Private maritime academies are illegal, says master mariners

Due to the inability of the private maritime academies and training institutions in Nigeria to obtain the recognition of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the global apex maritime regulatory body, the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) has described the existence of private academies as illegal.

Ade Olopoenia, national president of the association, said that the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, is the only maritime academy that has the recognition of IMO owing to the fact that it is the only maritime training institution that is registered with IMO by Nigeria.

Speaking with the media at the unveiling of the new executives of the association in Lagos over the weekend, Olopoenia said the private academies are profiting from the desires of hapless and uninformed Nigerians to gain academic qualification.

Olopoenia, who recently retired as the director, Maritime Safety and Seafarers Standards of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said that his association will meet with the management of NIMASA and other relevant stakeholders to discuss ways of tackling the existence of the unrecognised training institutions.

“These academies train people, collect lots of money from them and when they graduate, the students would have nowhere to go because the schools that trained them have no requisite knowledge and academic staff to teach the students,” he added.

Listing the programme work plan for 2014 as envisaged by the new executives of the association, the master mariner stated that the association is determined to partner with stakeholders in rendering professional consultation and guidelines to the industry so as to help in moving Nigeria’s maritime sector to a greater height.

He also added that the association will forward to the government a paper review of the historical perspectives of the nation’s maritime industry, which would serve as panacea for the dearth of professional manpower in the maritime sector.

The association, he said will be organising periodic seminars and workshops on topical issues with the aim of initiating the re-engineering of the policies that would result to the growth of the industry. “The association held a N100 million fund rising for the building of its permanent secretariat and efforts are being expedited to actualise the project,” he added.

He also urged the government to ensure the appointment of maritime professionals in government agencies to develop and contribute to the development of the economy.

Tony Olugbode, past president of the association, emphasised the need to beam regulatory searchlights on recent spate of boat mishaps on the Lagos waterways and its environs as well as the unnecessary loss of human lives and property.

Olugbode added that the association will endeavour to proffer lasting solutions to the high incidences of piracy and smuggling activities within the Nigerian territorial waters.

IFEOMA OKEKE