Captain Adegboyega Oloponiea is the President of Nigeria Association of Master Mariners (NAMM). He recently spoke with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Roland Ekama on manpower development in the maritime sector and the need to create more nautical schools. He also talked about private maritime schools and other sundry marine-related issue.
Tell us about the new acquisition of land by the association?
Captain Adegboyega Oloponiea is the President of Nigeria Association of Master Mariners (NAMM). He recently spoke with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Roland Ekama on manpower development in the maritime sector and the need to create more nautical schools. He also talked about private maritime schools and other sundry marine-related issue.
Tell us about the new acquisition of land by the association?
We have finally paid for the land at Lakowe village at Lekki, we are done on the negotiation of the land and we can say that the association now has three plots of land and it is our permanent site. In 2012 there was a fund raising event at Eko Hotel and Suites, where we said that there is need for the association to own its permanent secretariat. Though we realise some money as at then under the previous executives and when we came on board we said we will continue with their dream of getting the association a befitting secretariat by way of looking for a land where we can start from. Now we have been able to acquire that land. At the completion of the secretariat, we will be able to engage government on issues bothering on the maritime industry fully and when we talk, the government will know we are credible.
But considering Apapa where maritime activities are dominant, don't you think the association is cutting itself off from the industry activity centre?
We are looking ahead of time, we are not looking at the next two to three years, rather we are looking at the next 10 years. As you know there is a process in place for the establishment of Lekki Free Trade Zone to commence. It will also contain a seaport, airport and an Export Processing Zone as well. We believe that in the next few years, that axis will be a beehive of maritime activities. Apapa is already congested and coming to Apapa alone is a big hassle. That area is open; even though there is traffic but Apapa is too close and that is why we decided to move elsewhere and also we believe that it will serve the purpose of the association better.
What is your perception of the Lekki port and do you think it will meet the demand of the maritime industry?
It will definite meet the demand of the maritime industry. For a while now bigger vessels have not been coming into the Tin Can Island and Apapa ports respectively. They are not capable of meeting the demands of the sector and most countries are construction ports where bigger vessels can berth. With the kind of vessels that are coming up now, Lekki port is designed for such vessels and we believe that when completed, all the actions will be there in the next 10 years.
Why do we have shortage of master mariners in the country?
I believe that it is obvious because since the NNSL has been liquidated for more than 10 years, it is a problem and if you want to train cadets to be a master mariner, it takes about 10 years. But if for about the same number of years, NNSL which used to be the hallmark for all seafarers is no more, then it will be difficult for even the master mariners or officers to get the necessary experience because you must get experience on board a ship. For you to be a master, it takes a process which transit from a cadet to deck officer one to four; but when these vessels are not in place, when they are not available it becomes a problem and even though we have the cadets and we don't have vessels it’s still a problem and that is why we are saying that there is need for a well articulated programme to ensure that once the cadet finishes from the academy, they get the practical experience and after that they can sail ships and then transit gradually from officers to masters. Majority of Nigerian cadets are working on board small vessels because the certificate they have is limited to the coast and that is a problem. The Once that have access to work on board foreign going ships have unlimited certificate.
Do you support the resuscitation of national carrier?
Really, I don't want to talk about that because I don't want to be saying the same thing over and over again. The issue of manpower development is what I feel is of essence at the moment.
What is your take on private maritime institutions in Nigeria?
Maritime training is international in nature which is also governed by IMO. Training of mariner is not a localised issue. It is guided by IMO convention; which is STCW 95 and any training that is done outside that convention cannot meet the requirement to train seafarers. Secondly if you are going to train seafarers in the country, you have to align yourself with NIMASA, because the agency is the one that implements that convention in Nigeria and anyone that is doing training in Nigeria has to get the approval from NIMASA for the training of seafarers. Any institute that trains seafarers without NIMASA’s approval is not training seafarers because there is no way you can train seafarers to any standard outside the IMO convention. The only college that is approved to train seafarers in Nigeria is MAN, Oron; with approval of training centres for short term courses.
What is your association contributing to the maritime industry?
Technically in Nigeria we are over 200 master mariners and this is a drop in the ocean considering the over 170 million population and considering the maritime activities in Nigeria. So we said this issue of manpower development is not what we should talk about in offices, rather we should look at it holistically because people have the mindset that Nigerian seafarers are ageing and things like that and we decided to come up with a paper work and presented it to the minister of transport late last year which we also copied NIMASA, NIWA, Shippers Council and NPA. But as we speak we have been doing smaller interventions here and there. For the NSDP programme by the NIMASA and even when NPA want to train seafarers we sometimes intervene to advise them on the need to approach the situation holistically. Going back to when Nigerians started going to sea and how Nigerian seafarers are made and this was what we had in our paper to the government and we believe that if we can sit and address it squarely, we will have a better solution to the problem of manpower development in Nigeria. The short term intervention will not solve the problem; rather there is need for holistic approach.
What are these holistic approaches?
You have to look at how the training of Nigerian master mariners is, there is fall in standards. Before it was the foreigners who placed Nigerians on board vessels; through Palm Line, Elder Dempster etc. Then when Nigeria National Shipping Line came up, it started employing cadets every year, then NPA employed cadets annually, same goes to NNPC even the a inland waterways department of the ministry of transport also employed (of which I was a beneficiary). We had the best training then in anticipation that we need all the professionals to service marine and shipping sub sector in the future, but along the line the misfortunes started when NNSL collapsed because there was no systematic way of employing cadets and if you don't have ships you cannot train seafarers just like what is obtainable in the medical arena. For example, if you have more nautical colleges and you don't have places where the cadets will go for practical training, then there is a problem. For example MAN, Oron which is the only nautical school we have in Nigeria to train mariners with over 200 students to a class is a problem, because how can a lecturer be able to impart knowledge to that figure and to us it’s an issue and that is why we said that basically there is need for more maritime training colleges. There is one in Victoria Island which is the School of Fisheries which is under the ministry of agriculture, thus there is need for harmonisation. I worked with NIMASA, so I am looking at it from a public service and there is need for a synergy between NIMASA and the School of Fisheries because the school is training seafarers as well, then the issue of NBTE is that most of the people that are there are not maritime related people and it is a problem because they won't be able to accredit maritime courses properly. Some of them are professors, but not in maritime related field. All these are some of the issue we highlighted in our paper. Nigeria should establish merchant navy training board, then NIMASA, NPA and other will come together because they employ seafarers and then talk more on how to train mariners.
What are your aspirations for the association?
It’s not my dream par say, but our dreams because it’s a collective effort. It’s not a question of ‘I’, but a question of ‘we’. Our dream is to place the association where it should be because in the past, we are the ones that used to advice the minister of transport on maritime affairs and the master mariners are the one playing that advisory role. But at the moment there is nobody in the ministry of transport that has knowledge on marine and what we want to do is to make the ministry know that there is the need to bring in the master marines to make their inputs known in the industry, through offering advises and building on areas that have been left behind. However in few years time, we will be able to put in place a befitting secretariat for the association and with that in place they will take us more serious.
Do you have any second term ambition to run as the president of NAMM?
I don't want to be like those who say that when you fail for the first time you will come back for continuity . It is only when you fail that you can repeat a class.
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