Joins Maritime Stakeholders to  Mobilize for Female Inclusion

Dr. Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s First Lady

Nigeria’s Maritime industry has in recent times enjoyed greater attention and gotten commitment from the Federal Government to, apart from harnessing its huge resources also make investments in material and human capital development in order to diversify the country economy from dependence on oil.

If attendance is anything to go by, this year’s celebration of the Day of the Seafarer clearly shows a departure from the past when more often than not words have not be matched with action.

Speaking at the 2019 Day of the Seafarer ceremony in Lagos, Nigerian’s First Lady, Dr. Mrs. Aisha Buhari disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to provide platforms that will encourage more women’s participation in maritime to boost the country’s economic development.

The President’s wife stated this on Tuesday in Lagos at an event to mark the 2019 Day of the Seafarer, with the theme, “On board with gender equality.”

The First Lady, who was represented by the wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, commended NIMASA’s efforts to promote and encourage women in the maritime sector in line with the President’s aspirations for the sector.

In her words, “Under the current leadership of NIMASA, we have seen significant strides aimed at making women active players in the blue economy industry. Mr. President is desirous of seeing more women play active role in the maritime industry. This celebration focusing on women seafarers is, therefore, apt.”

She called on all government agencies, especially those in the maritime sector, to ensure the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5, which is aimed at attaining gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”

Chief host of the event, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, called on men to provide the needed support for women to participate actively in the maritime sector.

According to Dakuku “We hope to sensitize the industry operators and players on the significance as well as economic importance of bridging gender inequality and the need for men to support women towards reaching their potential and navigating workplace challenges for us to have more women at sea and onshore, the men have a major role to play in terms of providing the needed support.”

Dakuku said NIMASA will continue to pursue policies and programmes that will accelerate gender equality and empowerment of women in the maritime sector. “In addition to the 304 female cadets we have trained in seafaring since the inception of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), greater attention will now be given to the training of female seafarers in specialized courses and areas to enable them take up professional responsibilities in specialized vessels and offshore operations, and maritime sector generally,” Dakuku said.

Cabotage

The NIMASA boss also disclosed that the New Cabotage Compliance Strategy (NCCS) that suspends waivers on Cabotage manning, gives priority to the placement of women on board vessels with greater attention on providing an enabling environment for female seafarers.

He disclosed that the Agency had already recorded success through the NCCS initiative

With about 7,000 Nigerians employed by ship-owners between 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 from implementation of the NCCS, Dakuku said NIMASA was doing everything in its powers to resolve the issue of armed robbery and piracy at sea.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, reiterated that Nigeria has much to gain if more females are attracted into the shipping business as career opportunities exist for their continuous development/progression be it offshore or onshore.

Maritime Academy of Nigeria

The Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua Duja (rtd) reaffirmed that the Academy stands ready and prepared to deliver top notch Cadets that could effectively man any vessel as evident in presence of former Cadets of the Academy occupying strategic operational positions at the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company, NLNG and other Oil and Gas companies within and outside the country.

In Effeduas’s words, “We at the Academy are very gender sensitive and compliant. Last year, we admitted 18 out of the 19 females that applied for admission. The only one we did not admit was because of health related issues and not based on gender biases”

Anyone who thinks men are intellectually superior to women is still living in the past, we have seen female pilots, women commanding ships, in the military we have women general, air vice Marshalls and many others who have excelled where men have failed. Such excellent women are therefore role models to the younger ones to learn from and lean on as navigate their career path”

“We are on Board, I am fully on Board with gender equality and I have always encouraged it”

Technology

Even as the world Celebrate Seafarers and calls for female inclusion resonate, Wallem,  a leading provider of technology driven maritime solutions based in Hong Kong, has called for caution in the adoption of technologies in shipping.

In its 2019 Day of the Seafarer message, the company said, “The human element that is celebrated on this special day often becomes the scapegoat when something goes wrong at sea. We also do so at a time when the fervour surrounding digitalization and automation sometimes appears to suggest that crews represent an obstacle to efficient fleet operations that would be better eradicated. Undervaluing crews in this way is hugely demoralizing”

“New technology has an important role to play in the onward march of modernizing ship operations. But attempting to supplant people with machines is misguided; it’s time to drop simplistic suggestions that a diligent watch-officer can be replaced with a CCTV camera, or notions that an algorithm can respond in ways comparable to an experienced superintendent. Instead, let’s focus on deploying technology in ways that help crew perform better. Technology must support and empower, not subtract and hinder”.

“Technology alone cannot address broader issues affecting the lives of our people working at sea. This year’s Day of the Seafarer also shines a light on opportunities for women and the contribution they are already making in a variety of roles as it attempts to spark a conversation about gender inequality”.

“It is estimated only 2% of seafarers are female. Tackling this under-representation demands the breaking down of old-fashioned perceptions and intrinsic biases. It is yet another area of our industry calling for radical change”.

IMO

According to IMO numbers, women represent only two percent of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers and 94 percent of female seafarers are working in the cruise industry.

“Gender equality is vital for sustainable development. Join our Day of the Seafarer campaign to promote seafaring as a career for women,” Secretary-General Kitack Lim said.