement of cutting-edge engineering equipment to aid teaching and research.

The universities include University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, University of Port Harcourt, University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.