Sequel to the recent clampdown on illicit maritime training institutions by the Nigeria Navy coupled with the damage that it is reportedly causing to the image of Nigeria Merchant Navy, mechanisms have been put in place to checkmate the activities of some of the institutes.
The Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has also condemned maritime training institutes that have been cultivating the habit of defrauding innocent youths for the sake of offering them maritime training.
Sequel to the recent clampdown on illicit maritime training institutions by the Nigeria Navy coupled with the damage that it is reportedly causing to the image of Nigeria Merchant Navy, mechanisms have been put in place to checkmate the activities of some of the institutes.
The Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has also condemned maritime training institutes that have been cultivating the habit of defrauding innocent youths for the sake of offering them maritime training.
The Secretary General of the association, Comrade Julius Efokpor told Shipping Position Daily in Lagos on Wednesday that ‘’using the name of the Nigeria Merchant Navy gives us a bad image and with that, we have put in place some machinery in motion to caution them’’.
The Secretary General said that the association has informed some of the training institutes on how there will be regulated.
According to him, the association has been able to advice some of the institutes about what a maritime training institute ought to look like; he also acknowledged that there are fake training institutes in the country.
He reiterated that henceforth, there will be occasional visitation to some of recognized training institutes which will be as part of the measures put in place to checkmate the activities of the schools.
Efokpor noted that the association will be meeting with some of the schools to know how they are faring in the areas of training of cadets.
Some of the mechanisms that have also been put in place by the association are to evaluate the qualifications of lectures in the institutes, assess the facilities for training of cadets and certifications.
The scribe of the association revealed that a total of seven private maritime training institutes have been advised on what an academy ought to be.
‘’The IMO have guideline and syllabus for the training of seafarers and you cannot set up a room and say that it is a maritime school. However there is the need for NIMASA and National Board for Technical Education [NBTE] to certify and accredit such schools and we have a lot of schools that have not met this criteria’’, he added.
On his part, Assistant Secretary General of the group, Comrade John Okpono Aleakhue said that the association is in right position to advice the schools in the area of training, adding that there is no room of compromising with any institutes that do not appear to be a training academy.
‘’Things like swimming pool, qualifications of the lecturers ,computer and equipment like engines for students who wishes to study marine engineering are some of the basic tools that ought to be in a maritime academy’’, he noted .
According to him “there is need to encourage these institutions that are recognized in the sector even though they are still developing and with that we have been meeting with some of the academies of how to improve in the area of manpower development’’.
‘’It is not our responsibility to track down the fake maritime academy in the country, but we as an association opted to encourage the ones that we know that are affiliated to us and give some guidelines on what a training institutes should be’’.
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