Rector, Stars Maritime Academy, Dr. Reuben Ovai recently travelled with some stakeholders in the maritime sector to Malta for the purpose of capacity building. In this interview with Correspondent Roland Ekama, he shared some of his experiences about the programme. He also spoke about plans by maritime training institutions to form an association.
Why do you think that most of the private maritime training institutions in the country do not really have a voice?
Rector, Stars Maritime Academy, Dr. Reuben Ovai recently travelled with some stakeholders in the maritime sector to Malta for the purpose of capacity building. In this interview with Correspondent Roland Ekama, he shared some of his experiences about the programme. He also spoke about plans by maritime training institutions to form an association.
Why do you think that most of the private maritime training institutions in the country do not really have a voice?
It is a fact that the maritime training institutions in Nigeria do not have a voice and the reason is not far from the fact that they have not been able to organise themselves in a forum in order to speak as one and as an entity and deliver our message across, one of the issues facing us is that since we are not united to form a forum with no call to the press for interviews and as such, if the press does not even know us and hence give us all sorts of name like mushroom schools , etc, that has been tarnishing our image. This is what necessitated the step that we are now taking to have a unified forum by forming an association which we tend to call an Association of Government Approved Maritime Institution, so that we can have a voice to present certain issues and to relate with other organisations in the maritime industry like the ISAN, NIMASA and others. That is why we have been trying to organise ourselves because it is time, and this forum will involve both the government institutions and non-government institutions because our aims and objectives are the same, which is to raise qualified sea farers in the Nigerian maritime industry. So we have a common ground, common objectives, so it is left for us to come together and have a common voice, to present issues that are affecting us, and also for us to contribute our own quota to nation building through the maritime industry. So that is the reason the Merchant navy created a forum, from which we felt it is necessary to gather ourselves to have a forum whereby we will have a common voice on various issues affecting us as well as the industry in general .
Will be correct to say that you are the one championing the birth of the forum?
I won’t give that honour to myself, what happened is that the Nigerian Merchant Navy especially the new crop of officers, the president called us for a meeting when we attended the meeting, I canvassed the need for us to come together and the merchant navy also chipped in the same thing. It was at the meeting that we knew ourselves, although we know ourselves on one-on-one basis, but not everyone. Therefore we found it necessary that it is in the good for us to come together, thence our inaugural meeting of today to see how we can form this association and give it a legal backing to start with , and then make it a formal body and we can be attending regular meetings and be attending to issues that affect us as well as the nation’s maritime sector because whether you like it or not, if the maritime industry must develop, the institutions have a role to play, we are talking of building a vibrant maritime sector , it is the manpower development sector that will raise the industry, so we have a very important role to play if the maritime sector is to be reckoned with.
Are you in support of the federal government floating national carrier in order to enable the seafarers gain employment and exposure?
May I say that, it is an overstatement because it is not a choice, it is a must, there is need for a national carrier that may now create a lot of avenue for both manpower training as well as capacity building in the industry as well as employment generation and so many things will come out of there, but we are often taken aback because of the liquidation of NNSL, but we can amend and try a new course especially if the new line would be privatized. I have gone outside Nigeria, I have seen how other maritime agencies are being run, and the government creates an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
Is the new forum going to address issues such as bringing back national carrier?
You may not be far from the truth, that is going to be one of our objectives, an issue to discuss if possible, appeal to the government, to revisit the issue of national carrier so that the maritime sector will take it to the appropriate places because Nigeria is often being referred to as a giant of Africa and God has blessed us with a vast coastal land, what have we made of it? What use have we put it into, we are not effectively using the maritime sector, let the government revisit that issue, we want appropriate regulations, presently we have indigenous ship owners but right now if the government can come out and create a situation whereby this can be done and, let the private sector come in by holding some shares so that the control will not be under the usual government bureaucracy so that the business will run well as it is being run in other nations and let it create an enabling environment for us. The maritime industry is always referred to as the economic gateway of a nation, why? Is it because we are with oil? There are nations who are doing even better than Nigeria and those nations don’t have oil ,but because they are blessed with a vibrant maritime sector, and they are doing well.
