“A MERCHANT NAVY PERSONNEL SHOULD NOT WEAR HIS UNIFORM ASHORE”…Capt Thomas Kemewerigha
A call is all I always need to get Captain Thomas Kemewerigha to grant me an interview. As much as it’s feasible, he makes himself available; at all times. But this time, the interview had to be hurriedly arranged as he was set to jet out of the country that night for Mexico to attend the meeting of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). He had to speak with me because of certain issues that came up. As usual, it was a no-holds-barred parley.
What has it been like since you started your second term, what challenges are you facing?
It has been hectic and very challenging, more so with the no-continuity in the headship of our maritime agencies, you know there was a change of power from Dr Ade Dosunmu of NIMASA to the current DG and so it has been very hectic trying to tag along with the current management of NIMASA to really get them to attach importance to the interest of the seafarers. But all the same, it has been continuity from the Dosunmu era; especially from the seafarers’ point of view, for instance the training of the Nigerian cadets and seafarers in India, Egypt and so on, these are programmes Dosunmu lined up and since it’s for the interest of the seafarers, the current management team also toed the line. Besides that, we have not really seen what they are doing.
Does it mean your association is not really working well with the current management of NIMASA?
The relationship is not too cordial; I must be frank, because one, as a major stakeholder and a body that controls the officers in the maritime sector and the engine room of the seafaring profession, all letters written to the DG have not yielded any result for us to see him and to also talk with him one on one about issues that touch seafarers the most.
Does it mean he does not appreciate what you are doing?
I don’t want to believe that, I will only believe it when we meet one on one and he gives us his own opinion on the happenings, then we will know. I believe that we have done a lot in the industry so our not seeing him might be because of the tight schedule of his job, I don’t want to believe he attaches less importance to the association because if he does, then he is heading for a wreck.
What challenges are you facing as the president of the association?
The issue of indigenous ship owners not being patronised by the NNPC is a challenge. Indigenous ship owners are always crying that all the jobs meant for them are being given to the multinationals. We then carried out a surveyor to find out why NNPC is not giving them some of these jobs because the impact is being felt by seafarers, we discovered that the specification of vessels needed by NNPC are not in the hands of the indigenous ship owners, but when vessels are registered for Cabotage trade and they are not being used, then it becomes another problem. But, from all indications and with the introduction of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund by NIMASA, we have begun to see results as indigenous ship owners are also now going for double hull vessels that meet up the requirement for lifting.
Year 2010 has been declared by IMO as year of seafarers, would you say Nigerian seafarers are getting their fair share of the Nigerian maritime sector?
They are not getting nothing, I will start this way; the employment of Nigerian seafarers solely lies in the hands of indigenous ship owners and for the fact that they were not being engaged in the past kept so many seafarers jobless; with their families living in poverty. Virtually every indigenous ship owner is owing the Nigerian seafarer ranging from three month to nine months salary arrears and there is nothing you can do to them, they continue to complain that they don’t get jobs and yet they cannot leave the vessel because it is an island on itself that needs continuous maintenance, if crews are not aboard, then it dilapidates at a faster rate. Nigerian seafarers are not finding it any good. Talk of the offshore where they are supposed to benefit, the jobs are in the offshore sector, but we just don’t understand why up till now the multinationals prefer to use expatriate crews as they are called. We have gone on board many of these vessels and FPSOs and we have seen Indians, Filipinos and other nationalities; we don’t understand why Nigerians are still roaming the streets, it’s quite pathetic. I went to some extent by meeting the agency concerned that we can no longer take this because seafarers are going to fight for themselves but they will tell you that you cannot do their job. They are paid to do the job but they are not doing it, the stakeholders and custodians of the seafarers want to do it you said no, we are watching and like I said earlier their days are numbered, we will go after these expatriates, ISAN tried it by arresting foreign ships and taking their jobs and today they are being listened to and nobody gave them names, but when we start maybe they will call us militants. We are also watching the tides and seeing how we can curb it, we will hand them over to immigrations to deport them accordingly.
You plan to go on board and arrest seafarers?
Yes, because I can tell you that the information reaching us now is that they don’t even come through Nigerian waters any longer. Mostly affected are those serving on board FPSOs, they come through Douala (in Cameroun) by using Nigerian- flagged offshore vessels and the foreign ones too to pick them from Douala and send them on board the FPSO’s and take them back to Douala. We have cried out to the immigration authorities, but to no avail and luckily now we have a master mariner serving as the minister of interior. We are producing these cadets every day and yet we are not moving from where we are. Those that are opportuned to have been on NIMASA list to India and Egypt will have foreign ships to serve their seatime and start their carrier, while those coming out of School of Oceanography and MAN, Oron will be roaming the streets doing nothing, driving ‘Okada’ and taxis.
