December 14, (THEWILL) –Â In order to get recognition from shipbuilders for necessary empowerment and advancement to deep sea business, the Nigerian Government has been urged to put in place measures that would encourage indigenous ownership of Deep Sea Boeing Vessels.
Experts believe that such measures would provide backup for indigenous shipowners to either get loan or get recognised by shipbuilders to empower them to advance deep sea businesses, training as well as aid career development for seafarers in the country.
National President of Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) Engr. Adeyinka Okunade made the call during the 2021 Cadets Graduation Lectures by Maritime Academy of Nigeria on the theme; “Seafarers and shipping career development path after school-based training” in Oron on Monday.
Presenting a paper on “Analysis of Seafarers Career Opportunities: the Nigerian and Global situations” the maritime expert insisted on a holistic approach to enable the graduating Cadets acquire sufficient level of practical experiences.
According to him, continued training of Cadets without complementary efforts to expand businesses to create room for them to have on-board experiences in the deep-sea, amounts to waste of time and resources.
“Government should talk to ship owners. There are many ways of acquiring a ship. The government can give shipowners the backup to be able to either access loans or get recognised by ship builders to build ships for them, or to acquire these ships.
“China and all other countries are helping their people. There is no country that would advance without shipping.
“In Nigeria, we do not have a sufficient number of ships. and the kind of ships we are talking about for these cadets are not just coaster ships, they are Deep Sea Boeing Vessels that could go from here to Canada, UK and other countries of the world
“We used to have the Nigeria National Shipping Line, but that company was liquidated and has not been replaced. That is where people like us were trained, on those ships. We didn’t have problems with career development because as soon as you finished your college, the ship would be waiting. I even used to be an Engineer instructor aboard one of those ships.
“By liquidating those companies, we might have liquidated the whole country, because what they were accusing the companies of doing is still ongoing in Nigeria – that is corruption.
“What this country should do now is to call the ship owners, dialogue with them, and find out ways they could be encouraged and supported. Not necessarily putting down money, but if they have Federal Government guarantee, they can acquire ships. If you don’t acquire these ships, you are just educating these cadets for nothing sake.” he explained.
Okunade however commended the huge transformation recorded by Commodore Duja Effedua (Rtd) and his team, saying that the Academy has been repositioned to prepare the cadets for challenges in the real world.
“I will now join your streams of prophets to be spreading the good news about the Academy”. he said
Also presenting a lecture on Standards of training, certificate and watchkeeping (STCW), Mandatory Sea-going Service Opportunities and Documentation Requirements, the Secretary-General of the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, Captain Sunday Umoren said the training was meant to prepare the cadets to make their individual contributions to the safety of all on board.
He reminded the Cadets that Maritime training was regimented to structure, set them apart and prepare them for life at sea.
Umoren congratulated the cadets and noted that they have passed through a system that drilled them on industry best practices and certifications.
“You are very fortunate to be taken through these training sessions. In our time, passing out parades was just what it’s called, nobody prepares you for the future.” He mentioned.
