President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to critically reposition the nation’s maritime industry towards attracting foreign direct investments by prioritising issues around manpower building and shipping development, in his second term in office.
Charles Uwadia, former president of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES), said recently in an interview that there was need for the President to rebrand the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron in order to bring the Academy to international standard.
According to Uwadia, MAN Oron should be issuing Certificate of Competency (CoC) up to Class One Mariners and Engineers, an internationally recognised certification for seafarers, regulated by International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
“Presently, one of the major income earners for the Philippines is manpower (seafaring) in the maritime sector. This is why most of the vessels abroad, especially the foreign registered vessels, go to Philippine to look for manpower. The Philippine invests so much in their training programmes. Nigeria is currently investing so much in seafarers training outside the country, but government needs to improve our own academy,” he said.
To develop shipping by increasing the number of Nigerian owned ships involved in Cabotage trade, he called on the President to assist ship owners in the area of capacity building to enable them compete with their foreign counterparts.
“We want the President to look at how to put more focus on the industry in order to make the industry investment friendly. We have to get it right in this industry and we wish that this second term, president will look holistically into the maritime sector, implement most of the recommendations which several committees have made and sent to the Federal Government in the past,” he said.
Tajudeen Alao, president of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), said, “The President needs to professionalise the sector by ensuring that only career minded people are appointed to man the maritime institutions, parastatals and agencies so that experiences garnered for years could come in handy in running the agencies.
“We must exploit the huge potentials the maritime sector has to offer. We must get something out of it. In the present economy of Nigeria, the maritime sector must play a pivotal role.”
Stating that the era of paying lip service to the sector must be jettisoned, Alao noted that the President must appoint a senior special assistant on maritime as a matter of urgency, adding that the potentials in the maritime sector must no longer be allowed to waste.
“Nigeria used to have about 300 boats but they are nowhere today. In shipping, we have maritime hub where ships can come in, take bunker and water, do repairs and other things. But now, nobody is taking that serious. We challenge Mr. President on this. Maritime agencies and their headship need to engage various stakeholders in a segmented form to chart the way forward,” Alao said.
