“Govt should support Indigenous Ship Owners” — Nsenyen Ebong, Rector Man Oron

Considering the number of calls and text messages that followed it, the first part of this interview certainly angered some people to the point of calling the rector of MAN, Oron names. His offence was that he accused Nigerians of putting estacodes above nationalism. Recall that in the interview, he accused those who prefer the Regional Maritime Academy (now a University) in Ghana to our own Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron of being driven by the lure of estacode. Obviously, he was misunderstood, because going by the interview; he did not mean to spite anyone, but to draw attention to the fact that the Nigerian institution offers better packages than the one in Ghana. Let us not crucify him, please, but let us learn at least a lesson from it. Thank you.

So what is the way forward for MAN, Oron?

If they now say that MAN Oron can not do this and that, why don’t we as Nigerians gather ourselves and confront the problem. It is a shameful thing for a small country like Ghana with 14million people to now become the destination for maritime training. This is a rich country and if we convince ourselves that this is what we want we can do it. How long did it take former president Olusegun Obasanjo to build this jetty for us? When the commitment was there, he just gave the approval and it was done, when he built that stadium the new stadium in Abuja, how long did it take? He just made a commitment and they put N22 billion there, he just made a pronouncement that we are going to put a stadium here, people made noise about it, but today, that stadium is serving the country, how long did it take? It did not take 20 years. So, it is a question of having a vision and being committed, as I am speaking to you right now the president has laid down a challenge, he said by the year 2020, Nigeria should be one of the top great economies in the world, is it not time for Nigeria to realise that the man has made a pronouncement and that is what good leaders are supposed do. That was what John Kennedy did when he took over as president of USA; he said America must speak the mind of the world and they did it within record time and this is what President Yar Adua is telling us, and we are seating down patronizing Ghana. Regional Maritime Academy, Ghana comes to Nigeria and advertises and our people, instead of saying okay we have heard. Our people should say “what is it that MAN Oron needs, let us give them so that our people can get what they getting from Ghana” And for the sake of argument, what do they have in Ghana that we don’t have here? Is it the quality of the faculty? is the equipment, or what? Nigerians are destroying their country for parochial and sentimental reasons, there is nothing else.

What do you think is responsible for all these?
Well, some people feel that that have lost out, they think we are sharing something here and what I tell them is that I have only about 18 months to go, when I finish you can come and do it and see how easy it is. When the former rector (Engr. Olu Akinsoji) was running around trying to bring money into the academy, I used to think as a lecturer that it was easy, but now I am sweating like a pig even inside this air conditioned office. So, those who think that it is a tea party and those who think that there is something that Nsenyen Ebong has not done, I am leaving, so let them come and do it. In a few months when I am leaving and even if they call me and say that the salary is now N1.2 million, I won’t stay. I think after 25 years in one place, I should move on, I have spent a quarter of a century in this place, so I should go somewhere and do something else. There is no money in my pocket; can I compare myself with my colleague who is now a politician in the National Assembly? I have my colleagues there. the other day somebody called me names when I was trying to explain to him that we don’t issue certificate of competency, I said no maritime training institution issues certificate of competency, certificates of competency are issued by maritime administrations like the MCA in the United kingdom, like MARAD in the U.S, like NIMASA in Nigeria, that what we do is issue academy certificate, and I gave an example that if you want to learn driving, you go to a driving school and when you are through, they issue you a certificate that you have graduated and that you know how to drive. To get your driving license, you go to the Federal Road Safety Corps, it is the same process. The man told me on the floor of the National Assembly that I was talking nonsense, he didn’t even have the humility and patience to listen to me,, he said “what you are saying Mr. Ebong does not make sense”, so that is the problem. I am very happy that God has sustained me to this point in this job when I can begin to pack my bags so that another person can come and do it, so when Ebong was responsible for non- placement of cadets on ships, you come and facilitate it, since I am the one responsible for cadets not finding ships, then you should come and find the ships where they are, everything you think could not be done by Ebong, you come and do it.

