The limited power by the Maritime Academy of Nigeria and other leading institutions in the country to issue globally- recognised certificates of competency to trained seafarers has equally limited the ability of Nigerian trained seafarers to take advantage of opportunities in the global maritime space.
Experts who expressed this view also pointed out that the major challenge to unlocking the opportunities for Nigerian trained seafarers was the administration of the Certificate of Competency in Nigeria.
While commenting on the types of competence needed in the maritime industry, Fola Ojutolayo, who spoke on behalf of the Chairman, Training and Capacity Building Committee, Shipowners Association of Nigeria, Wisdom Nwagwu, pointed out that globally- recognised certificates were needed to play in the international crude oil industry.
“We cannot take advantage of the crude oil industry internationally when we are talking about seafaring with the current level of certification that we are operating.
“I have read a lot of things and also heard from a lot of speakers in the industry talking about reasons we cannot issue these certificates.
“There is what is called global maritime politics that is at play. What advanced countries do is that they make the process easy for their citizens. They concentrate more on one’s experience at sea while looking at one’s eligibility. They look at the exposure more than the academic qualification.
“After that, they will now give you list of courses that you will do. Those courses they take them to private training institutions spread all over America, get those training done, come back with the certificate and then you get your certificate of competence.”
Former Director of Maritime Safety at NIMASA, Captain Adegboyega Olopoeniyan, said the problem was not academic training.
He said, “We have several training institutions in Nigeria but there are a lot of training centres that NIMASA has agreed to train seafarers. So ab initio, there was no need to start training people abroad.
“The problem of Nigerian seafarers is how these cadets can get the 12 mandatory practical training window. It is not a school issue; it is sending them to foreign vessels.
“Another thing, because of the politics in the sector, most countries want to protect their seafarers. If a foreign vessel comes to Nigeria and you insist that because of cabotage they must employ local seafarers, they will tell you that your seafarers are not qualified. It is now left for NIMASA to insist that the citizens have been certified and are qualified under IMO requirement.”
Olopoeniyan maintained that if Nigeria was qualified under the IMO Whitelist, then any seafarer that Nigeria issues certificate to should be recognised because there was a mutual agreement especially if that vessel was going to operate in Nigerian waters.
He added, “What is there is that Nigeria should be able to protect her own people. Stand behind the certificate you have issued and say, ‘well this is NIMASA’s certificate; we recognise it under IMO requirement.”
The former Director- General of NIMASA, Mr Temisan Omatseye, advised that the certificates issued by the Nigerian institutions should be upgraded to IMO standard of certification for global recognition.
*The Punch
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