What are the names of the schools involved in this new body?
It is an open invitation to all maritime schools; be it the government or private, we have a common ground here and we are facing common issues, then why can’t we come together, there is no segregation.
You travelled recently to Malta, could you please share your experience?
It was a nice experience, very fantastic; the group that went on the journey are the representatives of the federal ministry of transport, representatives from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety agency (NIMASA), representatives of Star Maritime Academy, representatives from ISAN, representatives from Sifax, and representatives from ENL Consortium. And when we went there, we were well received, we were taken round their maritime sector, the conference was organised by Malta University Holding Consortium , they really did a lot to take us through what they have been doing in their own country and we seem to have similar or things in common their; ports are concessioned just like our ports have been concessioned, it was a nice experience and they guided us through their operations , it was just so fantastic; their security system and the operation system . Do you know that as a concessioned port, Malta‘s port has only 12 customs officers, that is the only security agents you will find in the whole areas of the port and we asked them why? The answers they gave to us is that, if we have issues concerning the police, the police will be there in a minute, and if they have any issues about drugs, then they will call those handling drugs matters who are in their various offices , there is no need for these people to crowd the ports. If you are approaching their ports, you will not see a crowd there, so you don’t find people loitering around resulting to the creation of security problems as we have in Nigeria, so there is need for us to look at certain issues.
What you are saying now is that proliferation of government agencies in the ports is a problem?
It is a problem because when there is need for them you will call them, what are they doing in the port, that is why it takes so long a period for cargo clearing, we should look at what other people are doing in the world and follow suit and their operation is computerized, before a ship arrives, they would have already mapped out how they will discharge and offload the cargoes and they would have targeted themselves, moreover in the operational room they are monitoring the port’s operations, they have a operational room where there are cameras installed to monitor the whole port and the operations going on and pass instructions to anyone at any point in time . Even officials of Sifax group and ENL consortium who came were baffled by that demonstration of the ports operations.
What is the essence of the visit?
The essence of the visit was to learn from Malta experience as far as maritime is concerned, we are also from the maritime nation and Malta although in EU, also it serves as a hub for the Mediterranean and we are thinking of Nigeria being a hub for the west Africa so we seem to have similar operation, but what is their own experience vis-à-vis ours, that is the essence of the visit, how their ports operate, what fascinated me most was the cruise-liner port, which is non-existence in West-Africa; even in Africa, as far as cruise liner is concerned, I don’t think Africa has even got to 25percent.
How can you impart your one week or two weeks over there to your students?
Every day we cry of unemployment in Nigeria. Sorry to make this reference that says, my people perish for lack of knowledge, there is much in the maritime sector that Nigerians are not aware of, go to anywhere in the world, maritime training institutions are the costliest in the world, people ask themselves that question because it is the most lucrative form of education, that is why it is costlier than every other forms of education, but ironically in Nigeria most people do not know anything about maritime education, and that is why I say every stakeholders have a lot to do in order to inform the society of the benefit in the maritime sector. For instance , we have a lot of problems every year, lot of people being disappointed by not getting admission into the University whereas there are other alternatives they would have availed themselves of and even afford them the opportunity through life career than even a degree holder because the maritime sector has their own set of degree, it’s not like the ones we have in the universities. So why it is that Nigerians can’t take these opportunities because people value mariners more than other professions.
But you are yet to answer my question, your experience in Europe, what impact is it to the students or Nigerians as a whole?
Let me start at first with my students; on my arrival, I briefed them about the opportunities in the industry, that is the essence of my going there, to reassure them that they are in the right place and the only thing is that they have to be studious and make sure they are proficient in their various areas of endeavours as far as the maritime industry is concerned, so that when they go there it won’t be an immediate thing but as time goes on, they will find themselves in a very comfortable field of endeavour so that they will never regret in their lives.
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