The Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) has said that it will be partnering with Warsaw University, UK, to provide sea time experience to Nigerian Seafarers.
The President of the Chamber, Andy Isichie, while disclosing this to Shipping Position Daily on Tuesday in Lagos when the chamber paid a courtesy visit to Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC), also said that the chamber will be organizing additional refreshers course for some of the seafarers.
He however said that the idea is that when they have the experience, it will enable them acquire the-much- needed Certificate of cCompetency.
“The chamber is working with Warsaw’s, it is a university in UK to provide sea time training for Nigerian seafarers. The chamber will also help in organizing additional refreshers courses that will make it possible for some of these people to have access to that sea time training, that is the second badge. So at the end of the day, the ides is when they have this sea time training, they will be able to get the certificate of competency they require to secure jobs in serious shipping companies”
Explaining further, he said that the chamber has also started working with top shipping companies in the world for that, even as he added that the cost will be taken care of by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
“Now, this ea time experience is being worked out with some of the top shipping companies in the world, so much so that we believe that the cadets themselves if they prove themselves while on that training, they may be lucky to be considered for employment” he explained.
“It is not the chamber that is paying; NIMASA will be paying as part of their Nigeria’s commitment to raising seafarers”
According to him, “Synergy is important in what we are doing and without synergy the best cannot come that is why we are here to work with them”
He however lauded NIMASA for their effort through the Nigerian Seafarers Development Program (NSDP).
“You know we have over 3000 seafarers who are jobless, they don’t have sea time experience and that is very important, thank God for the intervention of NIMASA. And for them to have sea time experience requires having spaces on vessels that ply international waters, how many ships do Nigerian have, I am not talking of Nigeria because the country used to have under the defunct NNSL those ones are gone” he said.
“So we have a lot of seafarers without sea time and as a result a lot of them are idle. NIMASA under the NSDP programme have tried to send them to schools that are willing to put them there, they are trying but we can’t leave it to NIMASA alone”, he concluded
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