“Cartels Always Throw Bullets At NIMASA”…Capt Thomas Kemewerigha
He is ever willing to talk on maritime and related issues, so we always don’t have problems tracking him down for a chat. This time, he called for a chat and we obliged him, and it turned out to be as explosive, illuminating and frank as usual. Bayelsa State –born Capt Thomas Kemewerigha is the president, Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association.
How would you rate the maritime industry in 2010?
In total, the industry fell below average; the maritime industry fell below average in terms of policy making and implementation and in terms of meeting up the modern day challenges in infrastructure and manpower development.
As far as your members are concerned, how will you look at 2010?
In the seafaring industry as far as we are concerned, we are after the welfare of our members, seeking for good working environment and other things that make life good, and like I said, it fell below average because globally there is a shortage of seafarers. But, we tend to wonder because Nigeria is not the only maritime nation and if we have a shortage of seafarers all over the world, why then do we have influx of expatriate seafarers into Nigeria?
People say it’s because your members do not have the required qualifications
Its sounds funny because we have cases when Nigerians are usually denied their rights on board vessels. There is a case of a ship called Sang Barge which is managed by BWO; the most senior Nigerian officer was due for promotion but he was denied and the promotion was given to an Indian even though he was using a foreign ticket. The issue is still on and we want to know why a Nigerian was dropped even though he was more qualified than the Indian whom they promoted on that vessel. I keep wondering when they say Nigerians are not qualified and globally there is a shortfall of seafarers, this sounds funny, because Nigerians are not qualified then an Indian will come and cook egusi soup for a Nigerian to eat? I think there is a cartel that is really working on this for their selfish interest with the multinationals in the country, the system is faulty and we complain severally to the ministerial committee on Cabotage review; a ship owner will come to NIMASA to pay for waiver and the document will go to Abuja. They do not even bother to consult the seafarers’ department or the unions to find out if we have qualified people for the job. They are accumulating money on waivers in preference for employing Nigerian seafarers. For the past four years how many graduates has MAN, Oron produced? How many has School of Oceanography produced? Where are they as of today? So, when they say we don’t have seafarers it baffles me, these people are producing every other year and yet we don’t have seafarers.
How qualified are the ones turned out by MAN, Oron and Oceanography?
When you talk about an international qualification what does this mean in the seafaring sector? Does a Nigeria have to go to the UK before he collects an international certificate? When there are guidelines from IMO on how to issue STCW certificates.
Who Issues This Certificate?
Every country issues her certificate, but there are guidelines from IMO and Nigeria is a member of IMO and we are in full compliance of its regulations.
Can Oron Train To STCW Level?
When you come out from Oron and you get your basic, you get your required sea time; you go for your OOW which is issued by Oron, it has not been faulted by IMO because they have auditors who come for frequent checks. When they come and find out we are doing what we are supposed to do, then we should not have a problem, it is when we are faulted in the system that it becomes a different ball game, so the issue of international certificates baffles me, if I use my OOW to Ghana and I cross the borders, by the virtue of my being in Ghana I am an expatriate because I am not a Ghanaian, so sometimes when they talk of international certificates I tend to wonder, the ones that go to the UK on which vessel are they doing their sea times? The bottom line is the sea times, so the question of international certificates baffles me and why Nigerians are not doing this job.
How do you think Nigerian Ship owners can be encouraged to acquire ships so that more of your members can be employed?
It is not that ISAN does not have ships; to some extent if you go to Lagos anchorage alone, you will see a lot of scraps because the industry is financially cumbersome, the Nigerian banks have not been helping, but I want to still believe that there is hope. I had discussions with one or two people in the industry and I was convinced to some level that banks were initially interested in financing the acquisition of vessels. The industry has gone beyond yesterday in terms of what obtains now. For instance, we now talk of double hull vessels, since single hull vessels have been phased out.
What is your take on the call on the new DG of NIMASA to make his CV public?
The issue of showing CV does not apply, we should watch because there are qualities the presidency saw in this man, that the minister of transport also saw that caused that man to be made the Director General of NIMASA. It is too early for them to judge; I have said it before that NIMASA is not a press center where if the DG goes to toilet everybody wants to know what he went to do at the toilet, I don’t know what is so special about the NIMASA that they don’t want people to sleep. This attitude is destroying our image because internationally, we are not giving good account of ourselves. I don’t know the gentle man, I have not met him before, but as a major stakeholder we have been carrying out our findings since he came on board and so far so good, he has laid a precedent that no DG has done. We were told he divided the whole staff and had meetings with them level by level to find out things from them first hand. This has never happened before.
