Indigenous ship owners under the aegis of Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA) have promised to collaborate with the government in its quest to give seafarers in Nigeria the necessary training programmes as well as seatime exposures.
General Secretary of NISA, Capt. Niyi Labinjo gave this assurance in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday.
Indigenous ship owners under the aegis of Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA) have promised to collaborate with the government in its quest to give seafarers in Nigeria the necessary training programmes as well as seatime exposures.
General Secretary of NISA, Capt. Niyi Labinjo gave this assurance in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday.
Labinjo who is also eyeing the coveted Chairmanship position of NISA vowed that once he is elected, he will draw out a maritime strategy which will bring about a synergy between private operators and the government in order to ensure that seafarers are adequately equipped.
The NISA Chairmanship is also being contested by former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Mr. Temi Omatseye, and Chief Executive of Starz Investment, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun.
But, justifying his qualification, Labinjo revealed that in his private capacity, he has been sending seafarers on various courses, even as he said that Nigeria is losing huge revenue due to the gap in seafarers’ capacity development.
"We want to bring in our members who own ships into the training of seafarers, I have been doing this privately as a ship owner, I have sent several of my seafarers on courses because I realize the importance of training"
"I am going to draw up a maritime strategy for the training of seafarers, this will involve us as ship owners and the government, this synergy is still missing for now, at this moment it is only the government doing all the issue of training" he observed
Capt Labinjo however said that he stands a better chance to become the next NISA President than his two opponents. According to him, he has been the Secretary of the body since inception and he knows all the policies as it affects Nigerian ship owners.
Speaking, Capt Labinjo said "I have seen it all, as a lawyer I know the provisions of the various maritime laws, as a practitioner, I am a seafarer and an operator, the various levels of operation; management and chartering, I have gone through them and I am still going through them"
"I have been the General Secretary of the association since inception, I have been there, formulating policies of the association and being heavily involved in advocacies that have ever taken place by the association"
"This is my strength and none of them have these three qualities put together, also I am a lawyer, all these rolled into one", Labinjo bragged
He noted that one of the achievements of the outgoing executives is that they have succeeded in providing a platform for indigenous practitioners, as well as making government realize how much Nigeria is losing due to failure of the Cabotage Act.
"Now that they know about our existence, we will now work with government to ensure that our jobs taken away from us are brought back" he assured.
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