As Nigeria joined the rest of the world to celebrate the day of the seafarers 2013 yesterday, stakeholders in the maritime industry have said the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as agency of government in charge of seafarers welfare, should be held responsible for failing to take adequate care of Nigerian seafarers.
As Nigeria joined the rest of the world to celebrate the day of the seafarers 2013 yesterday, stakeholders in the maritime industry have said the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as agency of government in charge of seafarers welfare, should be held responsible for failing to take adequate care of Nigerian seafarers.
Speaking at a one day seminar organized by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) to celebrate Nigerian seafarers in Lagos, General Manager of Greenview Development Nigerian Limited (GDNL) Capt. Joshua Oyewunmi lamented that the government of the day has failed woefully on seafarers.
He pointed out that seafarers all over the world are responsible for the movement of any economy, but that Nigeria do not even have a comprehensive data of its seafarers
"Most of these problems stem from the government, the government of the day and the previous governments have failed woefully because, it is the way you treat your people that others will treat them" he lamented.
Speaking further, he stated: "We have a lot of foreigners that are employed while we have Nigerian seafarers languishing in poverty, you bring an expatriate and pay him 20 times the amount you pay a Nigerian"
Oyewunmi however urged Nigerian seafarers to always be proud of their profession among their international colleagues, he urged them not to be discouraged by the nature of the remuneration.
Guest lecturer at the event, Capt. Abiodun Omoteso alleged that NIMASA usually high-jacks the day of the seafarers’ celebration to allegedly spend some money and not necessarily to improve the welfare of Nigerian seafarers.
"Every celebration that comes to seafarers, the maritime agencies high-jack it just to spend some money and not to improve the standard of seafarers, what do you want to do by organizing workshops for seafarers that have no jobs, that you never improved his education level in order to be serviceable to this country", he wondered.
Omoteso traced the problems of Nigerian seafarers to the merger of two key agencies in charge of seafarers’ welfare; JOMALIC and JODLIC into one agency ;NIMASA.
According to him, "whoever has advised the government in the early year 2000 to set up an organization like JODLIC, I think it’s the best thing that ever happened to seafarers in this country because their focus was mainly on seafarers".
"While JOMALIC was looking after the seafarers, it was looking for money, the only money available was the ones collected from the Cabotage Act through waivers and which was being collected by NIMASA and JOMALIC was not getting out of it, so JOMALIC was dumped into NIMASA and that was the beginning of the first problem for Nigerian seafarers" he stressed.
According to him, with the merger, issues concerning welfare, job placement and remuneration of seafarers have been relegated.
He blamed the NIMASA, for allegedly robbing qualified Nigerian seafarers of jobs by granting waivers to foreign vessels to operate.
Omoteso lauded MARAN for organizing the event to commemorate seafarers’ day celebration, even as he charged the seafarers in attendance to develop themselves through continuous training in order to meet present international requirements.
Representing the Seafarers branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN;) Comrade Abiola Lawal accused NIMASA of turning the Cabotage Act into a self-centered business by issuing waivers to allegedly rob Nigerians of jobs.
He said that the union has already set up a monitoring committee to monitor the situation.
One of the cadets at the event, Isaac Ejiolamhen lamented that many foreign companies operating on Nigerian waters usually turn down Nigerian seafarers on board their ships.
He urged NIMASA to come up with a policy that will be binding on these companies, and to ensure that they take at least two Nigerian seafarers on board their ships to ease the scourge of unemployment among seafarers.
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