Immediate past President, Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association; Captain Thomas Kemewerigha was excited about government’s ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006. In this chat with our Correspondent; Roland Ekama, he spoke extensively about the benefit of the MLC and the implication for Nigerian seafarers.
How has life been after office?
Immediate past President, Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association; Captain Thomas Kemewerigha was excited about government’s ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006. In this chat with our Correspondent; Roland Ekama, he spoke extensively about the benefit of the MLC and the implication for Nigerian seafarers.
How has life been after office?
I only retired but I am not tired, I retired based on the constitution of the association. We are not like politicians in Nigeria where it is a do or die affair because in our own politics, the day you occupy a position, you know you are entitled to a tenure of three years and if you excel and the members feel necessary that you should continue and complete your agenda, they will give you a second tenure and after the second tenure you step aside more or less become an adviser to the same association, so that is what just happened.
Recently the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 was ratified by the Federal Government, what is your reaction to that?
I think that is one good thing that has happened to the maritime industry of Nigeria and I think the kudos goes to the Director General of NIMASA because the journey to this MLC started in 2001 and not 2002. There was what they called the Geneva Accord in Geneva; Switzerland where the international ship owners and the trade union organisations sat together and felt that they should be a greater package for the seafarers because they assess the volume of money and profit involved and what goes to the seafarers. Thus they felt there should be something better for the seafarer; that is the genesis of MLC 2006. They started it in 2001 and it took proper effect in 2002 on a tripartite form – where we have the government, we have the maritime transport, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the international ship owners. Nigeria participated actively and voted for it and that is why the convention has no problem in terms of acceptance in the world and it was warmly accepted and adopted in 2006. They also gave criteria for the implementation and enforcement which was met last year. So no member states will say that there is not enough time to ratify or to domesticate because 2002 to 2006 was adopted then 2006 to 2012, they met the requirement for enforcement in this year August 20th.
Why did you say the kudos goes to the DG of NIMASA?
Why I said that the kudos must go to the DG, NIMASA is that one thing is to be the head another thing is to carry out your predecessors’ good jobs. In the Nigerian context once you come on board, you throw everything aside and start your own programme, but he saw the importance of this convention and carried on with it. Apart from the MLC, he has also continued with the seafaring training programme which will tells you the passion he has for seafarers and that is the core function of NIMASA; thus that is why I said most of the respect, the gratitude and the appreciation should go to the DG for carrying out to the point of the ratification. You know, he could decide to shove it aside and Nigerian maritime sector will be in problem and in the Nigeria content nobody will be able to do anything, but today we thank God with the able lieutenants he has aggressively supported and today Nigeria has finally ratified the MLC 2006 and as we speak, arrangements are on ground to carry the instrument of ratification to ILO. Again one thing is to ratify in your country and another is to submit the instrument to the ILO for proper documentation and it is after documentation it is recognised by ILO that you have ratified and you are part of the ratified family for enforcement, so Nigeria has achieved that.
Do think that the ratification of MLC 2006 will better the lots of our seafarers?
The MLC will better the lots of Nigerian seafarers; at least let start from somewhere because the law says that whether you ratify or not and you are a maritime nation the enforcement binds you. When you don't ratify and your vessel leaves the shore of this nation, they will not be treated favourably because you are outside the convention, this means you are doing illegal things that do not benefit the seafarers and it is part of when a vessel leaves the shores of its country, it will be used against you through checks on the wages of seafarers and their accommodation and if you are found wanting, your vessel is gone. And for you to be a member, it means you are at the verge of changing all the bad things you are doing, and you know that Nigeria is the Mecca in terms of maritime activities in Africa and the world in general, even though we are not ship builders we have the resources that attract other states that are ship builders and others to come down to Nigeria and carry out their day-to – day shipping and maritime activities. As we speak 80% of vessels plying Nigerian waters for trade are foreign ships and when we have ratified it, it gives us bilateral agreement with other member states, which will also encourage them to bring their vessels. It will also be an advantage to our maritime custodian to relate with other classified countries to see how better our seafarers will be carried along, then our seafarers that are engaged internationally on board foreign vessels must meet up the welfare packages of the convention, which also makes it very clear that there is no race any longer in the maritime industry. For instance if a third engineer is earning $10,000 and a black man doing the same job as a third engineer must also earn $10,000. So if I have ratified and my port states are well groomed to carry out inspection on board vessel, then the act of equality that differentiate a Nigerian from an expatriate in terms of wages as par the MLC is no more there and countries that have not ratified and want to ply Nigerian waters stand to lose, because we will use MLC to go after them and to give room for our people to enjoy what belongs to them. And that will still be an eye opener to the indigenous ship owners who are parading substandard vessels to upgrade themselves and compete favourably, because one thing is that if you are a member of the family and the family says this is what we want and for the fact that you are among those that make the laws, you must also try to make sure that you meet with that law as a member of the family and that is what it means. If foreign vessels come into our country and our port state and flag state found them wanting, there is immediate employment for our people.
Don't you think the Nigerian factor will frustrate the effort of the MLC on the seafarers?
This same factor is also in other countries of the world which were identified years ago and started working towards them. Nigeria of yesterday is not Nigeria of today and if we inculcate the culture of always saying the Nigeria system we will not move forward, but we are telling of a situation whereby the world is changing and you must change with it and you don't say because this the way of doing things and you remain static, the wind of change is taking place so we must all be part of that change, thus it is in our own interest and you also know that some seafarers work for nine months and they were not paid , even three months they were not paid, but the MLC does not give that room. MLC has redefined employment procedures for seafarers , MLC says, a seafarer has the right to pick his contract papers , go home and study the paper for 24 hours. And even consult his lawyers and come back to his employers, apart from that, he can also seek advice from those who know. Before, they pick you on the road , without working gear , you don't even know how much you will earn and at the end of the day, you are not even paid then such person does not know what he is doing.
