Sets more hurdles for Rector

The minister flanked by the Rector and other officials during facility tour

With commitments from the honorable minister of transportation Mr. Rotimi Amaechi to reposition the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, the stage is set for a journey into the realization of a dream dreamt over forty years ago by foresighted Nigerians on the need for a Maritime Academy to train the requisite different categories of maritime manpower, which Nigeria would of necessity need if her maritime resources are not to waste nor be harnessed by foreigners to the detriment of Nigeria.

From inception to date, it has been a story of miss steps by successive governments and managements which have tried in vain to make the Academy the preferred Maritime training institution within the West-African sub-region.

Interestingly, the appointment of commodore Emmanuel Effedua Duja (rtd) has galvanized and re-awaken interests by public and private sector operators to co-operate, restructure and reposition the school for greater relevance.

The nod by the minister on his visit recently, charging the Rector to rise to challenge of dearth of training equipment/personnel have set new hurdles for the Rector to overcome.

On his visit to the Academy this week, Amaechi had said “Nigeria is so blessed with natural resources in the maritime industry. If all that needed to be done are judiciously done, it may start attracting interests from experts outside the country. That means if this institution is given necessary support through provision of world-class equipment, sound and adequate academic staff, quality infrastructure and competitive market value for Cadets, it can compete favourably with her counterparts across the globe”.

To get the needed modern, up-to-date training equipment, the Academy will need the required funds- How could the Rector surmount this hurdle? The minister has the answer.

Also, to get the required qualified lecturers, they have to earn wages comparable to what their counterparts in the Oil and Gas sectors and international oil companies, IOCs, earn. How could the Rector resolve this without support from the FMOT?

Checks we carried out within the industry and through interactions with some knowledgeable stakeholders indicate that there are qualified Nigerians who can cover the gap at the Academy-to lecture and teach in tandem with standards set by the International Maritime Organizations, IMO- the challenge is in the incentives and emoluments.

Applying the civil service rules in engaging such professionals is very unlikely to produce the best in recruitment efforts by the Academy.

Therefore, “The NIMASA Model”-as a seasoned professional put could be adopted.

We gathered that during the Akpobolokemi era at NIMASA, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd, NLNG insisted on technical competency Audit of NIMASA, if the NLNG vessels were to fly the Nigerian flag.

The audit revealed deficiency in technical personnel such as master mariners, surveyors and captains. According to our competent source, efforts to fill these positions failed after several advertorials in national newspaper because they NIMASA wanted to employ such professional at level 13.

Akpobolokemi had to approach then minister of transport Umar Suleiman for waivers to employ such personnel from level 16/17. This move we learnt, attracted some of such persons from the IOCs like shell, Mobil and others.

Will the minister muster the courage to apply same logic at MAN to resolve the issue of increasing the numbers of competent lecturers at the Academy?

Another hurdle which the rector must contend with is the installation of modern up-to-date training equipment.

On a visit to the Academy last year, chairman House Committee on maritime safety, education and training, Hon. Mohamed Umar Bago had observed that the Academy needs additional training facilities.

In his word “there is no doubt that we need to provide the needed training facilities for the academy, if what they have can be upgraded fine, but if the cost of upgrade is close to that of getting new ones, it will be better to go for new ones and have peace of mind” Bago had said.

Already, the Rector has reached out to master mariners in Nigeria and professionals in diaspora in a bid to recruit competent lecturers for the Academy.

We gathered from very a very reliable source that some Indians will be arriving the country shortly (if they haven’t) to assess, evaluate and install some training tools at the Academy.

While stakeholders commend the federal government new approach to solving the seemingly protracted training issues at the Academy, they urge the minister to keep up the tempo and maintain the present momentum in repositioning the Academy for Academic Excellence.