At a one-day program in Lagos organized by Platform Communications with the theme, “The Youths and the Future of Nigeria’s Maritime Industry,” the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) disclosed it has commenced sea training for cadets trained at various maritime institutions across the world under the Nigeria Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
NIMASA Director of Labour, Mrs Juliana Gunwa said that the agency have approved three firms to carry out the training and that more vendors will soon be approved so as to create a wider opportunity for cadets in the country. She also said that the approval of more vendors will enable cadets carry out their compulsory sea training, a requirement for qualificaton as a seafarer.
Clarifying further, she explained that sea training programme would have commenced much earlier but for the change in government brought some slight delay. She said that the Director General of NIMASA has contacted all the vendors that have indicated interest to provide sea time training for cadets. She also said that senior cadet students are at sea services at the time of filing this report.
“As I speak, we have three vendors that are providing sea time training for our earlier batches; senior students are at sea services as I speak. There are also two vendors that have gone very far in the process of meeting the requirement for providing sea time training for other cadets. More vendors are also being invited to submit their papers and make the necessary presentation.
NIMASA is the agency that regulates the theoretical training and the very vital aspect which is sea time training, there is no way we will not fulfill that obligation,” she said.
