We bring you the concluding part of our interview with maritime expert; Otunba Kunle Folarin which we published last week. In this concluding part, Otunba Folarin who is Chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC) spoke with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Dapo Olawuni on maritime security and the workability of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006 and how it will be beneficial to Nigerian seafarers.
Is NIMASA meeting up its mandate of safety on Nigerian waters waters?
We bring you the concluding part of our interview with maritime expert; Otunba Kunle Folarin which we published last week. In this concluding part, Otunba Folarin who is Chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC) spoke with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Dapo Olawuni on maritime security and the workability of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006 and how it will be beneficial to Nigerian seafarers.
Is NIMASA meeting up its mandate of safety on Nigerian waters waters?
Nigerian territorial waters, that is within the Gulf of Guinea to Port Harcourt is to be policed by the Navy, the coastal terrain will probably be the job of NIMASA, they cannot go 200 miles and say they are combating piracy, what will the navy be doing? That is why the collaboration between NIMASA and the navy is imperative, where the responsibility and terrain of NIMASA stops, the navy takes over, or they can have a joint responsibility and operation in the area. I don't think any government will buy fighters for NIMASA, these are war ships with guns, it will be for the Navy, therefore, I believe in actual fact that the NIMASA started taking its responsibility about five years ago, and if you look comparatively, you can think of a Coast Guard doing that job, we don't have a Coast Guard in Nigeria, what NIMASA is doing should have been elevated to the level of a Coast Guard, bearing in mind that policing the waterfronts and territorial waters was informed in the last five years when the incident of piracy became obvious and we need a lot of experience to deal with this. We also need inter-governmental corporation or international cooperation between all the countries in the Gulf of Guinea; Benin Republic, Cameroun, Togo and Nigeria, and don't forget that out the Exclusive Economic Zone it is free for all, the IMO Convention is very clear on that. This is why pirates today are getting more courageous, they are acting before they come within your territorial waters, it is probably these sea robbers that want to steal from the cabin and the kitchen and steal personal belongings, these are the ones that operate within the coastal waters. But when you talk of those who want to highjack a whole ship and hold people to ransom, then you will talking about those attacking on the sea lanes, and this is the responsibility of the Navy, the Navy itself needs to be well-equipped to do this because it is very expensive more than you and I know, to keep four or five Naval ships patrolling our territorial waters on daily basis, the best solution is a joint international patrol, even big countries like the USA, Britain and France all do what they called 'Naval Exercise', if they are going to the Southeast Asia, they don't go alone, they say they are doing a joint exercise because they know how expensive and how wide that terrain is. An example is the search for the Malaysia aircraft that disappeared, more than seven countries are involved in the search, not even Malaysia, Australia is there, Britain, USA, India and so many other countries are also involved in the search for the aircraft, this further underscores that regional maritime security must be a joint exercise, there must be serious international collaboration to make it a success.
How can Nigerian Seafarers and Dockworkers take advantage of the MLC 2006?
I believe NIMASA has done a couple of sensitization on the MLC 2006, they should probably continue to do more of it in order for people to have a proper understanding of the provisions of these conventions and also the limitation of the convention. The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, is a tripartite document for compliance by the ship owner, the maritime administration and also the seafarers, there is a responsibility for all the parties concerned, the basic trust of the convention is the welfare of the seafarers in so many respect, either from the provisions of adequate accommodation, health programmes, terminal benefits shore leave and so on, but all these must be when you are working, a seafarer who probably has disembarked and is not engaged in any work, where can he get accommodation and provision for healthcare, certain provisions will be made company by company, but then it depends on the terms and conditions of engagement, also, the engagement agreement and disengagement agreement is where the negotiation comes in between the worker’s organization and the employer. This is why I said that compliance is a tripartite thing, the unions negotiate collective agreement of employment and this is the point and time that the union will respond to the offer, an employer will offer you certain amount of money, six months of engagement, 10 days shore leave and many others, the union can say it’s okay or it can change certain aspects. The MLC in its wisdom is not to compel any agreement but to negotiate agreements, and this becomes the condition of service for the seafarer. So the seafarer cannot blame the MLC 2006; the provisions are there, your union will negotiate with your employer, it is whatever is mutually agreed between both of them that will become a law.
How can this be monitored to ensure that the seafarer is not shortchanged?
For instance, NIMASA has an inspectorate department, I am aware that they are training a lot of their staff in the new order, so that they can go onboard vessels or approach the employer if there is any t from the union and be able to interface between the two of them, this is one of the things that came out from the convention. The other issue that the seafarer will want to happen is employment, and this is not covered by the MLC 2006, but once you are in employment it guarantees a total umbrella cover for you, it is a fantastic document.
Why do we have many seafarers that are not engaged?
My own observation is in two parts, first is the seafarers that have been trained academically, but do not have the certificate of competence, and unless you have the certificate of competence, you are not yet a seafarer. The problem has been the lack of sea time, Nigerians are not owning vessels, they are going about negotiating with international shipping companies to give the cadets an opportunity of sea time, there are lots of trained manpower that are yet to get this opportunity, that is why the NIMASA seafarer programme is an integrated one, those places where they have gone for training guaranteed sea time, they are not likely to suffer the same fate as their Nigerian trained counterparts. The second category is those that have got the certificate of competency but they are in-between jobs, they have to come after six months and look for another job, this is because Nigerian shipping companies are not taking enough part in our shipping activities, probably with the Cabotage Act they will be able to do more and engage more Nigerians, because, one of the pillars of the Cabotage Act is manning, so if we have adequate compliance with the Cabotage Act definitely there will be more employment, a lot of suggestions have been made by the Nigerian Seafarer Welfare Board on this issue, we are not only interested in the welfare of those seafarers that are working, we are also interested in the welfare of those who are not working, so that there will be adequate supply of manpower to man Nigerian coaster trade.
Are you saying that Shipping Companies in Nigeria are not doing enough?
Nigerian shipping companies are not getting the patronage that they need in other to sail, for instance, if the Cabotage Act is not working the way we want it, it means that less Nigerian ships will be working in the Cabotage trade, this is the complaint of waiver, most of the companies who have got the waiver are not employing Nigerians, they employ, Bangladesh, Filipinos and so on, because they have got the waiver to do that. Our position however is that; do you need to engage a Filipinos cook, or ratings in all category? What we need to do is to look at the Cabotage Act from the perspective of manning and operations, and we are suggesting that, if you are giving a waiver to any manning company, you must compel them that this is the last year they will get it, unless they come back again for renewal and show evidence of two or three Nigerians they have engaged, once you engage Nigerian seafarers onboard, all the welfare packages will apply to them.
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