You once told me that you ran the academy on several generators, have things changed?
I have shown you two 500KVA generators, one is under maintenance, there is also a brand new 800KVA that our engineers are just trying to install, I have shown you one 60KVA which we use for the refectory, I have shown you one 40KVA, which take care of some quarters. We have reduced the number to less than 10, but I have good news for you, NIMASA has been supplying us diesel for the past five months. I want to say a big thank you to my colleague; the DG of NIMASA, Dr. Ade Dosunmu and I want this than you to be conveyed because the other day, somebody in NIMASA walked up to me and said Ebong gave a passing out parade speech for 2008 passing out parade and there was no where he said thank you to NIMASA. So, I said how many times can I thank NIMASA, I don’t see NIMASA as a stranger to the academy, I see NIMASA as part of the academy, its like me now trying to thank myself, I see NIMASA as part of us, as far as I am concerned, NIMASA is part of MAN, Oron and we are part of NIMASA, as long as it is the agency that is in charge of maritime administration in Nigeria. MAN, Oron is part of NIMASA and NIMASA is part of us, so I can’t begin to thank myself. That is the way I see NIMASA unless they don’t see themselves like that.

Do you enjoy any form of support form the host state; the Akwa Ibom state government
Yes indeed. I have just been told that the government is about to sign 49 hectares of land for us. What we have now is 69.1 hectares, so for the governor to sign another 49 hectares for us, you can see the level of support. Akwa Ibom is one of the states encouraging its indigenes in the field of maritime training,

How much of the federal character policy is reflected in the running of the academy?

I think other states instead of sitting down and shouting should do two things; become serious with maritime training because some say MAN, Oron is too far. Even when we advertise, we advertised for employment and for admission by policy in two national dailies, one widely read in the North and the second one widely read in the South, that is the policy of MAN Oron in every advert. I am saying this so that when you hear people lampooning MAN, Oron out of ignorant, sentimental and bronchial reasons and accusing us wrongly, you will write at the end and say it is not so. I don’t know any tertiary institution that makes it a policy that when they are advertising they cover northern and southern Nigeria in everything, but, it is a policy in MAN Oron. It is a policy which I inherited. Let another establishment or institution say the same thing that Ebong is saying now. In 2006, somebody sat down and wrote a petition to the National Assembly that MAN Oron does not obey federal character in admission, some of these things, I don’t answer anymore, because what we do here I can confess to you that very few of other government parastatals or establishment is able to do it, let them show you how they advertise to reflect federal character. In our admission, we usually have four examination centres and let me tell you how we put it; one in Lagos, one in Oron to cover the south, one in Kaduna and one in Abuja to cover the North. About three years ago, we changed that by increasing the number to six in other to cover all the geo-political zones, we now put one in Yobe state and also in Enugu state. As I am speaking now, we have six examination centres all over Nigeria to cover the whole of Nigeria, if you are from the east, go to Enugu, if you are from Rivers, Cross Rivers and environs, come to Oron, if you are from Benin, just go to Lagos, if you are from the other side go to Kaduna or if you are from the central region go to Abuja, what else can we do? Can the others tell us what they are doing and how they are doing it? Somebody talks about the staff structure in MAN, I am very proud to sit down here and tell you that in this academy and I want you to go to any other tertiary institution in this country and let them give you their own. Can anybody in this country show me a management structure in a government tertiary institution that can match this? Let them show me, is it in UNILAG, University of Benin, or Ahmadu Bello University, let them show me. People sit down and blackmail this academy for parochial reasons. I don’t talk because God says don’t talk because I know what you are doing and I support you, that is why we don’t get ruffled when they fabricate stories against us. Commander Fabiyi (rtd) came here and went to the Sun newspaper to write all kinds of falsehood against me, he even published his book, here was a man who said he could not do anything, he could not teach, he was busy establishing church, quarrelling with Captain Oyedokun about church. But he applied as a lecturer, when they asked him he will say he came here for business. This is the man that has the audacity to speak about people, I pray for him every night because if I don’t he will be in serious trouble, because my bible says that God visits tribulations on those that trouble His people, Fabiyi talks about federal character abuse in MAN Oron and about Ebong, Fabiyi is from Kwara state and I am a pastor in a church owned by a Kwara man, is Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners chapel not from Kwara? I am a pastor in Winners chapel. So between Fabiyi and I, who is more Nigerian that he should be talking about discrimination, he came here and messed up, and his contract appointment which is not even permanent was not renewed, then he goes around to newspaper houses calling me names, he went to the National Assembly and enlisted some back yard support from some people there to terrorize and harass me, but I laugh and say this people are too small for my God, because God say if I am for you nothing can be against you, the lord is by my side and I shall not fear, what can man do to me, he say they shall surely gather, but know by me those that gather against you shall fall, he says those that put there trust in the lord shall be as mount Zion which can not be removed but abides forever, he says no weapon formed against Ebong shall prosper and anybody that opened his mouth against me will be condemned and that is the end of that man. As I am speaking right now and according to the word of God, I condemn Fabiyi for judging me and unless he apologises, he will see divine judgment on himself in 2009; that is a prophetic declaration. And any other person judging Ebong, let them know that my God says that anybody judging you is condemned and if I condemn them they are finished, they don’t have the right to judge me because the bible says judge not that ye be not judged. If Fabiyi was a rector here, he will be stealing money, ever since I stepped here, I have not taken any kobo that is not my own. I read in the papers that one of the rectors in a Polytechnic stole N86million of pension funds, the other day my pensioners here carried placards to Abuja and said that we are enjoying our self under this man, you can ask the pensioners, they wrote a letter to the minister and said we are enjoying under this man. Ever since I started, there is no month that they have paid pensions beyond the 25th of every month. And somebody will sit down to write nonsense.

