By Stephen Ubanna
Between 2021 and now, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safey Agency, NIMASA, under the close watch of Bashir Jamoh, OFR, has shouldered the responsibility of sending cadets of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP, to overseas for sea-time and COC, training, particular, India, Greece and Egypt, that runs into millions of the North American country of the United States, US, dollars.
Take for instance in 2021, the very first year in office as the Director General of NIMASA, the agency had sent off 200 of the third phase of the NSDP who will receive training in India and Greece. In 2022, barely two years in office as the Chief Executive of the Maritime Regulatory agency another 235 Nigerian Cadets were said to have been sent India and Greece as well to be trained as licensed Deck Engine officers and Naval Architects under the NSDP.
The agency may have opened the door way for the shipping companies, both foreign and local, to follow in sending the Cadets abroad for sea-time and COC, training. The deal by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, NCMB, and STOILIC Shipping, both shipping companies based in Nigerian to have come to the conclusion based on what they haven on ground that NIMASA, had done over the last three years may have encouraged them to send some Cadets abroad on sea-time and COC, training overseas. It was not surprising why the two c shipping companies had agreed to send 10 of the Cadets who had scaled through their stringent hurdles to benefit from their scholarship to travel abroad for the sea-time and COC training.
An elated Engr. Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Hhad applauded Stoilic shipping for showing commitment to developing indigenous capacity by following he footsteps of Bahir Jamoh, led NIMASA’.
The NC dMB, Chief Executive Secretary had said that given the commitment of the shipping company in following the foot steps of NIMASA, to send Cadets for sea-time and COC, training, abroad is a welcome development as Nigeria can be sure to generate huge revenue by producing its own seafarers instead of depending on other maritime nations like Phillipines to hire the seafarers at a great cost to the country.
Wabote , who could not hide his feeling had said that ‘’the partnership between them to send the 10 Cadets abroad for sea-time and COC training would go a long way to usher in further ‘’progress for the nation’s maritime industry’’.
Engr. Wabote, who may have been encouraged to speak out at the agency and Stoilic Shipping flag off of a full-scholarship sea-time training for 10 Cadets in Lagos recently was said to have assured the beneficiaries of the Board’s commitment ‘’to growing capacity for the country’s maritime sector’’.
He was said to have also assured the industry stkeholder that they have no cause to worry in taking the bold initiative to send cadets abroad for sea-time and COC, training as ‘’the agency takes the training very seriously ‘’. He did not stop there. He may have gladdened the heart of industry operators when he disclosed that‘’maritime trainings , though cost intensive would only take the commitment of the parties involved to do so.
The NC DMB, Executive Secretary, who was said to have been represented at the event by one Timbiri Augustine, the Boards’s Manager , Human and Capital Development had said that ‘’the conduct of the trainees has an implication on the country’’, advising them not to be distracted at any point as they may be faced by mild challenges such turbulent weather, different environments, Language barrier amongst others throughout the period of the training programme’’.
He asserted that the Board is ‘’ building capacity and capability but not limited to the utilization of this capacity to the Nigerian Maritime, oil and gas industry’’. He had reminded the Cadets that ‘’the training is the type that will take them to other countries and different seaports’, stressing that ‘’commitment is critical because the standard in view is a global factor, not Nigerian factor’
Mrs. Irene Mcfoy, Executive Director, in Stoilic Shipping, who was said to have taken advantage of the flag off of the sea-time-COC training programme for the 10 Cadets in Lagos to speak out. She was said to have charged them ‘’to change the dynamics of shipping companies not wanting Nigerian seafarers by stepping up the standards’’. She was said to have also reassured them of the company’s commitment to the training programme and re-emphasised the its’ drive to sustenance of the partnership with NCDMB.
She was said to have also assured the Cadets that the Company and its technical partners would ‘’take them through many training modules and placed them on sea-going vessels, where they must start preparing for their COC’’.
Appealing to the trainees ‘’to interact, to be humble and learn from their teachers, as well as comply with the laid down rules, safety guidelines and all given technical values of the maritime profession and their particular field, she noted that it is the only way could succeed in flying colours.
Indeed, there is every reason for the shipping companies to team up with NIMASA, in sending the Cadets abroad for sea-time and COC training. It is on records inInternational Maritime Organisation IMO, circles that 28% of the Asian country of Phillipines , revenue comes from seafaring and Nigerian cannot afford not benefit from it.
This may have informed why Mcfoy, who was in-charge of Cadet training at NIMASA, before her retirement from the agency could replicate same in STILIC shipping, insisting that ‘’ there is nothing stopping Nigeria from being the best or even better than the Phillipines’’.
The STOILIC Executive Director was said to have commended the Management of NCDMB, for the partnership and re-emphasized that ‘’Nigeria as a littoral state, has no reason not to excel because it has the manpower, and the intelligence to do anything’’, noting that all that the country needed is ‘’to get these students properly harnessed and Nigeria will do very well in the global maritime sector’’.
Mr. Lotonna Mcfoy, the Managing Director, Stolic Shipping was said to have urged the Cadets ‘’to write their names in gold and always remember where they are coming from’’. He was said to have further charged the Cadets not’’ to be discouraged and tired and to always remember that there are many fellow graduates out there who yearn for this opportunity but could not get it’’.
