Following series of bothering on standards, allegations leveled against private maritime schools in Nigeria; foremost private maritime school; Stars Maritime Academy (SMA) has said that the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is not an accreditation body in the Nigerian educational system, saying that the agency has no right to accredit private maritime schools.
Following series of bothering on standards, allegations leveled against private maritime schools in Nigeria; foremost private maritime school; Stars Maritime Academy (SMA) has said that the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is not an accreditation body in the Nigerian educational system, saying that the agency has no right to accredit private maritime schools.
The maritime academy also said that master mariners have no right to say that apart from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, other maritime schools are illegitimate even as it threatened to sue organisations and individuals that disparage its existence.
Rector of the academic; Dr. Reuben Ovai in a chat with journalists at the institution in Ogun State, noted that the statement credited some individuals that private maritime schools are illegal is misinforming to the Nigeria public, adding that some maritime schools are legally registered with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the Ministry of Education.
Ovai disclosed that for the Nigeria Association of Master Mariner's President; Captain Ade Olopoeniyan to have said that private maritime schools in Nigeria are illegal sends a wrong signal to the international maritime communities, adding that such remarks are blank statements that can misguide the general public.
He also disclosed that Capt Olopoeniyan’s nephew, who is currently studying and working in Qatar, graduated from Stars Maritime Academy in Ogun state.
He further reiterated that NIMASA has no right to accredit maritime institutions in the country, adding that it is only the Federal Ministry of Education and that of NBTE that have the statutory rights to accredit schools all over the country.
The Rector added that NIMASA is saddled with the responsibility to promote existing institutes, be it public or private and that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is a baby of the United Nations.
Ovai lamented that, "these statements are unequivocally misinforming to the Nigeria public. Nigerians have right to know the truth because even though some private institutions are not duly registered with NBTE, but there are genuinely registered and approved private maritime schools like Stars Maritime Academy and others".
"Stars Maritime Academy is duly registered with NBTE and Federal Ministry of Education and it is the first maritime academy to be registered and approved just like NBTE approved MAN Oron.
"The NIMASA is not an academic accrediting body in Nigeria education system, but a regulator in the practising of maritime profession”, he stated.
He further stated that,"I wonder why some persons will go to the media and declare some schools illegal when they fail to carry out thorough investigations ", he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Ovai said that "the maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron came into being , when the Nigerian population was less than 100 million, but today the population is over 180 million and MAN Oron alone cannot satisfy the demand for maritime education"
" It is unfortunate that the pull-them-down syndrome is very common in Nigeria and people come on air to make statements with facts and figures which they can not properly verify.
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