What challenges do you face at the moment?
Chronic inadequacy of funding, distractions by petitions contracted from the pit of hell, inadequacy of facilities, lack of training ship and the fact that my cadets do not find ships on which to serve out the mandatory sea time, those are my challenges. I don’t have challenges from any human being and I don’t loose sleep over what I see written about me.

Apart from the death of NNSL, what other reason do you think is responsible for non- availability of opportunity for sea time experience for cadets?
We don’t have the ships and that is why we are in the forefront of supporting the quest for government support for indigenous ship owners to get more tonnage. There is no way these people will be doing well and they won’t be taking cadets from us. But when it is when they are having problems or struggling to survive that you will ask them to carry cadets and they will say no, but if they are doing well, then you can walk up to them and say take three MAN cadets on board and they will do it voluntarily, that is the solution. So I strongly support that government should assist the indigenous ship owners, there are various ways of doing that, tax rebate, tax holidays, incentives, allowing those that are competent to carry Nigerian crude oil, establish a fund for them. Shipping business is a capital investment venture and if you say that the private entrepreneurs should on their own, be doing it, we may not succeed; let us see what others are doing and how they are succeeding. The banks should come together and form consortiums to lend money to these shipping companies, I don’t know of any bank in Nigeria that has funded the procurement of ships, they have to form consortium, let four or five of them come together and say okay we put aside N50billion or N100billion and say two or three of you come forward how many ships do you want to acquire, that is the process of solving the problem.

Is it that easy to solve?
This problem can not be solved by Ebong sitting down here, this problem is beyond the academy, it’s that of the government and all the stakeholders, because Ebong can not buy ships or is it the academy that will buy ship on which to put cadets to serve out their sea time, it is the government assisting the private ship owners. Assuming that Nigeria has 50 good ships, the problem of cadets’ placement would have been far solved, that’s the problem, where are the ships? In 2005, I had to take 25 cadets to Malaysia to sail on a Malaysian vessel, now we facilitated the Malaysian government because they wanted to do business with Nigeria and they did in the spirit of south- south cooperation, and it was a very successful exercise. One newspaper took half a page and lampooned the rector of MAN Oron for taking Nigerian cadets to Malaysia, my response was very simple: you said what somebody has done is not good and you are sitting down in your house and playing, what is your solution?