Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi (6th left) flanked by Chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency NIMASA, Azita O. Azita (2nd left) and the Director General of the agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh (8th left) and some of the NSDP seafarers during the official flag-off of the third phase of the programme in Lagos, Friday.

The Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has warned the 200 Cadets being sent abroad to study maritime and shipping related courses under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme NSDP of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA that they must shun all acts that could embarrass the country and the government.

Meanwhile, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh has assured that the agency is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that Nigeria emerges the manning capital for Africa just like the Republic of Philippines, which is known as the world’s manning capital by contributing over 25 per cent of the entire global seafarer supply.

The NSDP is an interventionist programme of NIMASA introduced about 11 years ago under which it projects to contribute significantly to the depleting stock of global maritime manpower, especially seafarers and also build human capacity for the indigenous maritime industry. Currently, more than 2, 800 maritime professionals have been trained in the fields of Marine Engineering, Nautical Sciences and Transport Technology, etc in accredited institutions across the United States, United Kingdom, the Philippines, Egypt, Malaysia and Singapore.  

Speaking in Lagos, Friday at the official flag-off ceremony of the third phase of the NSDP scheme under which 200 Nigerian Cadets are being sent to Greece and India to study, the Minister recounted what he described as a terrible national embarrassment when four out of 150 Nigerians sent to study in China were caught with narcotics and had been sent back to the country, warning that the country cannot tolerate such an embarrassment a second time.

While urging the 200 Cadets to be good ambassadors not only of NIMASA but of the entire country, he said they owe it a duty to justify the huge investment being made on them by the government as well as the confidence reposed on them by the agency in selecting them out of over 50million youths of the country.

The Minister, who also observed that some Cadets, who have completed their course work under the programme have not been sent to do their mandatory one-year sea time experience on board ocean going ships, which would lead to the award of Certificate of Competence CoC, a development that has hindered them from securing jobs on board vessels, also charged the Cadets to hold on to NIMASA so that their case would not be like that.

He also made a strong case whereby some of the Cadets would be sent to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria MAN, located in Oron, Akwa Ibom State and some other indigenous maritime training institutions while some are sent abroad for the purposes of comparison, said the practice would also enhance the development of capacity on the part of such indigenous institutions.

The Minister said: “Don’t embarrass Nigeria. Some people say there are 50 million youths in the country but I think we have more than 50 million youths, so if you are selected out of over 50 million youths, then you have every cause to be grateful to the country and in turn be her ambassador.

“You are not the only Nigerians, if you embarrass the country, my children will not forgive you because many other Nigerian youths desire to have this opportunity also so you must not bungle it so that other people would also have same opportunity that you are being given today.

“I will tell you a sad story. Recently 150 Nigerians were sent to China to study, four of them are back in the country today because they were caught with hard drugs. Nigeria would not want to face this national embarrassment a second time, so you must be good ambassadors. For those of you that would want to remain abroad, you can do that but let others come home and work here because gradually Nigeria is changing, though it might be difficult sometimes, but the country is changing slowly, so you have to come and contribute your own quota.”

The NIMASA DG, who described the NSDP as a child of necessity, said it was launched as a strategic national policy on capacity building specifically domiciled at the maritime industry under the agency, saying that the mission was clear; to invest heavily in human capacity development by training Nigerian youths between the ages of 17-25 years to acquire practical and theoretical knowledge at renowned institutions across the globe.

This, according to him, would enable the country deepen the pool of indigenous seafarers for the local maritime industry and also help her contribute significantly to the pool of global seafarers through which she could earn huge foreign exchange like the Philippines from financial repatriations from seafarers working on board foreign vessels.

In addition to earning foreign exchange, the DG also listed some of the benefits of the programme to include helping the country curb youth restiveness by providing gainful employment opportunities as well as providing the necessary manpower for the rich coastal shipping trade under the Cabotage regime, among several other benefits.