The collapse of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) has once again raised fears of a looming shortage in the training of indigenous seafarers across the country, LEADERSHIP can report.
With the wide capacity gap, procuring crew to man vessels from the planned Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) disbursement would be a mirage.
It was gathered that indigenous shipowners currently rely solely on foreign seafarers, as Nigerian-trained seafarers cannot receive mandatory seatime training due to the absence of a functional Shipping Line.
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However, Maritime experts argued that between 1995 and now, a wide gap has existed, as there has been no platform to train Nigerian Cadets on seagoing or coastal vessels.
They estimated that Nigeria has fewer than 8,000 active seafarers, far behind countries like Indonesia (140,000), Russia (110,000), and even smaller maritime nations such as Myanmar (60,000) and Vietnam (55,000).
They, however, called for the intervention of the federal government and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to bridge the widening gaps.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP at the 3rd quarter Citizens and Stakeholders Engagement titled, “Implementation of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy for Onboard Training of Nigerian Merchant Navy Cadets and the Critical Needs of Maritine Academy of Nigeria (MAN), organised by the management of MAN, Oron, the Chairman of Starzs Investments Company Limited (SICL), Engr. Greg Ogbeifun said that the gap would have been widened, except for the innovation of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), which is training cadets as seafarers for their own use.
According to him, Nigeria, with over 250 million population without a pool of trained young seafarers, is an issue that needs to be addressed by relevant government agencies.
According to him, Nigerian Shipowners rely mainly on foreign Seafarers, and indigenous shipowners must now rely on foreign seafarers to buy a ship.
“Since the demise of NNSL, our country has not found it fit to reestablish another global shipping line. Let me just let you know the effect of this: Between 1995 and now, there has been a gap where no Nigerian Cadets are trained anymore as seafarers in this country.
“Thanks to the initiative of NLNG, who are training Cadets as seafarers for their own use, we appreciate what they are doing. But, in a country of 250 million people where the majority of our imports and exports are through the Sea and are mostly foreign vessels that cannot train Nigerian Cadets on their ships.
“It’s a very serious situation, because even if we buy a ship today, we will not find any Nigerian Cadet on that Ship, and we have to go back and look for foreign seafarers,” he stated.
He continued, “Every year, hundreds of Cadets are trained, but no Seatime, thereby limiting their progress in the maritime sector.”
Engr. Ogbeifun, who is the founding President of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), however, called on the government to find a lasting solution to the lack of Seatime training for the Cadets
“Seatime is the biggest challenge because every year, the academy produces well-trained, well-certified Cadets in their hundreds, and these Cadets go out there and have no ships to sail.
“I would like to use the opportunity to request members of the Council, the Minister, Shipowners, and others to begin to see how we can address this problem of Cadets. The NNSL was created in 1995, about 30 years ago. That platform produced the likes of me, Captain Omotosho, Capt. Iheanacho, Capt. Ishola, among others.”
“I’m using the opportunity to appeal to the government, private sector, and individual groups who are in a position to begin to look at acquiring ships that can trade globally so that these children can have places to go after their training. But I can commend the effort being made by the management of the Maritime Academy in partnership with NIMASA in training these Cadets and finding opportunities wherever they can find them,” Engr Ogbeifun stated.
Also speaking, the president of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES), Engr. Issac Obadan, the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, can help the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, solve the challenges of seatime for cadets of MAN, Oron.
Obadan said the Academy can acquire many ship vessels operating at Dangote refinery to absorb the cadets for seatime training.
According to him, Dangote vessels can absorb more than 50% of the cadets for training, thereby solving the nation’s cadetship training challenges.
“Nobody is talking about the importance of Dangote refinery. If you know the extent of shipping involvement in Dangote refinery in crude oil, hydrocarbon, and even refined products, if we can develop our shipping fleets around that refinery, we can get a lot of ships absorbing the cadets we are talking about.
“All we need as a people or as a government is to strengthen the training program and bring it down to the refinery so that we can put our students, our cadets, on the vessels operating into the refinery. Such a training on Dangote refinery vessels that carry this carbon in and out can function on these ships.
“Put the cadets there. You can get this done through the lifting contracts. If you cannot absorb our Cadets, the contract won’t be renewed; we have done it before, and we can still do it again. I tell you, Dangote Vessels alone can absorb more than 50 per cent of the cadets we are talking about. We are talking of crude oil carriers, massive vessels, and refineries.”
Engr. Obadan, however, called for political will on the federal government’s side to achieve the initiative, saying the government has done it before and can still do it again.
“The immediate past Rector, Comm. Emmanuel Effedua, had partnerships with other shipping companies to develop a partnership for training of Cadets; the NNPC of today also had a partnership training program with the International Oil Companies (IOCs).
“We need a political will of the ministry or the government to engage these corporate entities, whether local or international; it can still be done. Establishing a partnership, a training partnership with them,” he stated.
However, to solve the Seatime training challenge, the board chairman, MAN, Oron, Engr. Kehinde Akinola mulled plans to purchase training vessels for the academy’s cadets.
Engr Akinola said the training vessel would help solve the crisis of cadetship training that has bedevilled the institution.
According to him, the initiative was part of the five-year strategic plan of the academy that would further reposition the academy and make it one of the best worldwide.
Engr Akinola, who stated that MAN Oron has one of the best Simulators in the world, explained that getting a training vessel will further help achieve President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“We have plans to get a training vessel for the training of our cadets,” he stated.
The governing council chairman also noted that the Academy has provided funding for the Academy’s 2025 budget seatime training for the cadets.
He said, “In 2025 budgets, we have à provision for our cadets to be trained onboard vessels even if we must pay.”
On his part, the acting rector of the Academy, Dr Kevin Okonna, said the academy needed the help of STCW mandatory Seatime for Cadets.
“For the STCW mandatory sea time, we urgently require onboard training opportunities on the stakeholders’ vessels and vessels of their partners globally. We really need help. Part of the purpose of this engagement.”
