AMANO tasks Oyetola to increase academy’s budget

By Seun Ibiyemi

…Raises alarm over insufficient number of lecturers at MAN Oron

Worried by the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron’s inability to retain professionals as tutors, the Alumni of Maritime Academy of Nigeria (AMANO) has encouraged the federal government to provide special funding to bring the remuneration of lecturers closer to salaries earned in the private sector.

The association made this call at a press conference on the state of affairs on maritime capacity development in Nigeria, which held in Victoria Island, Lagos on Tuesday.

Speaking at the meeting, the President of AMANO, Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa encouraged the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy to consider special intervention funding that will enable the academy to adequately match professional mariners’ compensation to that of the private sector to attract qualified professionals into the system.

He argued that despite the remarkable transformation achieved at MAN Oron in terms of infrastructure and training equipment, the Academy is struggling to attract the needed professionals to meet its obligations.

The group posited that the condition of civil service vis-à-vis the budget available for contract employment is insufficient to attract experienced mariners who are required to provide tutorship to the cadets.

Meanwhile, AMANO also lamented the underrepresentation of maritime professionals in recent recruitments at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Maiguwa observed that since 2013 when the apex maritime regulatory agency employed professionals mostly as Assistant Directors, some of those veterans have retired or are currently at the verge of retiring.

“Since 2012/2013, NIMASA hasn’t made a deliberate effort to employ maritime professionals. Some of those employed at that time are leaving the system while others have retired, but there hasn’t been replacement via recent recruitments.

“If you look at the ISPS unit at NIMASA, who is better to regulate and enforce ship security other than experts who really understand a ship. In developing a ship security plan (SSP) NIMASA knows that it doesn’t have the competence, so they delegate this role to classification societies. It is the class society that approves and plans the SSP.

“NIMASA ought to have professionals that develop the SSP before taking it to the classification societies for approvals. When you check those developing the plans at the classification societies, you would observe that they are seafarers,” Maiguwa said.

The association equally harped on the need for the country to have records of its citizens who have acquired Class 1 licenses under the Nigeria or other foreign administration.

“Understanding our manpower capacity/GAP in specialised areas is critical to developing the Marine and Blue Economy. We call on the Ministry to work with NIMASA and ensure that a quality database backed by law is developed to serve as a source of policy guidance and public information tools that will aid the growth of the maritime industry,” Maiguwa said.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), AMANO, Capt. Jide Olugunwa; Secretary, AMANO, Capt. Garba Gajere; and the Financial Secretary, Inoma Frances; were part of the delegation for the press conference.