INTERVIEW
Rector, Stars Maritime Academy; Dr. Reuben Ovai, in this interview with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Roland Ekama, talked about the state of maritime training in Nigeria and the low level of acceptability by Nigerian youths. He talked about his vision for the academy as well as other capacity building and maritime-related sundry issues.
Kindly tell us the number of graduates at the last passing out parade of the academy?
We actually graduated 40 students from various department of the school and it’s a known fact that not all the students that registered from the beginning the voyage have the capability to graduate at the end, because there is kind of process that will eventually bring down the number of students along the line and that is why we ended up with this figure at the end of this voyage. But thank God, we hope to graduate more students in the coming voyage considering the fact that JAMB will send more students to us. Sometimes we have more students than this number considering the fact that some state government and organisations sponsor their youths for maritime training, which in turn increase the number of students and our output. The recent development whereby JAMB refer students who are seeking for admission to us, will further make us to improve on the high number of students that will graduate in the nearest future.
It appears that there is a decline in the number of intake at the academy, what might be responsible for that?
The answer to this question is that we are not embarking on aggressive admission campaign, reason being that we wanted to strengthen our structures before embarking on more intakes, secondly we are all aware of the current situation of the economy so to say, which has also affected most people who want to go into maritime education and thirdly, is the fact that up till now most Nigerians don’t know what maritime is all about. If you watch the dream the cadets had during the Passing-Out-Parade you will understand better. Some Nigerians when they hear the word maritime they are confused talk less of the maritime education, thus Nigerians are not really conversant with maritime education as we think. The government has its own blame to that effect because I don’t know if it is a deliberate policy on the side of the government not to encourage the private sector encourage the private sector to look inward as regards maritime training and sometimes we advocate for government to encourage people to pick-up a career, which has also affected the intake of students in the private academies. The government agencies in the industry are supposed to woo Nigerians and encourage people to go into maritime education, but these agencies are not looking towards that direction. Nevertheless, we have our own plan and strategy to boost the intakes of our school by investing in infrastructural development and as you can see we are putting structures on ground to large extent, considering the nature of the courses we run at SMA.
What plans do you have to get more students into the school?
One of such moves is that we are introducing more courses to give the public more options. Two, as you can see we carry out accreditation of more courses to expand the scope for more students ,we are also working with JAMB , as you know JAMB is the body that sources for student s in tertiary institutions and Nigerians will be exposed to such opportunities that they can think of from our end .
It appears that government policies for the maritime industry are unfavourable, what is your view on this?
From the inception of this government, my standpoint has always been to get a square peg in a square hole .Let us be realistic, for God sake .The fact still remains that the maritime sector is close to extinction because there is no job .Talking about the seaports, how many ships have berthed in the last three months? December was supposed to be the peak period where you have high traffic in Lagos Ports Complex and Tin Can Island Ports; all the berths are supposed to be occupied with ships but I can tell you that those facilities are near empty, which is a clear indication that Nigerians are not importing. Most of our neighbouring countries take advantage of our policies and enrich themselves, thus let it dawn on us that some of our policies that discourage our investors should be looked into in order to encourage the investors because the benefits is for both the government and Nigerians in general. Where importers decide to use our ports, the government will benefit a lot in the process knowing that there will be revenue from there. Nigerians will be engage by both the private and public sector and there will be opportunities for everybody to make ends meet. But whereby the government fails to look inward as regards the sector there will always be a problem. I wonder what the future would be, should the government continue this way. Like I always tell people, mostly my students, the only encouragement we have is that the profession is an international one, therefore if there is no way in Nigeria you can look elsewhere outside the shores of the country and make it. After all, Nigeria is not the only country with water, there are other countries in the world without water and vessels, and even they have ports operating very well. As a Nigerian, I feel very sad that a sector like ours is gradually going down and up till now there is no move by the government to remedy the situation.
As a trainer of seafarers, how would you respond to the issue of alleged ship owners flouting MLC 2006 convention?
First and foremost, let me start by criticizing any group in the industry that has condemned the ship owners absence from that meeting, because we must also have it at the back of our mind that these people have challenges- numerous challenges they are facing at the moment . For instance, where is the job for ship owners? Without jobs there is no way the operators can talk about salary for workers. Is it not the job in place that will bring about salaries? We must first talk about welfare first no doubt before output or productivity, thus let us face the real facts because we must lay emphasis on what the government has put in place to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Government did not give the ship owners any incentives to operate yet they want the ship owners to perform magic. In order climes, it is not done like that. Ship owners are struggling because we know that there is no job for them anywhere, then people are talking about MLC 2006? Where will he get money for wages as part of efforts to meet up with the tripartite arrangement when the government is not helping matters? Frankly speaking some of these things are not realistic. I will tell you that you don’t need to tell a ship owner to comply with MLC 2006. If such opportunities are in place whereby the environment is conducive for business to thrive, the seafarers can easily move from one company to another whenever the ship owner refuses to increase his salary knowing that the environment is competitive. There will always be opportunity for a seafarer to seek greener pasture once an employer refuses to increase his packages. These are some of the ways such issues are addressed out there in other parts of the world.
How has the government encouraged private maritime schools, especially a school like SMA in Ogun State?
Talking about encouragement, my personal believe is that I am not soliciting for support from anybody, rather what I need is an enabling environment because no government agency is concerned about any individual or investment , so I don’t really owe any grudges against anybody to run an institution, but what I need is an enabling environment especially the regulatory agency . I would prefer a situation whereby they can come over to see what I have in place as a training institution for maritime development. Ogun State government don’t know more about maritime so I wouldn’t worry them to support me for any form of assistance .The students that have graduated from inception have never worked for Ogun State government, rather the maritime sector and who is taking the glory for this contribution if not the regulatory agency. Some of my students work aboard NLNG ships despite the state of the economy. I think it is time for Nigerian government to be proud of what they have in order to encourage investment.
What is your expectation of the maritime industry in 2017?
I think 2017 will be better than 2016, the maritime academy did well in 2016 thus 2017, will be better. The other area where my expectation is high has to do with the port operations, because 2016 recorded a very poor performance. The seaports performed below average due to government weak policies. There are some of the key areas I would want the government to focus on for 2017, so that our ports will boom once again. The FOREX we are talking about can be reviewed through the port operations, then how can we encourage international trade to thrive in this country. The oil and gas sector is not the only way to survive because some countries do not have oil yet they are far better than Nigeria. We can survive without oil. The government needs to revisit those poor policies that paralysed the ports, they need to be reviewed if only we mean well for Nigerians.
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