As Port State Control Courses Begins at MAN

By Kelvin Kagbare

Even as the first phase of training and exposure of Cadets of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, witnessed great exposition and foray into bowels of the Blue Economy, BE, Rector of the Institution, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (rtd), has reiterated that the Academy under his watch is focused on teaching and training Cadets of the school on the rudiments of navigation and adequately preparing them for the unfolding BE as Nigeria prepares to launch.

The Rector engage and interact with his Cadets during the Blue Economy Week at the Academy.

Speaking during the recent,  week long training programme on imperatives of the Blue Economy for Nigeria, with participants including Cadets, staff and representatives from the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Rector was categorical when he said the training was informed on the need to adequately prepare Cadets of the Academy for realities of the Blue Economy as it unfolds.

His words “For our Cadets and all who participated in the Blue Economy Week we had at the Academy, it was very revealing and fulfilling. The array of the resource persons who are experts in their field of presentation have opened up new areas and brought forth ideas on what the Blue Economy entails”

“These Cadets have been exposed to the nitty-gritty of the Blue Economy by the experts who made presentations on different topics on the BE. We hope to bring in more experts and professionals in the industry to further broaden their knowledge on what the Blue Economy is all about”.

Participants at Blue Economy Week

“This is just one phase of our planned programmes for our Cadets as we prepare and position them for the industry. We want them to be well grounded and ready so that they are not intimidated when they graduate from this Academy”

Asked if there are new courses introduced by the Academy the Rector said “We have gotten approval from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to start other training programmes at the Academy”

New Courses/Foreign Students

“For instance, we have commenced training on Port State Control which only Ghana and Nigeria has been approved by the International Maritime Organization, IMO, to teach and train on in Africa. For now, our NIMASA officials who are licensed professionals in that area will help us handle until our staff have undergone proper training and certified to handle Port State Control courses”

The Rector explained that the Port State Control approval came under the present Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola; adding that the DG he is very excited about it and  has assured  of maximum support as the Academy begins all other courses which have been approved to take off.

Considering the global status of the Academy, we asked the Rector if neighbouring countries are approaching the school for training.

“The Academy has received applications from several English and non English speaking countries requesting training. In fact, we have trained Maritime professionals from Cameroon and other countries at the Academy; we do not have issues with those who speak English but the Anglophone countries pose a challenge because of the peculiarity of their requests for training”

“Getting persons who speak French, Portuguese or Spanish is not the problem but do such persons have the requisite competencies required to teach and train? Apart from speaking other languages, do such persons have the required certification to teach and carry out training for Cadets and Maritime/oil and gas professionals?

“So it’s a mix bag of tricky essentials which we are very careful about because we are certified by the IMO and we must be compliant to all global standards”

“We are working to meet the surge of demands from within and outside the country by service providers, Maritime Training Institutions, oil and gas workers and other professionals requiring training in one area or another”, the Rector said.

Cadets of the Academy at the training on Blue Economy.

The Rector assured stakeholders of the preparedness of the Academy to offer world class training such as is available anywhere in the world at cheaper rates as part of its mandate to build capacity for the maritime industry by developing the human capital content.