The Rector of Maritime Academy of Nigeria,Oron in Akwa Ibom state; Mr Joshiua Okpo spoke with a group of maritime journalists in Lagos recently where he talked about the developments recorded at the Academy since his appointment as well as the challenges. Our correspondent Roland Ekama was one of those who attended the media parley.
Apart from funding which has been like a mantra for you predecessors, what do you view as most challenging aspect of the job since you came on board as rector?
The Rector of Maritime Academy of Nigeria,Oron in Akwa Ibom state; Mr Joshiua Okpo spoke with a group of maritime journalists in Lagos recently where he talked about the developments recorded at the Academy since his appointment as well as the challenges. Our correspondent Roland Ekama was one of those who attended the media parley.
Apart from funding which has been like a mantra for you predecessors, what do you view as most challenging aspect of the job since you came on board as rector?
First of all, the basic challenge I encountered running the academy was the challenge of bringing peace to bear on that land, because when there was no peace I was brought in and if there would not be peace, then I have to leave. But since it became a big challenge I have to go about for peace to reign, so what did I do or what happened? Like I said it is not by my power, it is not by my myth and as the rector I was instructed to expand the stakeholders’ interests for more sense of belonging. I ensured that the management staff was increased from five to 39 ,to give room for everybody from head of units to head of department ,directors of school to have a say collectively on how the academy is run ,how academy money will be spent ,how academy policies will be articulated and directed. Everybody in management has been notified. The challenges like I said is the same with the peace process, which is to ensure that the immediate operating environment is at peace with the town so that teaching and learning will be a normal routine. When the academic environment became a theatre of war, when blood was spilled, when finger nails were cut off, those things will not allow education to thrive. Today the academy is a safe place, the workers are having their ways, construction work is going on, and the casual labourers from various communities are working together, eating together and worshipping together. The peace of the environment is now more appreciated after the academy became a weeping child arriving from all kinds of frivolous petitions and false stories. The academy which is supposed to be given positive coverage to succeed in our national interest suffered some very negative angles to media coverage, which was untrue. We had to encourage the community relations strategy which I put in place so that the host community and indigenes will benefit a bigger bite of the academy’s coffers legitimately. We give scholarships as part of efforts to assist the community, we provide transformers for electricity and we try to provide jobs for them by awarding contracts too. In summary, the challenges was to tackle the problem of inter and intra clash businesses, the clash between the rich and the poor, the clash between the political class and the less privileged, the clash between the senior staff and the junior staff of the academy, the clash between the privileged and the less privileged and those that have godfather. So, to look at all these things put together, it therefore means that we need diplomacy for us to stoop to conquer because arrogance will not solve the problem, but with the diplomacy we tried, to the extent that we became the strong and the weak, the firm and the infirm and that was how we were able to address the challenges. Today by the grace of God, the stress is reducing, though we cannot satisfy everybody. Some lament to the press for a fight, but I am giving a general assurance that whatever is available, we put on the table and when you put on the table, it will be done in such a manner that we will save for the rainy days and when we save for the rainy days, whatever will go for the community gets to them. If all requests come at the same time, it is not proper. So it’s better in batches and that is why last year we had three batches, we have finished with the second batch, third batch payment will commence in June 2013. On the issue of admission, emphasis is on quality, not numbers. Right now as I speak with you, we have evolved a style of admission strictly based on available space. We cannot take more than what we can confidently manage because with the upgrading in place there is no classroom that an instructor in nautical school, for example will be coming to train more than four cadets on the simulator at a time. If you are having 20 cadets on one simulator training session, none of the foreign instructor will take the academy seriously. If you take the marine engineers for example, you cannot put more than 10 in a class, but when National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) says 20 and you are putting 120 in class, it is very wrong and this is not acceptable and the best thing to do is to stop such acts.
How will you rate the response of NIMASA to the 5% statutory remittance to the Academy?
On the issue of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ‘s 5% for the academy, I want to use this medium to say that I am very grateful to the present director general of NIMASA, that is; Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi. I am very grateful to him because I have never worked with any other DG since I was appointed as rector of the school and from the history of the past, MAN Oron has never had it so good as it is with Patrick Akpobolokemi and I want every journalist to help me to thank the DG of NIMASA where ever you see him , tell him I said that he has done us well. We in the academy are very grateful. I keep on saying that without Akpobolokemi and his management, the story you are hearing today, you would not have heard about it and by the grace of God, as he has kept on encouraging us we have been able to address some of the challenges we had. I also want them (NIMASA) to help us by supporting our initiative to get sea time for our cadets through a consultant because, they have been awesome all the way and we are very hopeful of the fact that the ship that the agency want to provide for our cadets will help reduce the problem of sea time. So once again, the press should help me to thank the director general of NIMASA for his support.
How do you hope to address the issue of sea time for the cadets of the Academy?
We decided to pursue the problem of the mariners, because in the academy, the core mandate is how to train the mariners, that is the nautical science and mariner engineering cadets. We have initiated our move to get employed onboard ships in Europe and South Africa and what we are doing for now is to engage a consultant Messrs Bramah to enable us get the cadets practically trained. About 100 mariners from nautical science cadets and 150 from marine engineering department are to go onboard vessels. We are going to pay about N8 million to N9 million for each of the cadets for a period of 18 months for the sea time. So with that we will handle issue of the sea time challenge for our cadets. Although we have submitted proposals to the government for their contribution, but that has not been met and we are optimistic on the possible take off of the project. However in our own initiative we have decided on our own on the issue of sea time for our cadets. We are talking with some of the shipping companies that we have good relationship with to help us by granting our cadets sea time because management has decided that we are going to commit some internally generated revenue to start a programme whereby the best and brightest 12 or 20 mariners are given the opportunity on board sea going vessels. However I have not mentioned cadets from electrical engineering. I have been given the concept that since the academy cadets have been regimented that they (ship owners) will prefer them to join on board their ships for them not to suffer any form of piracy and that the place that they will love to come and train them is here at the Maritime Academy. Though we have been arguing on the cost because they said N9 million and they also said that the money is not meant to pay the ship owners, rather the money is meant to sustain the cadets, their upkeep and their working materials, then they will pay a stipend to the consultant. The ship owners out of their free will are willing to ensure that they give them stipends to maintain the palliatives. Some of them have to restructure their cabins to accommodate some of the cadets and that is why for a ship to give you space or take onboard 150 cadets especially when it is a cargo vessel, you will know the sacrifice that stakeholders have made and if we can train them for 18 months for sea competence, then they can now go for their captaincy because the certificate we issue will be accepted worldwide. The issue of training Nigerian cadets will be a thing of the past, now the quality we are yearning is the one we want government to fund, but for government to be convinced we are going to use our little resources maybe N15 million and see how we can start the project, monitor it and ensure that as it is working, we can now communicate that we have put things in place.
What is the nature of admission into MAN Oron?
When you want to admit, you place advert and by September 2013, we are going to start another programme for the upper session because this session is to start on the 23rd of June. We have five courses that we offer at national diploma and higher diploma levels, they are: maritime transport, nautical science, marine and electrical engineering, boat and ship building technology and we have post graduate programme for marine engineering and maritime transport. Now after we have advertised, we pay N5,000 payable to designated Bank then collate all the entries and when that is done we now invite them for common entrance exams. We have seven centres nationwide. We have Abuja centre, we have Yola centre, Calabar centre, Enugu centre, Port Harcourt centre and then Oron centre, now Enugu centre has been moved to Port Harcourt centre for some issue. About 7,500 persons applied, after that we now invited 4,000. If you want to find out people that scored 65 and above, they were not even up to 2,000 and we don’t have enough people to select, so we decided to bring it down to ensure that we have up to 1,000 people to expand more applicants chances of securing admission. Maybe by the time they were writing the exams, their attentions were divided or they were not listening or maybe they were not conscious of what they were doing. Other examiners were selected from various places like NPA, NIMASA, Shippers Council, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and other outfits in other to groom them. We place emphasis on the quality of youths we admitt to ensure that our standards of academic and moral discipline are sustained and that social vices such as taking of hard drugs, hooliganism, and cultism do not find their way into Nigeria’s number one maritime training institution.
What is the academy doing in ensuring that people would be able to build ships in the country and how can that be achieved?
We are working on a new curriculum – boat building technology, which is a new initiative as naval architecture. This area requires a lot of skill and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders and we are ready to partner with them to achieve this. We need to interface with other jetties, to interface with power and steel sector, we need to interface with the NNPC, with even the ship owners because in our own view, some people find it difficult to interface but it takes two to tangle. For instance, when the academy wanted to go to Malmo for affiliation we know that the academy cannot do it alone, so we went to the ministry of transport. The Honourable Minister of Transport insisted that we cannot get the best out of World Maritime University without first reaching the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), therefore whatever they are going to do must carry the blessing of all Nigerian stakeholders and we must follow due process and that anything that will give a boost to manpower development must be done through collective effort. Every agency should work together to achieve a collective goal. All effort must be put together to develop Nigeria because Nigeria cannot work if we don’t have a synergy and that is the way it should go.
How can the issue of employment be tackled after the cadets might have graduated?
First of all, you look at the population of Nigeria as very important to answer that question. What is our population? When you look at our shoreline through the Gulf of Guinea from Senegal to Gabon, you will agree with me that there are a lot of economic activities going on there. There are so many things that happen there, the fishing industry alone is such that can create a good market. So if one can bring that aspect up and now have about 5000 people that have sea competence or captains that can command vessels, I can tell you that one single policy that Nigeria will make by asking NNPC to insist that before any vessel is allowed to carry Nigerian cargo, such vessel must provide jobs for our indigenous maritime professionals; that such vessel must have Nigerian seafarers onboard. Then you will see that the stakeholders will be rushing after Nigerians and we will provide the backing. What we are doing is that we have refused to build the capacity to fill the competency requirement that will increase our acceptability. Let’s give credit to Chief Isaac Jolapamo for his efforts in this direction. He has stood firmly for the call for a training ship for the academy, he has stood firmly for the graduates of maritime academy and he has been at the forefront of that crusade and I want Nigerians to commend him because he has been a father and a mentor.
The existence of Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme being run by NIMASA and the training of cadets in MAN, Oron appears conflicting, what is your reaction to that?
The NIMASA seafarers’ development programme is also concerned with how to get Nigerian cadets abroad for sea time after formal training. As we speak NIMASA does not own any ship yet, therefore if they expect to send cadets abroad for sea time as way of development, nothing stops a state government in Nigeria from doing same by sending its own people to go abroad for sea time to lessen the burden on NIMASA. Thus in that regard NIMASA has done well and we are trying to do well too. It is not conflicting or contradictory; it rather compliments, the more, the better for our youths and the country.
What is the academy doing to ensure that survival pool is made available for cadets?
As part of our efforts to improve the quality of training being offered to our cadets, we are poised at ensuring that all our graduates are good swimmers and the pool is an important infrastructure in achieving this goal.
Let me start by saying that contract for the pool, has been awarded since 2012 and the consultant has been mobilized to site and we also like it to be done so that it will function for learning and recreation. The pool is going to have a pavilion ,race course ,squash court within same vicinity and we will light up the place so that there will light for 24 hours.
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