… as Shoppers Council ES canvasses a national vision for ship building 

      … ship owners call for regulatory environment to enhance indigenous shipping 

L-R: Member House of Representatives, Khadija Abba Ibrahim; Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobeeola; Director, Maritime Safety and Security, Federal Ministry of Blue Economy, Bombatata Babatunde and Chairman Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Sen. Wasiu Sanni Eshilokun during  the 2024 Day of the Seafarer Celebration in Lagos

The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA),  Dr. Dayo Mobereola, has announced that in addition to efforts already made to provide jobs for seafarers, more avenues are being explored by the Agency to create more.

He harped on the need to address and prioritise seafarers welfare.

Speaking on Tuesday at the celebration of the 2024 Seafarers Day at Eko Hotel, Lagos, with the theme ‘Navigating The Future: Safety First,’ Mobereola noted that seafarers are the backbone of global trade, braving challenging conditions to ensure over 80 per cent of the world’s trade reaches its destination.

Noting that their dedication strengthens not only the international economy, but more importantly, the well-being of their home nation, Nigeria, he however, recognised the humongous challenges seafarers face, including war zones, pirates, and exposure to health risks.

The NIMASA boss acknowledged that some basic rights, such as proper insurance and compensation, are not always guaranteed, therefore he called on all stakeholders and the government to address these issues and prioritise seafarer welfare.

His words: “We recognize the humongous challenges seafarers face, including war zones, pirates, and exposure to health risks. We also acknowledge that some basic rights, such as proper insurance and compensation, are not always guaranteed. This is a call to action for all stakeholders, government, ship-owners, and ourselves at NIMASA – to address these issues and prioritise seafarer welfare.”

He announced that the Agency’s human capacity building initiatives have resulted in the training and retraining of Nigerian Seafarers to acquire the required skills in line with industry needs, stressing that the training programmes/courses have been prioritised to enable the seafarers acquire the relevant advanced certificates that will enhance their employment opportunities.

In the area of employment of seafarers, Mobereola said that NIMASA through the introduction of the New Cabotage Compliance Strategy on Manning has ensured that all foreign Seafarer Ratings and some category of officers onboard Cabotage Vessels are immediately replaced with qualified Nigerian Seafarers.

According to him, the third phase of the Nigerian Seafarers’ Development programme aims to graduate 435 officers while many trainees are currently undergoing mandatory sea-time training on-board ocean going vessels.

The challenge, however, he said lies in securing placements for these qualified seafarers, “but we are working to resolve this issue.”

“The Agency is exploring avenues to create jobs for our seafarers, including collaborating with government agencies like the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

“Soon, certain positions such as Ratings and Officer of the Watch will be designated as “no longer available” for foreign Seafarers to occupy. However, some other positions may be considered based on merit for foreigners to occupy,” he stated.

Also harping on training for seafarers, President of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Mr. Sonney Eja, in his goodwill message noted that technology and innovations drive the shipping industry to new heights where AI and robotics have a role; modern ships are equally being developed in line with emission regulations as well as new fuel technologies.

These changes he further noted highlight the need for more education and training requirements for seafarers, pointing out that researchers already posit that there is a significant skill gap with regard to handling emerging fuels such as ammonia, methanol and hydrogen.

Adding that LNG and batteries are also new technologies of interest, Eja said that in these rapidly-changing times, upskilling and reskilling programmes will be required to ensure safe and sustainable vessel operations.

“While some seafarers tend to view digitalisation as a great challenge, others tip decarbonisation to have a greater impact on skill profiles and training programmes,” quoting Larry Pardey as saying “there is no better tool or equipment you can have on board than a well-trained crew,” he said.

The SOAN President also harped on the need to close gender gap with only 29 per cent of the entire maritime workforce globally as women where the ratio is less than 2 per cent for women in a profession that has over 1.8million practitioners.  

Corroborating the Director General of NIMASA he stressed that the ordeals of seafaring ranging from storms to turbulence, violence, fire outbreaks, among others underscore the need to increase awareness of psychological safety to curb the adverse effects of onboard traumatic experiences.

Eja stated the need for incentives that could yield significant increase in Nigerian vessels invariably leading to more opportunities for seafaring.

He said: “For Nigeria, one way to unlock the opportunities for seafaring is to provide an enabling fiscal and regulatory environment for indigenous shipping capacity to be enhanced.

“The disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF), lower or zero Customs duty rates for ships and spare parts and tax holidays for operators are some approaches that could spark a significant increase in Nigerian vessels, thereby leading to more seafaring opportunities.”

On his own part , the Executive Secretary (ES) of the Nigeria Shippers Council, Barr. Pius Ukeyima, said the theme of this year’s celebration, which is “Navigating the Future: Safety First” is well timed, as it focuses on giving priority to safety issues concerning the seafarers at sea.

“It is a clarion call by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for international protocols, codes, conventions and treaties to be given expedited implementation with a view to addressing the copious challenges of seafarers, and the seafaring profession in general.

The issue of safety has become critical to the future of global maritime, ditto the seafarers who make up the workforce at sea,” he said.

“Nigeria as a leading littoral state in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), should be at the forefront of promoting adherence to International Maritime Regulations such as Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), IMO Treaties on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) and International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) which seeks to prevent maritime pollution,” he urged.

In a bid to navigate the future in line with the theme, the ES commended the Federal Government of Nigeria on its determination to ensure international best practices in maritime. 

However, he pointed out that challenges bothering on competency issues, owing to inadequate sea time experience for Nigerian seafarers, have continued to hinder the seafaring profession in Nigeria.

He said: “Consequently, if there are no ships for Nigerian seafarers to gains sea-time experience, it will be difficult to truly harness the full potentials of the Nigerian seafarers; invariably, there will be noj obs for seafarers without ships. 

“Capacity building for seafarers is being frontally managed by NIMASA and MAN, Oron, ditto the efforts of other maritime/shipping institutes located across the country. 

“However, the copious unemployment of our trained youths in maritime is the humongous challenge calling for urgent intervention by all, as these trained but unemployed youths may become tools in the hands of sea pirates and other criminals in maritime, jeopardising the nation’s efforts on safety and security in maritime.”

Noting that the blue economy, under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy (FMBE) is endowed with so much opportunities due to the expanse of waters available to the country, Ukeyima called for a collective birth of a national vision that would end in employment generation.

“Therefore, we at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council strongly call on all well-meaning industry players to work together to collectively birth a national vision, that will drive ship building and ship ownership by Nigerians which will culminate in employment and sea-time experience for trained seafarers in Nigeria,” he appealed.                                        

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