The Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has advised the government participation for revamping a national carrier will help create sea time for cadets from both public and private maritime institutions in the country.
The union said Public and Private Partnership (PPP) remained the only option that can ensure success in re-establishing a carrier for the maritime sector.
The merchant navy outfit gave the advice against the backdrop of an earlier advice by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that the ministry of transport should not use government funds to establish a national carrier.
Assistant Secretary General of the union; Okpono John in chat with newsmen last week in Lagos, stressed the need for government involvement in revamping a carrier for the nation, he said it would mostly favour students in maritime and fisheries institutions.
According to him, Nigerian students sponsored overseas by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), students from Maritime Academy of Nigeria, School of Fisheries, Oceanography and other privately owned school will benefit significantly.
He said private sector-driven national carrier has more of negative impacts on marine cadets, saying that investors from that sector would decide who should get sea time on board the ships.
Okpono however advised that absence of Nigeria- owned ships is the bane of capacity building in the seafaring sub sector of the maritime industry, adding that "even the private individuals who have ships at the moment decide who should get on board for sea time training "
"But if government is involved, they put in place policies that would mandate the administration to know that graduating cadets from X, Y, Z institution will get automatic qualification to board A, B, C ships for sea time training. "
The union' s scribe also noted that despite the fleet of ships owned by Nigeria, there are still major challenges facing sea time for cadets , because according to him, the private owners decides who should get sea time aboard their craft.
He however noted that the national carrier will be profit and service-driven in order to strike a balance in the area of capacity building.
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