The General Secretary of the Nigeria Ship Owners Association (NISA), Capt. Niye Labinjo, has called the training of seafarers in line with the growth in the shipping sector.
Labinjo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos last week that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act 2007 had mandated the agency to project the shipping sector.
“In the Somalia experience, they trained many seafarers, no ships to serve on. After a while, they took to sea because of the social conditions and that is where we are.
The General Secretary of the Nigeria Ship Owners Association (NISA), Capt. Niye Labinjo, has called the training of seafarers in line with the growth in the shipping sector.
Labinjo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos last week that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act 2007 had mandated the agency to project the shipping sector.
“In the Somalia experience, they trained many seafarers, no ships to serve on. After a while, they took to sea because of the social conditions and that is where we are.
“ A large population of youth, 2,000 of them so far trained. Many more are still going to be trained and the shipping industry which they are to serve is not growing at the same pace.
“I am only sounding a note of warning that we should be careful, we should learn from the Somalia experience so that we don’t have the same experience.’’
He stressed the need for continuous training of seafarers, saying that ship owners would employ experienced seafarers that could add value to their operations.
The general secretary also explained that insecurity in the maritime sector could be detrimental to the day-to-day operations of shipping companies in Nigeria.
“It disrupts business; it increases insurance, ship owners run away once there is a problem.
“They dislike anything that will stop them from earning income. So whenever there is problem, ship owners run away.
“And even seafarers, sometimes say, `no this ship is going to Nigeria? I’m not going, I don’t want to die’. Because, sometime this insecurity leads also to fatality,“ Labinjo said.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to purchase training ship to enable the cadets to have a feel of full sea-time training.
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