The Nigeria Seafarer

For the past six years or thereabout, June 25 of every year has come to stay as the world’s day of celebrating the seafarer. It was actually in 2010 at a Diplomatic Conference which held in Manila in Philippines to adopt milestone revisions to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention) and its associated Code, that it was also agreed that the unique contributions made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade, the world economy and civil society as a whole, should be marked annually with a ‘Day of the Seafarer’.
The objectives of Day of the Seafarer include:  increasing awareness among the general public of the indispensable services you render to international seaborne trade, the world economy and society at large. It’s also meant as a day to send a clear message to all seafarers that they are recognised and appreciated; that the world understands the extraordinary conditions and circumstances of seafaring, that the world cares about them and that they will be protected whenever the circumstances of life at sea so warrant.
The World Seafarers’ Day is also set aside as a day to redouble efforts at the regulatory level to create a better, safer and more secure world for the professionals.
 And so, every year, Nigeria also joins the rest of the global community to celebrate seafarers and remember their sacrifices and contributions.
We say that, irrespective of their current rating within the nation’s maritime sector, Nigerian seafarers are arguably an important stakeholder. One can hardly forget how respectable it was to be a seafarer up till the mid- 1990s,  that was before the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL).
The average age of the youngest qualified and certified master mariner and marine engineer in the country today is about 57 years. Of course, there are thousands of lower cadre seafarers, few of whom are gainfully employed.
There are about 1.2 million seafarers in the world, and good enough, Nigerian seafarers make up a sizeable number of the lot.
The reality is that Nigeria is a country where thousands of seafarers are either unemployed or under employed, where the registry is depleting by the day.
 A lot of people have blamed the current travails of unemployment of the Nigerian seafarers on government and by extension, NIMASA, which is the implementing agency for maritime labour.  
Without mincing words, NIMASA has not done well enough to boost the employability of emerging seafarers, this it would have done by ensuring that the   Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, Akwa Ibom state is well-funded. A robust programme of sea time would have helped too.
But rather than do this, it is at present funding maritime institutes in universities and also sending young Nigerians to foreign maritime academies for training in nautical sciences and marine engineering.
Even though NIMASA will beat its chest for the Nigerian Maritime University and the Science and Technical College that it is funding, the question to ask is: Will it translate to jobs for the would-be seafarers.
The Nigerian seafarer is perhaps the most ‘unfortunate’ in Africa. While Nigeria prides itself as a maritime nation, it has no ships, except a handful of service and offshore crafts and single hull tankers.  
The nation’s seafarers have degenerated so badly from the glorious days of the NNSL. But even if there is no national carrier anymore, cant the nation’s maritime managers think of other ways to make our seafarers employed, by first making sure that they are employable.
It is a shame that Nigeria no longer parades world-class seafarers, she no longer owns ships. But even if we no longer own ships, the abundance of budding and qualified seafarers should propel government to guarantee secured employment for them. This, in our opinion should be the essence of the ‘seafarers’ day’.
As we (once again)  celebrate the seafarers’ day, we join million of users of the services of the world seafarers to say a very big thank you to all of them all over the world, because without them there can be no commerce.  The world’s seafarers sacrifice the comfort of their homes and family and face the hazard and loneliness of the sea, yes the sea is actually very lonely!