How well equipped are MAN, Oron and School of Oceanography?
MAN, Oron has been existing for years now and most of the graduates are doing very well in Europe, Oron is equipped to meet the challenges of our Cabotage and all the cadets need is to have their seatime and start their core professional exams, why they are not being able to move from one stage to the other is just because of the seatime. NIMASA is not tired of issuing them the Certificate of Competency, but it will not also issue them when they have not completed their seatime. Our association is trying to come up with a programme with ISAN and virtually all the offshore operators, we want to get a full data of cadets from year 2000 till date from Oceanography and Oron, we want to find out those that have really excelled from one stage to the Other and have acquired their seatime and we want to find how we can marry with ISAN and the offshore sector to absorb these guys, we will not compel them but they will do it willingly because of the way its being done in other parts of the world.
ISAN have had reasons to say that some of your members are not well trained and some carry fake certificates.
They have every right to say so, we will address that issue of fake certificates as time goes on, but let me tell you that ISAN have no option, if they are really partnering with NIMASA for the betterment of the maritime sector, then ISAN should reason with me that they have no option than to train the fresh cadets from Oron. What we are saying is that if you go to the University to read law and you don’t go to a law school you cannot practice, so even if you produce one million lawyers from the various universities and they are not absorbed into the law schools, they could be called lawyers but they cannot practice as lawyers, the same thing in the medical line, these are core professions that touches any nation that wants to excel. So if ISAN is saying that the boys are not qualified, then they are making a mistake and I want to believe the owners of these vessels just went in for profit sake and do not know what it takes to run it, they are not in the business because of other interest in shipping, but to make profit, when you go to Oron for two years, you are an academician and you don’t know anything practically, when you now come out for your 18 months seatime as the case may be, then you are now exposed to the practical aspects of seafaring, after your 18 months, you come back to NIMASA for your Officer of the Watch Certificate, after working with it for like 36 months then you go back for your second stage, it all has stages and you grow with being on board, you don’t grow by coming out of the school. So what we are saying is that we want to partner and make sure that the correct cadets from these schools are given a chance to grow, if this system is carried out there will be no need sending anybody to India, it is the seatime that matters, when they come out and they don’t get their seatime, they are as good as not going to school, so if we start from somewhere to address the issue of unemployed cadets, there will be no problem about future master mariners and chief engineers. We are also partnering with NIMASA and they are going take a step by saying that every ship owners should show evidence of training. On the issue of fake certificates, at times, I stupidly say that none of my members have a printing machine that prints certificates, yes, if you are selling pepper and I don’t come to buy and other people too don’t buy, the shop will get locked up and you will not sell pepper again. So the issue goes both ways, for the fact that these boys do not have machines that print certificates, then it means somebody else is doing it for them, and if you want to get to the root of the matter, you have to get those printing, if they stop printing, then the boys will not come and buy and if the boys don’t go to them they will not print, so it goes two ways. But I have also come to realize that Philippines have about 52 nautical institutions which are qualified institutions, the concerned authorities inspected these schools and made sure that all the facilities required of an academy was in place, if you go there and come out with your certificate, it is acceptable in the whole world and you will be employed as a seafarer. So I want to trace the issue of fake certificates a bit to students not being able to meet the requirement of NIMASA, you don’t just get up and say you want to get an OOW certificate, you have to get 36 months seatime, you must be an O’ level holder and so on. But where MAN, Oron and School of Oceanography will not give room for unqualified cadets to come in without meeting their requirements, mushroom schools started springing up everywhere, I call them the two bedroom nautical institutions, everybody is opening an academy, we don’t know who accredits them, no one knows the facilities they have or what they are up to, and when such students come out after spending heavily and they cannot meet the minimum requirements by the international body to begin their career what do they do? They dive to find a shot cut to get it. If you go to a university that is not recognized, you hardly get a job unless you have a godfather because it is assumed that the school does not have what it takes to produce students. We have cried to NIMASA and we were even told that it is not our duty to sanction schools, I also know that the states government have to be involved because this issue has led to a lot of nuisance in the society.
What is this news that made the rounds recently between your association and the Police?
