Francis Omotosho (S.A To ANLCA President on Research)
It would be an aberration to close down the maritime university, because so much money has been spent, even though it was a fraud at the beginning, but the intention was good, government should allow the university to go on, if God does not want that university to come on stream it would not have come up, somebody brought the idea, it was an avenue for the people in power then to make money, but the idea should not be rubbished, government should continue with the construction, but it should investigate how past funds have been spent, the university has come to stay. If you are talking about MAN Oron, I was there last year, with the amount of money sunk in that place you will be amazed that it was not up to standards, the maritime university will serve as a great source of competition among maritime institutions, but if you leave Oron alone they will continue with their tradition of siphoning money and saying it is not enough, the amount government has given Oron so far is enough to establish three universities in this country. I plead with Amaechi to look at the university futuristically, it is not for NIMASA, it is for the whole Nigeria.
Francis Ehiguese (Centre Director, CLTE)
We have the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, though they have some building and structures, but in terms of certification process they have their problems and I also know that up till today the cadet of that academy which government sometime ago said they were going to upgrade into a university, to me this is even bogus; let each of these institutions meet the purpose for which they were established, not just to bring something up because Nigeria wants to acquire certificates, the one proposed in Badagry is still there and we also have other private academies trying to come up. I think it is a misplaced priority for government to set up the Maritime Academy in Okerenkoko, I agree that the location is a riverine area and they are supposed to be educated, but we have enough institutions to cater for that purpose, apart from satisfying certain ethnic interest, I don’t think there is any need for the university, it is not necessary, it is just an idea brought up by opportunists, if you remember when Akpobolokemi came into NIMASA, he was a learner, he didn’t know anything.
Capt. Franklin Taiwo Akinpelumi (NISA Lagos Coordinator)
The manpower development of the shipping industry is not a function of how many maritime institutions we have in the country, rather it’s a function of how well equipped the limited ones the nation have are, because we have MAN Oron in Akwa Ibom state which was established by an Act and of course we have the institute of oceanography and that of fisheries which I believe can be upgraded to universities. We have actually put in some resources into these institutions, therefore, there is no point establishing any institutions like that maritime university. What we need sincerely ,which is the truth is to ensure that our term of training and certification of seafarers is in tandem with international best practices and I want to see that day when certificate issued by flag administration would be as well recognized as the ones issued by their counterparts in UK. I want to see a situation whereby our government allows our indigenous shipping to develop because when you develop indigenous shipping there will be capacity, which will bring about competent and seasoned mariners.
Eugene Nweke (Nat. President, NAGAFF)
Government cannot say they want to scrap that university, we need such a technical outfit as a nation, the maritime university is ideal, it will complement what we have already, after all we call ourselves a big maritime nation in Africa, but yet Ghana is having a regional maritime university, but we can allow Ghana to be regional and let us have more maritime universities, over time, the efficiency will be achieved and we will find out that other African nations, instead of going to Ghana will come to Nigeria. So, we would not look at the errors of Akpobolokemi, those that he did with good intentions should be sustained, I don’t belong to the school of thought that says if an administrator makes a mistake, his good plans should be thrown away, a huge money has been invested in that maritime university and the country cannot just scrap it and throw it away, what they need to do is to review it, consolidate on it and get it working.
Chima Sampson (Registrar NIS)
As a campaigner of maritime education in Nigeria we should give more credence to MAN Oron even though the Maritime University may exist. I believe that from the government perspective, they might have carried out their research on need to scrap the university but if you ask me as a professional it is not good to scrap such school because it can still complement government existing maritime institutions, it will create jobs and capacity building in the sector. I will appeal to the government to upgrade MAN Oron to a university because it has become a major issue over the year. From the professional point of view, I will say I don’t support the scrapping of the school but from the political point of view I will say I leave that to the government.
Capt. Thomas Kemewerigha (ILO Expert)
How can a right thinking Nigerian think of scrapping Nigeria Maritime University when millions of Naira have been invested in the project, the university is not for the Ijaw people alone, we are talking about lack of development in that region, we are talking about lack of amenities in the place and the backwardness nature of that place then somebody is coming to say that a project that has passed first and second stage, which will be meaningful to the region and the nation should be scrapped. Government should leave the school as it is then focus on how to complete the project because there is a lot of things that will benefit the society from the existence of that school.
Tunji Obagbo (Instructor, POTEMAN)
The establishment of the maritime university from inception looks very political, it was cited at Okerenkoko in Delta State, the NIMASA Technical College, and the ship building and ship repair yard was also cited in Okerenkoko, this is very awkward, they should have spread it across probably Lagos State, Ondo State, Abia or Rivers state. When we have not upgraded MAN Oron, why are we developing another university, irrespective of the amount government has spent on this university, who are we going to put there? The ones we have at Oron, we have not gotten anything out of it, then why are we establishing another one, we should not be wasting our resources, government should use the land for another purpose, we are expecting deep sea ports all over the country, we are expanding our coast, hence the land can be used for any other purpose. We have private academies across the country and there is no grant of any kind from government to assist them, and yet they are assisting government to develop capacity, why should government now waste resources on this maritime university.
Capt. Deji Abegunde (Ship Owner)
I don’t support the scrapping of the maritime university because in the actual sense there has never been a purposeful government in Nigeria. If transport minister wants to fight corruption, scrapping the proposed University is not the way to fight corruption. The university has long been due; it ought to have been functioning more than ten years ago. The so called militants could have been marine officers and investors at the same time on the establishment of the school. As small as UK is, there are more than five maritime institutions. So what is the big deal if Nigeria floats a maritime university?
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