THE NIGERIAN SEAFARER

Certainly, this year’s celebration of the seafarers’ day on Monday, June 25 is a remarkable departure from last year.
While last year’s celebration was well embraced by all stakeholders, the same cannot be said of the 2012 celebration which only witnessed protestations by angry seafarers.
 Whereas in 2011, Nigerian seafarers and their employers as well as relevant government agencies stood up in pity (or shall we say, in empathy) for the largely embittered seafarers fold, in 2012, the seafarers were on their own.

Certainly, this year’s celebration of the seafarers’ day on Monday, June 25 is a remarkable departure from last year.
While last year’s celebration was well embraced by all stakeholders, the same cannot be said of the 2012 celebration which only witnessed protestations by angry seafarers.
 Whereas in 2011, Nigerian seafarers and their employers as well as relevant government agencies stood up in pity (or shall we say, in empathy) for the largely embittered seafarers fold, in 2012, the seafarers were on their own.
Nigerian seafarers have indeed seen better days. Not only did first generation seafarers, notably marine engineers and master mariners make significant contributions to the nation’s economy, they were a respected member of the shipping community.
The days when Nigerian seafarers were kings had all gone, in its place, Nigeria now has an army of half-baked, unemployed seafarers who are turned out yearly by an array of equally largely uncertified training institutions.
We recall the chairman of the Nigerian Shipping Association, Mr Val Osifo, who was part of those good old days said last year at a pre-event seminar, when he lamented that : “I feel very sad because in my lifetime, I have seen seamen being celebrated in this country. There used to be over 4,000 seamen in this country. The seamen spent greater part of their lives on the waters. I feel sad at the state of our seaman”.
The same sad tale of good old days was recounted in 2011 by the managing director of Nigerian Ports Authourity, Engr Omar Suleiman when he reminiscenced that NPA once had an international maritime school and that by the late 1960s, “all harbour crafts including two coal carriers from Port Harcourt to Lagos – “MV Tafawa Balewa” and “MV Enugu” were all fully manned by Nigerians. The Buoy-laying vessel – “MV Bode Thomas”, the 50 tonnes capacity   floating crane – “The Wellington” tugs, etc were also manned by Nigerian seafarers”.  
The demise of Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) and the consequent loss of opportunity for sea time for budding seafarers and cadets as well as the failure of Maritime Academy of Nigeria to turn out world- class and employable seafarers have been jointly blamed for the dwindled fortunes of seafarers in Nigeria.
The twin factors of NNSL and MAN Oron’s failure have jointly led to mass unemployment, prevalence of fake and ill-trained seafarers. Things have become so bad that most Nigerian seafarers are no longer employed while the cadets have difficulties serving sea time. And if they don’t have sea time, they can’t get advance.  
It is certainly to vent this prolonged feeling of neglect that demonstrations went on at two different locations last Monday to coincide with the 2012 seafarers day celebrations.
While the embittered seafarers trooped to the Burma Road corporate head office of NIMASA, another set thronged the Warri, Delta state capital venue of the NIMASA – sponsored celebrations to open up on what can best be described as their present state of total neglect.
While the ones whom protested in Lagos about lack of jobs and non-payment of longstanding benefits arising from the 1995 liquidation of the NNSL, those who caused a stir in Warri actually accused officials of NIMASA of operating manning agencies through which sea faring jobs are given to their cronies who unfortunately are not as qualified as those who are currently jobless.
We are also aware of the clamour in some quarters that Nigerian seafarers should be direct beneficiaries of the Cabotage Act, we are also strongly of the opinion that adequate training is a perquisite for sea time and subsequent employment. The first step to ensuring a more fulfilling career is to ensure that there are more maritime training opportunities for intending seafarers. To do this, Nigeria certainly needs more maritime schools, but not in the manner they are at the moment. We also do not advocate that government should be the sole provider of maritime education.
While a properly equipped and well staffed Maritime Academy of Nigeria is imperative to engendering a new lease of life for aspiring seafarers, government should, however expedite action on the proposal to establish more academies in other parts of the country, and also encourage the private sector to come into it; the present sets of privately –owned institutions are to say the least, terribly below standard.
Painfully, the fact that NIMASA is always booed by seafarers every year that the annual event takes place is an indication that the agency has fallen short of the expectations of the Nigerian maritime community; especially seafarers.
May we advise that as we all look forward to this time next year, NIMASA should redesign its manpower development programme and more importantly ensure that there is a higher participation by indigenous ship owners in Cabotage operations.  Through this, more Nigerian seafarers will have opportunity to be gainfully employed on these ships.