As United Kingdom, United Nations, Ship Owners and Employers Converge at MAN

The celebration of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron by maritime technocrats and professionals within and outside Nigeria in recent years, is a direct expression of confidence arising from the power of continuity and unity of purpose as vision and mission unite in the hearts of men who defied the odds at personal pain to do the needful and advanced national ambition.

Starz Investment Ltd Management cornered top four graduating Cadets of the Academy at the 2025 POP

From Interim Management Team, IMT, to Implementation Committee, the Chief Adebayo Sarumi led transition committee spent days and night brainstorming, disagreeing and agreeing on the way forward for the Academy between 2016 and 2017.

Credit must be given to the former minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi for his choice of men in the transformation of the Academy.

Chief Adebayo Sarumi flanked by stakeholders at the Academy

These men; Chief Adebayo Sarumi, Engr Greg Ogbeifun, Cdre. Duja Effedua Emmanuel (rtd), Dr. Kevin Okonna, late Engr. Olu Akinsoji and late Capt Adamu Biu, through the road map they drew and the trajectory growth path they mapped out, have positioned the Academy for global recognition-a place  where the high and mighty in society now struggle to secure admission for their kids and wards.

From the IMC commodore Duja Effedua emerged as Rector; his efforts and strides at MAN are documented and known to Maritime Stakeholders.

Working very closely with Dr. Kevin Okonna and others,  the restructuring and repositioning mandate of the Duja led management took the Academy from stagnation to acclaim.

From the Academy gates to its jetty, classrooms, hostels, refectory, lawns and buildings to swimming pools (which for decades seemed impossible were made manifest with military dispatch.

To the consternation of industry stakeholders, commodore Duja announced his resignation from office one cold morning.

Enter Dr. Kevin Okonna

He must have been more shocked and taken aback by Commodore Duja’s unexpected resignation than many others.

Rising to the challenge, he took the wheels and with steady hands and heart, continued from where Duja stopped.

That seamless, rancour free  transition as approved by the minister of the Marine and blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has ensured an unbroken, undistorted progression and leadership stability at MAN never before experienced at the Academy.

His Excellency, Adegboyega Oyetola, Minister, Marine and Blue Economy

Members of the National Assembly and the minister must be proud of developments at man.

For decades Dr. Okonna has toiled at MAN; serving in several committees and making presentations at ministerial and regional conferences; his knowledge and understanding of issue and challenges affecting the Academy are deep.

If management of the Academy was impressed by performances of its Cadets at the 2025 World Maritime Day, WMD,  celebration held in Lagos where MAN Cadets outperformed and outshined their peers carting to Oron top prizes, just as it happened in previous years, something worth sustaining is happening at the Academy that must be preserved.

2025 POP

The 2025 passing at Parade, POP, was a show piece that dazzled dignitaries who graced the event.

The academic brilliance displayed, the prizes and Awards given to the top graduating Cadets, the race to the embrace of waiting arms of ship owners and prospective employers was described as unprecedented.

overall best graduating Cadet, 2025, Chisom Anita receiving one of numerous prizes at the POP

Evidently, Dr Okonna knew what he was talking about when he said:

“The graduating class embodies the Academy’s standards of discipline, technical competence and professionalism. All the graduating Cadets have successfully met the Academy’s academic and practical requirements which  qualifies them to progress in their careers to seafarers certification and employment as well as becoming maritime professionals in the global maritime industry. I proudly recommend them to you stakeholders for employment”

The ovation that followed, the announcement of prizes and awards, the offer of Sea Time to over a hundred Cadets in the gleaming Auditorium by stakeholders, parents, friends and well-wishers was deafening!

The Nautical College UK has instituted a Pound sterling Prize at the Academy, the Secretary General of the IMO, Mr. Ansenio Dominquez has interacted with Cadets of the Academy and made promises of support and further engagement with the school even as the Rector announced discussions with others companies and foreign partners in advancing the objectives of the Academy.

It will be a shame to Nigeria to derail from this path of progress under any guise as the global shipping community, more than ever before, takes greater interest and commits to partnering and supporting the Academy.

No to university

Maritime professionals have continuously said a loud no to attempts to convert the Academy to a Maritime University.

They insist that the Academy has attained global recognition as a specialized Maritime Training Institution, MTI, which Nigeria has invested a lot into.

“MTI’s exist all over the world as specialized Training Institutions recognized by the United Nations through the IMO which attract huge forex to their countries” Captain Tajudeen Alao told our correspondent in a chat on the sidelines of the 2025 POP.

In Nigeria, MAN is the leader of all Academies. It is where other schools come to train and learn;  the agitation by persons aptly described as ignorant detractors by the Chairman Governing Council  of the Academy,  Engr. Kehinde Akinola, is a distraction which negates national progress.

Maritime stakeholder urge the Oro nation citizens, blessed with brilliant, well exposed sons and daughters all over the world to channel their resources, energies, brains and wealth to attract more national assets to their communities and stop the fixation on the Academy.’

“They should secure and promote the Academy rather than calling for its degradation. How many universities do we have in Nigeria and which Maritime Academy compares or competes with the Academy at Oron”? a stakeholder who prefers to remain anonymous queried.

Dr. Okonna adds DMP honour to his titles

Dr. Kevin Okonna displays his Symbolic Plaque of Honour as a Dmp!

The Ag Rector, was decorated as a Distinguished Maritime Personality, DMP, by the editorial team of Maritime Nigeria in collaboration with its media partners and industry stakeholders on the sidelines of the 2025 POP.

Dr. Kevin Okonna was unanimously endorsed as a DMP on account of his many years of labour, service and contributions especially in the area of human capital development for Nigeria’s Maritime industry.

Unarguably, Dr. Okonna as a lecturer, trainer, advocate, stakeholder, consultant and consummate Maritime professional was honoured with the DMP Symbolic Plaque of Honour for his steadfastness, commitment and dedication to ensuring quality capacity building for the Industry.

The rush by Ship Owners to employ graduating Cadets of the Academy at the 2025 graduation ceremony of the Academy further attest to the Rector’s status, indisputably so, as a Distinguished Maritime Personality!