The Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has argued that there is need for the creation of more private maritime academies in order to fill the present gap that has been created by the alleged inadequacies of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) in Oron, Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Shipping Position Daily, president of the association, Engr. Mathew Alalade argued that lack of skilled mariners among the management of MAN, Oron has created the need for the maritime sector to have private institutions.
The Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has argued that there is need for the creation of more private maritime academies in order to fill the present gap that has been created by the alleged inadequacies of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) in Oron, Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Shipping Position Daily, president of the association, Engr. Mathew Alalade argued that lack of skilled mariners among the management of MAN, Oron has created the need for the maritime sector to have private institutions.
He pointed out that since the private academies are being accredited by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE,) there is no need for stakeholders labeling them as ‘mushroom academies’.
According to him, the government should rather find a way of supporting them so that they can meet global demand for seafarers.
Speaking, Engr, Alalade said that considering the population of Nigeria, the maritime industry is supposed to have not less than 50 maritime academies.
“I think government should encourage them, if you look at the teeming population of Nigeria which is about 150million, if you have about 50 schools it’s not even enough, look at the Philippines, they have about 60 schools and their population is not up to our own, so 50 schools is still not enough for the maritime sector, I think it is better to encourage them and not to discourage them”.
“Look at the staff at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, are there mariners among the people teaching the students there? There are no mariners managing them there, and these private academies you call mushroom are not all that mushroom, they are being accepted by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) and if they are being accredited, then I don’t know where the mushroom idea is from”.
Engr Alalade recently took over the mantle of leadership from the former president, Capt. Thomas Kemeweireigha.
Highlighting some of the challenges he inherited at the association, he identified one of them as impersonation and changing of the identity cards issued by the group in order to prevent them. “Our old identification cards are not valid anymore, so you have to come and register for another identity card now which will expire in the next 10 years, nothing like impersonation again because there will be a proper data, in the past there are no data, but now, we can track down anyone with it” he said
He also told our correspondent that he had embarked on a tour of all the private and government academies in the maritime sector with a view of knowing their challenges.
“Last month we met with the private institutions and the government institutions in a meeting, we are going to be doing it now at intervals, so that we will be able to know their challenges, and I want to go and meet the government agencies too so that we can tell them those challenges so that they can work on them”, he disclosed.
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