The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safely Agency (NIMASA) has said that before the end of 2018, it would be sending a total of seven hundred cadets under its National Seafarers Development Program (NSDP) out of the country for their seatime experience.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos recently, Director of Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services of NIMASA, Ibrahim Jubril said that so far 2,500 cadets have been trained. Out of this figure he said that 89 cadets were sent to the United Kingdom for seatime training while another 150 were sent to Egypt.
He assured that before the end of year 2018, NIMASA is expected to send not less than 700 cadets onboard for seatime training.
Jubril described the NSDP as an intervention programme meant to address the serious dearth that the nation was experiencing in the seafaring industry. He however said that the dearth of seafarers is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but that globally the dearth is apparent.
"So we embarked on the NSDP to ensure that we take care of our Cabotage requirements as far as manning is concerned and at the same time contribute to the world merchant fleet"
"The training of the cadets is in two phases, the shore base training which most of them have completed and the seatime training which we have embarked upon, we have sent 150 to Egypt and 89 to the UK, very soon we are going to send more, we expect that this year, we would send nothing less than 700 cadets onboard for seatime training"
Jubril said that NIMASA in 2018 has facilitated the training of 370 Nigerian seafarers in relevant courses leading to certification on STCW among others.
He also said that 560 dockworkers benefitted from a training programme on occupational safety and health which was developed in line with ILO code of practice.
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