The Association of Licensed Maritime Academy of Nigeria (ALMAN) has lamented that monies sank into the establishment of the controversial Nigerian Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State is enough to acquire fairly-used vessels that can serve as national carrier for the nation, even as it blamed former President Goodluck Jonathan and his kinsman former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi for conceptualising the specialised school.
The Association of Licensed Maritime Academy of Nigeria (ALMAN) has lamented that monies sank into the establishment of the controversial Nigerian Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State is enough to acquire fairly-used vessels that can serve as national carrier for the nation, even as it blamed former President Goodluck Jonathan and his kinsman former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi for conceptualising the specialised school.
ALMAN also maintained that Nigeria is not ripe for a maritime university.
Speaking with newsmen in Ogun State last week, President of ALMAN; Dr. Reuben Ovai noted that monies used for the establishment of the Nigeria Maritime University, its shipyard and dockyard would have been used to acquire fairly-used ships to meet the yearnings of stakeholders.
He recalled that the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) started with fairly-used vessels, which eventually led to the acquisition of fleet, saying that the Jonathan government was wrongly informed about the establishment of a maritime university.
The President of ALMAN who also doubles as the Rector of Stars Maritime Academy reiterated that the money sank so far into the Okerenkoko-based specialised tertiary institution would have been used to better the lots of the large number of seafarers who have trained locally and internationally,but who have not done their sea time.
"Establishment of university is not what we need for the maritime sector at the moment"
"How much do you think the government needs to actually float that maritime university and compare that amount and then convert it to see how many ships such funds can get”, he quizzed.
Speaking further, Ovai stated that the acquisition of such ships would have benefited the country tremendously, than establishing a school, pointing out that "the money we will spend to build a maritime university, dockyard or a shipyard when calculated runs into billions of Naira and can be used to float a national carrier and that would have been a better option"
"If you go back to history on Nigeria former Nigerian National Shipping Line, you will agree that we never started with brand new vessels, rather, we started with second hand vessels and from one second hand vessel to another and gradually they built a fleet of vessels for the national shipping line"
"But let’s face the reality on ground, is the establishment of a maritime university our problem for the sector or re – activating the sector that is a problem?"
According to him, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the in-coming minister of transport is not misguided about the challenges that have bedevilled the Nigeria maritime industry, noting that the past administration did not get it right.
"It is good to have a maritime university, but it is not the appropriate time for it to come up"
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