Multimix Academy Calls for FG’s Commitment to Maritime Education, 2013

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of frontline training institution; Multimix Academy, Mr. Obiora Madu, has enjoined the federal government to ensure that it commits enough resources and attention to maritime training in 2013.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent, the Multimix boss observed that maritime education and training in Nigeria has become a venture that no one seems to be interested in.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of frontline training institution; Multimix Academy, Mr. Obiora Madu, has enjoined the federal government to ensure that it commits enough resources and attention to maritime training in 2013.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent, the Multimix boss observed that maritime education and training in Nigeria has become a venture that no one seems to be interested in.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no policy for where maritime education in Nigeria is concerned, the education area has been a thing no one seems to be interested in”, he said.
However, in order to inject new life into the Nigerian maritime education, Madu said that the training has to be brought down to the vocational level, then gradually into the Diploma and the University level.
He lamented that the maritime industry, being a multimillion dollar industry lacks maritime graduates to fill the abundant opportunities that abound in the sector. According to him, there is a mad rush by Nigerian youths to become graduates, but very few of them are available for the demands in the maritime sector.
“If there is any area that needs to be paid a lot of attention, it is the maritime education, because I am aware of people who graduated from MAN,  Oron, they cannot get field experience, therefore you cannot call them crew in the real sense of the word”, he continued.
Madu however urged the Federal Government to get the maritime education, the Cabotage law and other relevant policies in the industry to become active.
“A lot of things need to get active such as maritime education, the Cabotage law, we have to mark the maritime sector as a sector that is capable of giving us close to what oil is giving us, and only when we do that and know that our lives cannot depend on it, then we will move to the right direction”.