Do we really have qualified seafarers?
I should ask you if all the graduates that are coming out of the academy are selling pepper and tomatoes today.
I ask this question because some stakeholders are of the view that MAN, Oron’s certificate is not globally accepted
Who told you that MAN Oron is not recognised globally? I also ask people that we don't talk because we just want to talk, as long as I am concerned , Nigeria is a signatory to the IMO ,the STCW , Nigeria is guided by it, the Manila Convention Nigeria is guided by it and up till tomorrow, the IMO auditors have not found Nigeria wanting and it is only the IMO and it auditors that have the right to say that Nigeria’s certificate is not up to standard and this IMO auditors visit Nigeria regularly to assess our standard and they never said our standard is low or our certificate is not recognised. NIMASA is not going out of the way of IMO to issue certificates, but the content of the certificate itself cannot be disputed that it is of low standard. And again I just say that if they say the standard is low, it is the IMO auditors that visit academies of member states that have the right to say ‘your standard is low, we suspend you so that you can meet up with requirements, don't issue certificate until we come back you would measure up with the standard’, but IMO auditors have never found NIMASA wanting in that regard.
Why does NIMASA send seafarers abroad for training when we have such academy in Nigeria?
Do you know how many intakes that go to Oron? Of course we have more than 100 universities in the country today and you also know the number of the Nigerian youths seeking admission through JAMB to enter the universities, have the Universities been able to absorb all of them? So if you have the zeal for your child to be a better person tomorrow and he is not given admission into a Nigeria university and you have what it takes to send him aboard to go and read, will you not? I look at the problem we have as sea time and today some Nigerians that went out for study never intended to spend three years, basically it was two years they spent because they needed sea term, because without sea term you cannot proceed further as a professional. The basic two years is for academic , after the that you will now come out for your sea term which simply means being on board a vessel , putting all what you learnt in the past two years into practice and after the sea term, you come out to write your professional exams before you will become a certified seafarer. Again where are the vessels for Nigerian cadets to run their sea term? Today things are getting out of hands because most of the students that went to Ukraine, Egypt and others maritime institutions only taught them basic training and they still run about looking for vessels to run their sea term and until they get the sea term and go for their professional exams they remain where they are. Every year MAN Oron produces over 300 engineers and deck officers who might have completed their diploma in nautical sciences or marine engineering and out this figure only 50 might be opportuned to have sea time to continue their professional career while the remaining will continue to roam about looking for vessels. The question again is where are the vessels? We all know that when you go to our anchorage at night, it looks like Paris or Dubai because both obsolete and genuine vessels are all tied down without job so at night when you see the light it looks like paradise. Now a person that has no job how can he pay the crew and how can he move from one point to another, this is the problem we are facing because our students don't have vessels to run their training. Our students don't have vessels to carry out their sea time, if that sea time avenue is made possible for cadets, I can bet that Nigeria can produce 150 officers COC yearly.
How would you describe MAN, in your own view is it living up to expectation?
I am not an instructor of MAN Oron, but I still stand on the ground that IMO auditors have not found them wanting because in NIMASA, the safety and certification department is responsible to IMO and these auditors come around and check everything on ground and we have never had that they found MAN Oron wanting in one thing or the other. But I know that the problem we have is the sea time that the poor cadets are not getting.
What then do you think is the way out of this?
From the body which I came out from; which is the Merchant Navy Officer and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, we have cried out times without number that NIMASA registers vessels and today NIMASA can tell us all the operational vessels in our Cabotage regime or those that are operating in our territorial waters that have dealings with them. And I also know that NIMASA must have gone extra miles to tackle this which might have an enforcement problem. What I am trying to say is that if you come for any registration with NIMASA and you have two vessels operating; offshore and coastal tankers and even LPSOs and they employ two cadets: one engineer ,one deck officer ,it will go a long way in reducing the number of cadets looking for sea time. All what the foreigners do is to come here, make money in Nigeria and they don't give back anything. Until NIMASA will decide to sit down, involve the major stakeholders like the unions and we ask ourselves questions will go a long way in tackling the problem on ground. NIMASA should liaise with the unions to get database of all ships that trade on our waters which I know they have, sit down and plan on how they will force cadets on ship owners as a condition. If a vessel does not have our cadets on board we will not renew your license; that is to make it compulsory that if you don't have two cadets on board then we will not renew your papers- period. And it is as good as telling you to leave the business you have come to do, I believe that is the missing link. It should be purely one or two departments in NIMASA, because whenever there is a problem is NIMASA or Nigeria you will hear of and all the department that has something to do with vessel and renewal of licenses like the Cabotage department, maritime labour department , safety and certification department and survey department should make sure that every vessel involved engaged our cadets. When this foreign flag vessels come in for renewal they come with fictitious list of crew members, but what we are trying to say is that it is high time NIMASA went out for random enforcement exercise , on the spot assessment without notification, both on the high sea and at the jetties. Today I can bet that only one percent of our flag vessels carry out STS operations while 99% of vessels involved in STS operations are foreign flagged vessels, just because they want to avoid our laws and they are not doing that on their own because they have Nigerians aiding them ,so NIMASA should take the advantage of the MLC enforcement coming up in August , built up port inspectors ,give the good incentives, and set target for them, thus once that is done we will get result if not, we will remain where we are.
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