The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola has restated the Agency’s commitment to quality training for the cadets of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP. He assured that the 296 NSDP beneficiaries at Centurion University, India will be given adequate capacity development to acquire quality training and qualify as Seafarers employable globally.

Reacting to recent media reports claiming that the Agency is planning to withdraw the NSDP cadets from the Centurion University India, Dr Mobereola described such reports as false, adding that the Agency is only carrying out due diligence on the existing Memorandum of Understanding MoU to align the processes in the best interest of the Nigerian students.

“We are not recalling any NSDP beneficiary from Centurion University. We are only working to close out all identified gaps in the existing MoU before proceeding to the next stage. A situation where the Agency entered into a contractual agreement with Springdale Academy of Maritime Education and Training SAMET, with agreed courses and timelines only to be faced with additional course duration and an alien programme by the agent, SAMET, unilaterally converting the programme without the consent of the Agency as prescribed by the MoU may not be in the best interest of the students.  

“There were issues of non-accreditation of one of the institutions as at the time of the execution of the MoU, change of course from Marine Engineering to Mechanical Engineering without recourse to the Agency, preparing the grounds for additional years of study and uncertainties for the students, raising issues related to funding, and the various third parties’ arrangements without duly informing the Agency”, Mobereola said. 

The NIMASA DG also noted that the management of NIMASA is aware of a sponsored media campaign of calumny against it, stating that it will not deter NIMASA from doing the right thing.

“We are aware of orchestrated media campaigns and petitions against the Agency reviewing the existing arrangement.  We will not give in to blackmail as the safety and wellbeing of our students are paramount”, he further assured.

Recall that the NSDP was introduced in 2009 to develop capacity by training young Nigerians as seafarers and bridge the gap of dearth of seafarers globally. Nigerian youths are trained in specialised courses such as Marine Engineering, Nautical Sciences and Nautical Surveys amongst others, to ensure they qualify as Seafarers and are employable globally.