Simulators, Digital Classroom other equipment expected at the Academy

L/R: The Rector, Commodore Effedua and Chief Ademola Seriki relish the NIMASA Award

Chairman Governing Council, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Chief Ademola Seriki has reassured concerned stakeholders that efforts made and successes recorded thus far in the ongoing restructuring and repositioning of the Academy are irreversible.

In a chat with Maritime Insider alongside other news hounds in Lagos, Chief Seriki, while shedding lights on developments at the Academy emphasized that because members of the Governing Council and management team of MAN, led by the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Duja Effedua (rtd) were working in sync and in one accord, it will be very difficult, if not impossible to reverse the modest achievements which have crystalized in the Academy.

According to the chairman, “We are not working and doing what we are doing on impulse. We are working as a team with a shared vision and well thought out implementation plan worked out after due deliberations which took months to arrive at. Don’t forget there was an Interim Management Committee that crafted the restructuring roadmap which we are implementing and because the Council and Management have no areas of friction, our journey is bound to be smooth and hitch free”.

Speaking on infrastructure and training equipment/lecturers at the Academy, Seriki expressed confidence that though the present management met very little if anything at all on ground, a lot has been put in place by the Rector and his team to reposition the Academy and make it attractive to local and foreign students who seek careers in seafaring.

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In his words “The turnaround is evident anywhere you turn in the Academy. From the gate to classrooms to hostels to refectory to auditorium-there is something new that has been done. Not just done for doing sake but done in line with the restructuring blueprint of the Academy”,

Reminded of our national maintenance culture and perversity to continuity, the board chairman said, “The gains from this restructuring efforts are clear and concrete. We are working with the future of the Cadets of the Academy and indeed other young Nigerians in mind. The achievements are irreversible if the Federal Government sticks to the template we are working with because it captures short, medium and long term projections for the Academy”.

Chief Seriki, who doubles as Chairman, governing board of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, while thanking the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, for its support to the Academy attributed achievements at the Academy to the robust support and collaboration between MAN and NIMASA.

Cadets on drill at the Swimming pool of the Academy

While asking for more support from NIMASA and other maritime stakeholders, Chief Ademola Seriki admitted that no institution is fully funded anywhere in the world.

He revealed that to be able to carry out projects/programmes at the Academy, members of the governing council and management have had to engage other maritime stakeholders on possible ways to attract patronage and support to the Academy.

Seriki also hinted that prudence and value for money are part of principles adopted by the Rector which have enhanced developments at the Academy.

Beyond classroom academics and tutorials, it was further made evident that collaboration with other Agencies have yielded the donation of two training boats by the Nigerian Navy to the Academy to assist in the practical trainings of Cadets of MAN.

MAN Lecturers on training in India

This, in addition to synergy with the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, has made sea time possible for Cadets of the Academy. Placements are ongoing in batches to ensure that global training parameters are met at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria.

According to Chief Seriki,  “Cadets must be trained in line with international standards. It is beyond theories in the classroom; it is about getting practical, physical training with ships at sea and knowing how equipment work and function. This why training of lecturers and Cadets of the Academy is very important and we must thank the Rector for his efforts in this direction”.

It could be recalled that for the first time in the long history of the Academy, the institution was crowned “Best Maritime Training Institution of the Year 2019” by NIMASA at a colourful ceremony  attended by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SFG), Mr. Boss Mustapha, Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo- Olu, Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki alongside other serving former Governors, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Hon. Lynda Ipeazu amongst other top dignitaries and captains of the Maritime profession in Nigeria.

Coming after visit to the Academy by the minister transportation, Director General of NIMAS, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, President of SOAN, Dr. Mcgeorge Onyung and other concerned maritime stakeholders all of whom expressed delight at the works of the Rector and confidence on his ability to transform the Academy, indigenes of host communities of the Academy and watchers/followers of events at the school are unanimous that the Rector is on track.