As part of its youth empowerment strategy and providing the needed local content expertise in Nigeria’s maritime industry, the Federal College of Education (FCE) Technical, Akoka, is set to offer courses in maritime studies.
The Directorate of Consultancy Services Unit of the foremost College of Education in Nigeria, in collaboration with a private organisation, Oceangate Engineering and Geophysics Ltd., has evolved empowerment courses in maritime.
Addressing a news conference, the Managing Director of the unit, Mr Sunday Enikanselu, said that the Basic Maritime Professional Diploma courses spanning six to eight months would provide job opportunities.
“Today many youths are faced with daunting challenges of securing decent employments, especially in the maritime sector where the opportunities abound.
“Nigeria currently is faced with economic environment characterised by lack of job opportunities, adding that a range of other issues further exacerbate the poor state of employment in Nigeria.
“This problem, mostly in the maritime sector, is engendered by limited work experience, inadequate technical skills and poor knowledge base of
graduates in offshore, petro-gas and industrial-based jobs.
“However, considering all these problems, the education sector through adequate research should be able to proffer a long lasting solution to the identifiable problems which FCE Akoka has done,’’ he said.
Enikanselu said that the Diploma Programmes would be awarded in maritime related courses which would afford the participants employment opportunities and above all entrepreneurial skills they desired.
“The professional training programme in Maritime, Offshore, Petro-Gas and Industrial Technology was initiated by Oceangate a certified affiliate of Nigerian Marine Council to develop and build skilled personnel for the industry.
“The programme is developed to strengthened the national policy and empower youths in this very important sector of the economy. It will also include skills acquisition.
“The programme offers empowering details of marketable skills needed in the maritime and oil and gas sector through quality training at highly subsidised costs.
“We also offer to provide the maritime industry more sustainable human capacity with a tripodal approach in delivering the training programmes which is the best practice in the industry worldwide,’’ he said.
Enikanselu said the programme would include all the necessary courses that were relevant to the maritime sector in line with the approved syllabus by the regulation council of maritime.
“The courses are all certified by International Labour Organisation (ILO), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
“The courses on offer are Professional Diploma in Maritime Transport Management, Offshore Safety Management, Petroleum Product Business Management and Maritime Navigation.
“Others are Maritime Enterprise and Accounting Technology, Shipping and Port Management and Maritime Health and Safety Management,’’ he said.
The Managing Director of Oceangate, TaiwoMagbojuri, said that the programme could bridge the local content deficit presently in the maritime sector.
“This is a programme designed obviously to bridge the local content deficit in the nation’s maritime sector.
“Our maritime sector has been dominated by foreigners, a gap which is obviously against the Cabotage law signed by the ILO.
“Nigerians are laid back when it comes to taking the opportunities that abound in the maritime sector and that is the reason our vessels are dominated by the foreigners at our expense.
“Nigerians need to take the opportunities that abound in the maritime sector as against looking everywhere for jobs when they have one at their fingertips,’’ he said.
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