There were many attacks on ships on our waterways last year……
I have cried out severally that this piracy and attacks started with the politicians, they give arms to our youths to undo their opponents, but at the end of the day, the arms remain with the youths, and you know that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Recently, I also said that we are entering into the same era where killing is nothing because people want power and that we should be careful. I want to give kudos to the navy and especially, the commanding officer, western naval command for apprehending those who are behind the merchant navy school which we have been crying all these years about, I commend him for what he has done and we are really ready to work with people like that. The navy has however failed us in some areas, and that is in the area of securing our territorial waters. Before some of us were born, it is the defence budget that has killed the educational sector and the health sector, but today, we no longer have what it takes to combat crime. We should be very careful how we do these things because if we cannot control these things, then what if a foreign country is coming to invade us, then we might fail woefully, unless it’s a deliberate act to allow these things to be happening. We have been advocating for the Coast Guard, not PICOMS, MASSECA or anything. Good things are worth emulating and America is also practicing these things. Virtually all the European countries and even America and Britain have their Coast Guard and if it’s working for them, why do you want to deviate? Coast Guard is the only answer to armed attacks on our waters. The Niger delta that we are talking about, they gave them ministry of Niger Delta which was for the purpose of speeding up development in that region. So if you have a coast guard, you can use these militants who are already used to handling arms and they know the creeks very well. Today, we are giving them N65, 000 monthly, for Christ sake create Coast Guard and employ these youths so that they can justify the money that you are giving them. I am also happy that during the public hearing on MASECA bill, stakeholders made it clear that we don’t want a MASECA and if the law makers are actually making laws for this country and those for whom the law is being made say No, then the law makers should listen. Piracy is on the increase, trawler owners are having sleepless nights as their vessels are being attacked almost every day. We are tired of all these things and we don’t want it to happen this year again because that sector is contributing greatly to the economy of this country and I don’t know why the government should not listen to them.
What is your take on the creation of more nautical schools in the country?
Let me say this, the population of Nigeria is too much for one nautical institution that is in Oron, we need more legal institutions, not mushroom schools that some people are floating and such illegal, schools should not be use dot deceive our youths that they will be guarding our pipelines. There is one particular school in Lokoja, I commend that gentleman, he listens to advice, he has a good site, he has good machinery for the engineering students and we encourage him to go for sound lecturers, he is not lacking behind, such people should be encouraged on how to go about it. There was a period when the Lagos state government scraped illegal private institutions, this means that you don’t just get up one day and establish a school; you have to follow the procedure. We want private institutions, but they should be registered, recognized and accepted ones, so that we will ease off these unrecognized ones we have.
Are you satisfied with the current state of MAN Oron?
I am not satisfied, because a lot of tax payers’ money has gone into that school and yet it is more or less a private entity for the Rector of the school and the state. But we are happy that the government came into it and said No, you must pass through JAMB or Poly JAMB so that we can get the best of our students to attend the school. There should also be serious monitoring of the funding that are provided for the school, because I remember when NMA was NMA, a lot of equipment were brought in from Sweden and were dumped in rain and in the sun for more than eight years, I don’t know if they have been installed. With our budget, we should have up- -to – date sophisticated equipment, we should have everything that makes up an academy, but there are no checks and balances.
What are your expectations from the maritime sector in 2011?
I am afraid of 2011 in the maritime sector because we are far behind in terms of ratification of conventions. This reminds me of those conventions that Nigeria voted for; we have not revisited them to carry out awareness concerning them. More importantly, why I said there is a problem is that there are very serious conventions that we are toiling with, and when it comes to international conventions whether you ratify it or not, once they have secured the instrument and requirement, it’s binding. An example is the MLC 2006 which some us were privy to have started with the discussion at ILO; Liberia has ratified it. The funny aspect of it is that they have got the requirements to implement the MLC 2006, so whether we like it or not the enforcement will catch up with us and it is not to our advantage as a maritime nation, it is a pride when we attend some of these ILO meetings and they now say that Nigeria has done this or that as the only country in the West African sub region and till today we cannot print SID. We are talking about seafarers’ development programme that initiated by former DG, Dr Ade Dosunmu, I am very happy, that Omatseye continued with it and I think that the current DG should also follow the line. I want to use this medium to advice all governors through the minister of transport that they should consider having nautical institutions in their states. We want all the South-south governors to embrace everything maritime and embrace it well, because their youths are crying of unemployment.
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