Engr Mathew Alalade is the newly- elected National President of the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, he has a background as a radio communication officer on board and now he is practicing as a marine surveyor. Our correspondent Dapo Olawuni had a one-one-one with him recently and he talked about the challenges he met when he took over from his predecessor, Capt Thomas Kemeweirigha as well as other sundry industry issues.
Engr Mathew Alalade is the newly- elected National President of the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, he has a background as a radio communication officer on board and now he is practicing as a marine surveyor. Our correspondent Dapo Olawuni had a one-one-one with him recently and he talked about the challenges he met when he took over from his predecessor, Capt Thomas Kemeweirigha as well as other sundry industry issues.
What do you think should be done about the mushroom academies that have predominant in the maritime sector?”
If you say that they are mushroom academies you may be right and you may be wrong, look at the staff of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, are there mariners among the lecturers teaching the students? There are no mariners managing them there, and these people that you call mushroom are not all that mushroom because they are being accepted by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) and if this is so, then I don’t know where the mushroom is coming from, if you want to start something you start it gradually until you grow very well, so those private institutions that are serious are much better, so what I think should be done is for them to be encouraged, if you look at the teeming population of Nigeria we have about 150 million Nigerians, so if you have about 50 schools it is not enough, look at the Philippines they have about 60 schools and look at their population it’s not up to our own, so if you have about 50 schools in the maritime sector, it is still not enough for Nigerians, so I think it is better to encourage the schools and not discourage them.
How do you intend to tackle the impersonation of your association?
Now, we have been changing the identity cards that are getting expired, the old cards are not valid anymore, so members have to come and do a new one which will last for three years, we are also doing some orientation because some of these schools when they pass out they have to come and we orientate them because they are going into the labour market, they need to know what it entails and so we have to orientate them, if you have done it less than three years then you have to come back, the same for the identity cards, it has to expire and so there is nothing like impersonation again. Now there is going to be a proper data, in the past, there were no data but now we can track down any one that fake our identity cards and so on.
What did you meet on ground when you took over the leadership of this association?
When I took over there were lots of storms, but by God’s grace we are overcoming, I met a lot of challenges, the one I mentioned earlier is the identity cards, the schools is another challenge, last month we met the schools, the private and government institutions, we had a meeting together and we made it to be at intervals that we will be meeting with them so that we can know their challenges, and I want to go and meet the government agencies like NIMASA so I can tell them the challenges so that they can be solved.
How do you intend to overcome the challenges you met on ground?
Like I said, I have had meetings with some schools and I will still meet with others, I want to go to them to know what the level of their training is and if they are good enough for our labour market, you know our labour market is not only Nigeria but also international, we want to know what they are teaching our students when they come out, moreover we want to implore the Federal Government to have a national carrier so that when our people come out, they will be able to go on board vessels. Thirdly is about the identity cards, they now have expiry dates unlike before that there is no expiry date and anybody can just be issued identity cards, now there is a data that go round, if you ask of anybody by their name and number we will be able to confirm to you that it is okay, we now have a data bank unlike before that identity cards are issued to anybody, now when it expires you have to come and renew it again.
What are the new ideas you intend to inject into the association?
I will like to build on the structures that Capt. Thomas laid down, we want to make it known to everybody that whenever a seafarer is working on the streets nobody harasses them unlike formerly that they are being molested, we are building that image back and all our lost glory will be given back to us.
How can the government improve on the welfare of Nigerian seafarers?
If government wants to take care of seafarers they should start from those that are leaving school as cadets, most of the vessels that come and lift our crude oil must have two cadets on board their vessel; the government must mandate them to do so, if they are lifting our crude oil they should have at least two cadets on board, one engine and one deck, I think this will further improve their training, then other vessels around should also do the same, also there must be a national carrier, this is very important, a nation without a national carrier is incomplete, even our neighboring country in Ghana here they have a national carrier, we want the government to look into the maritime sector and give us a national carrier because they are deriving a lot of revenue from here, if you are lifting goods from the west coast to the other or taking goods on transit it is money for the government, on international level too we must have our quota to lift or to take goods from one point to the other, we are imploring the Federal Government to have a human face at the maritime sector and give us a national carrier so that our teeming youths and the cadets can have jobs and sea times.
What is your assessment of security on Nigerian waters considering the synergy between the NIMASA and the Navy?
NIMASA must do more about the security on our waters, what I mean by this is that the mariners must be involved in the securing of our national waters, the mariners know a lot about the waters, the navy are trying but it is the mariners that know the nooks and crannies of the creeks where the hideouts are, and moreover if the government improve the economy the militants, sea pirates will have no choice but to come out from their hideouts and come and do something legal, if the government can establish a national carrier then these boys too can come out and get employment. But by and large, NIMASA is trying but they must do more to assist us. On the aspect of the synergy between NIMASA and the Navy, when they had their MoU, it was done between them and we were not incorporated, so I wouldn’t know if their relationship is still cordial as it was before. Government is overlooking putting professional mariners in its committees, let the professional be there, they inaugurated a committee for security on the waters without merchant navy or the proper mariners, let professionals be there so that we can defend what we are doing, this is how other nations are able to get their maritime sector working. I want to go to another aspect now and that is our examinations, the certificate that NIMASA issue out now is not in compliance with IMO standard, how do we relate with this? They forget that our certificate must be compliant with international regulation, if I have a Nigerian certificate now I must be able to work internationally and not limited to only Nigeria, if you have British certificate you can work anywhere in the world, if you have Ghana certificate you can work anywhere but what about Nigerian certificates, you cannot use it to work in other countries and we are trying to correct this. There is a content in the certificate, they put ‘near coastal’, they should remove this clause and make it as IMO standard; when a foreigner sees that clause they will not employ our people. Nigeria government must really wake up to maritime affairs, let the chief examiner examine and endorse the certificates and not just a political office holder, by this he will know what he is endorsing and there won’t be fake certification and let them encourage those having former certificate to come up because those certificates are no longer working.
What is the relationship between your association and NUPENG in the Eastern ports?
Our association with NUPENG at the eastern ports is mainly offshore, most of our members belong to us and they also belong to NUPENG because it is very close to them, they believe that they are secured if they are in merchant navy and that the association is their bedrock, but because of their survival they have beckoned to NUPENG, we are still trying to resolve this so that we too can get them back to their base which is the merchant navy so that NUPENG will not take our royalties anymore.
Is it true that you had a face-off with NUPENG on dues collection?
It is very true, we are going through arbitration panel now by the federal government, and hopefully we are going to be on top of the situation very soon
What is your opinion of the Cabotage law implementation?
The Cabotage law is a good one but the implementation is faulty, government had a good intention with the Cabotage Act, but how do they implement it, those who are implementing it have defaulted right from the beginning and it has not got a firm root yet. In terms of the waiver clause, the government should make it mandatory for these multinationals to train somebody so that when they are off, the person can take over, but they are not being faithful to it, they kept on playing games with the waiver clause and our own people too are playing games with the expatriate and that is why there is influx of foreigners on our waters.
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