As Fake Journalists/Blackmailers Recant and Plead

The Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Cdr. Duja Effedua Emmanuel, has expressed his appreciation to maritime stakeholders for supporting and standing by the Academy as the institution undergoes transformation in the bid to restore its battered image and make it a world class maritime institution to reckon with in the West African sub region.

Swimming Pool of the Academy

Already, that status has been attained after several years of wandering, fumbling and stumbling as previous efforts yielded very little if anything.

The Rector and Kelvin Kagbare during the presentation of the Maritime Man of the Year Plaque of Honour.

Chosen from among chief executives in the Maritime Industry on account of his efforts at MAN, Mr. Kelvin Kagbare, multiple publisher of Newsgate, Maritime Insider and Maritime nigeria, stated that the choice of the Rector as Maritime Man of the Year 2020, was reached using performance indexes such as Funding, Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, Public Perception and Extent of Transformational/Positive Changes Recorded.

“When you look at where the Academy was prior to the appointment of this Rector and where it is now, the question that comes to mind is “How has Cdr. Effedua been able to achieve what he has achieved within three years as Rector of MAN?, Kagbare asked.

The Multi Functional Classroom Simulator

Was the funding template for the Academy altered? Was it the IGR that changed? Definitely, the changes brought to bear by the Rector and his team couldn’t have arisen from any of these or combination of both.

“Notwithstanding, stakeholders agree that the remarkable changes in infrastructure, training equipment, engagement of foreign lecturers, construction of two swimming pools, lecture theatres, remodeled hostels, staff quarters/offices are a significant departure from what use to be at the Academy”.

“These and more are what informed our election of Cdr. Duja Effedua Emmanuel, the Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria as our Maritime Man of the Year 2020”, Kagbare said.

Receiving his plaque of Honour as the Maritime Man of the Year 2020 the Rector, beaming with smiles and radiating confidence and satisfaction said, “This Award/Recognition is cherished and treasured because it came unsolicited and unexpected. The Academy is just one of several agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation, FMOT. All through the Covid19 pandemic and its devastating effects, all of us in the sector worked very hard to keep the economy running”.

Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (rtd), Reactor, MAN

“At the Academy, we had online classes for our Cadets even when other learning institutions were thinking of what to do. Our Cadets were thus kept busy and had their lectures from the comfort of their homes as movement from one point to another were restricted within the period.

From that time to this moment the world is yet to fully recover from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic but we continue to do our best in the face of the daunting challenges we face”

Asked to comment on recent developments at MAN, the Rector stated “The Academy is on course and undergoing total restructuring and repositioning as directed by the Federal Government”.

“In terms of Training Equipment, we have procured some of the latest Simulators in the world and installed them for training purposes at MAN. We now have top notch lecturers teaching at the Academy and like I have said before, any Nigerian going outside Nigeria for any kind of Maritime Training is just wasting his time and money, we have the equipment and the personnel to provide such training at MAN using same equipment at less cost”

Petitions and Blackmailers

Concerning petitions and allegations by some disgruntled journalists, the Rector was emphatic “You may have heard that they are pleading and sending maritime stakeholders to come and beg on their behalf because we have taken them to court to prove their case (s). Why are they begging? Where were those they are sending to beg when they were publishing their fake stories? These are the characters that are rubbishing journalism in the country. It’s so sad but the courts are for everybody, let them come and state their case”.

“These petition writers and blackmailers and their unfortunate associates are part of the reasons why the Academy could not be developed over the years, they lay claim to funds of the Academy and previous Rector must have been at their mercy”.

“We decided to concentrate on our mandate and cancelled all unprofitable engagements with characters who have very little or nothing to contribute to the Academy. In their pain and frustration, they resorted to blackmail, name calling and fiction writing. We have taken them to court. Let the courts decide”, the Rector said