Officers were invited by the Police in Abuja when they said the Merchant Navy Association is banned and I asked which merchant navy is banned. I told them that this body is a trade union organization affiliated to Trade Union Congress, International Transport Workers Federation in London, we are members of the Seafarers Welfare Board in London. There is merchant navy in all pars of the world; we are in UK, in Australia, Switzerland and so on, so how can you get up and say you are banning merchant navy which is a registered and gazetted body in this country. I went to see the Police in Abuja and there and then, I discovered that an issue we have raised five years ago that the government refused to address; the Nigerian navy refused to address it, the Inspector General of Police did not show any concern, the Chief of Naval Staff did not do anything and even NIMASA was silent is at the root of it, now it is having negative effect and we are crying of fake certificates. I went to Abuja to meet the Police because there was misuse of uniform, they cannot differentiate naval personnel from a merchant navy personnel, about four NGOs were also mentioned in the issue but I made them to understand that I am not an NGO and I am not contesting this uniform with the Nigerian Navy, but my body was on ground before the Navy was established and I proved it to them that people like Rear Admiral Nelson Nsoro, one time chief of naval staff was from the marines and we also are from the marines, during the civil war most of our men were drafted to the Navy to beef up the marine sector. Naturally a merchant navy officer has no reason for putting on the uniform ashore, he only puts it on while on duty and when he is off duty, he puts on civilian clothes, what he needs is the I.D card, but today it is as rampant as the mushroom academies. To worsen the case, since the Lagos state government has made it easy for all uniform men not to pay transport fares when they board commercial vehicles, the man wearing a merchant navy uniform will not pay just like the naval man and the mobile police man, we should also know that we have fake navy personnel’s, mobile police, lawyers and even fake medical doctors, so my body is trying to find a situation whereby the merchant navy is not dragged into the mud because it’s a world wide profession and a body that cuts across the whole world, we are not only useful as commercial merchant officers that carry goods from one point to the other, our men also serve the nation very well alongside with the navy. We have had serious discussions with the navy and what we want to do is this; we want to change our ID card and send copies to the security agencies concerned and get it published, if really you are a merchant navy officer and a member of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers Water Transport Senior Staff Association, within six months you have to come and re-register yourself and get the genuine ID card, after this period, if you are apprehended you are on your own. We are also trying to educate our members to desist from putting on this uniform arbitrarily because the uniforms are meant for a purpose and not to cheat the public, to some extent if you go to Seme today you will find out that there is another barracks there, we want to advise the authorities concerned to respect this profession because it happens to be one of the oldest in the world.
What is the relationship between your association and ITF?
ITF is the umbrella body of all transport unions in the world with about six million members, it covers the air, rail, road and sea transport, they are everywhere. In the Nigerian sector, we have about five affiliates: the air transport senior staff, the air transport junior staff, the maritime workers union which is our junior counterpart because the merchant navy happens to be the senior, while the maritime workers union is the junior in the water front, we have the railways and we have the road transport, we are all members of the ITF and we have been there for about 30 years. As I am talking to you today, ITF is carrying out a congress in Mexico and Nigeria is fully represented, Nigeria has been on the board of ITF for eight years and currently, I am the chairman, National Coordinating Committee, Nigerian chapter of the ITF, so we are fully in the system and ITF is the sole representative of the maritime unions in ILO, they are major coordinators in ILO on maritime matters.
What is your take on the recent attack on some of your members aboard some fishing trawlers?
That issue gives me a slap because there have been several meetings involving the navy in the area of security, but I don’t think the navy is ready for the task ahead, they have told us on several occasions that they are not equipped to cope with the challenges of militancy and piracy and they have said it severally in our meetings. You and I know that the navy has the highest budget, before we were born the defence budget has always been high and today it’s still high, and if the navy can come out and tell us that there are difficulties and challenges, I think the issue of security lies on the individuals and not the navy any longer. I was in Calabar sometimes ago with the director of the SSS, when I cried out that the boys are well known, people thought I was joking, we were in a meeting with the director and he was calling the militants that what was their problem and that the amnesty is going on. The question is: how did he get their phone numbers, it happened right before my eyes at the meeting, but every other day, human lives are being lost. The government might not realize that the fishing trawlers contribute a lot to the economy of this country in terms of foreign exchange and employment, but human beings will carry out all these activities and at the end of the day, the price they pay for it is death, there was a period we brought all the trawlers back to their base in Lagos and we know what it cost the average Nigerian, we don’t know how to cry out to the government any longer or what to do for government to address this issue. These militants or robbers did not come from heaven; they live within the riverine area and they come out, the communities must recognize them. For a period, it was quite peaceful but all of a sudden they have started again, for somebody like me I want to link it to politics because we are entering another political era.
What is your association doing about it?
My association has nothing to do than to cry out, at worst we will stop all operations from going on, we will call all the trawler vessels back and let the impact fall on the average Nigerian because we also contribute and nobody wants his child dead. Unfortunately this sailor that died is from the Calabar area, we don’t have much to say but when it gets to the point of our not taking it any longer, all we need to do is call the vessels back.
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