• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Experts call for improved sea-time training for Nigerian cadets

International Maritime Organisation

Nigerian cadets need an improved ways of getting sea-time training in line with the global training standards instituted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), shipping experts have said.

Speaking at the fourth edition of  “A Day With Nigeria Maritime Students”  on the occasion of the 2019 Children’ Day celebration in Lagos, Ade Olopoeniyan, a former president of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), called on the relevant government agencies, ship owners, and the maritime colleges to begin to work out better ways of getting sea-time for cadets.

This, he said, would enable them have needed practical training on board ships on voyage and not on anchored vessels.

“I know that a lot of cadets here will not be able to get the mandatory 12 months on a ship if the ship is not trading because cadets cannot get enough practical training onboard such a vessel. Sea-time enables cadets to get Certificate of Competency (CoC), and qualifies them to become seafarers that can be on coastal vessels and even on foreign-going vessels,” he said.

Olopoeniyan said that seamen career is both very challenging and very rewarding, considering the diverse experiences at sea, but advised on the need for dedication and commitment on the part of the cadets.

Earlier, MkGeorge Onyung, chairman of the conference and president of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), advised the students to take their studies very seriously and forget about the challenges that they may encounter in the course of their studies.

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE