“2,950 Nigerian Seafarers Trained Abroad Remain Redundant” – NIMASA

A total of 2,950 foreign-trained Nigerian seafarers are yet to use their acquired knowledge to benefit the country because they lack sea-time experience to earn the requisite certification.

The director-general of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Security Agency, NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, stated this on Tuesday, April 26.

Peterside blamed this rather unfortunate situation on the continued refusal of key players in the maritime business – who are largely foreign owners and operators of sea vessels – to involve Nigerians in the real maritime operations.

He said this at the office of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibot Ibas, at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja, where he led the entire team of the NIMASA board of executives on a courtesy visit.

“We are very much bothered about the issue of personnel development”, the DG NIMASA said.

“I remember the last time NIMASA sent about 2,950 persons to be trained as seafarers in various training facilities around the globe, like the universities in the Philippines, in the UK, in Romania and Singapore and all of that.

“But the challenge is that after the training, they don’t have the opportunities of getting sea-time experience which is prerequisite for them to be certified”

Peterside said NIMASA intends to correct that anomalies by “getting our people into playing important role in international trade”