By Steve Agbota
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has sent forth 235 Nigerians to India and Greece as batch B of the 435 young Nigerians to be trained as Licenced Deck and Engine Officers including Naval Architects under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, (NSDP).
The Minister of Transportation Muazu Jaji Sambo, who was the special guest of honor this during the sent-forth ceremony christened NSDP phase 3, TERRA II over the weekend in Lagos, noted that the Federal Government’s decision to continue with the project is based on the role its playing in developing capacity for the Nigerian maritime industry.
His words: “The success of this laudable policy cannot be overemphasised, therefore the Federal Ministry of Transportation will continue to encourage and partner with NIMASA on NSDP and other policies on the development of a sustainable maritime based economy (Blue Economy).
“Hence, the Ministry explicitly gave its nod on the expansion of the Programme by another set of 435 new students to be recruited into the NSDP. The flag off of the 3rd phase of NSDP Christened NSDP-TERRA’ marks another milestone in the development of manpower in line with the Federal Government’s policy on youth empowerment.”
On his part, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, said that the Agency is working with countries who are committed to an understanding for mutual recognition of Certificate of Competency, CoC, in selecting the Institutes to train the beneficiaries.
While acknowledging some teething challenges experienced by the NSDP scholarship scheme in the earlier Phases, the NIMASA DG noted that all grey areas have been addressed to ensure a better deal for both beneficiaries and the Nigerian Government.
“We have taken measures to ensure that all encumbrances experienced in previous phases of the programme are avoided in this new phase. These include improved recruitment process spread across the six (6) geo-political zones, introduction of a code of conduct for the beneficiaries and most importantly, engaging Maritime Training Institutions (MTIs) that offer shore-based training, shipboard training and the Certificate of Competency licencing to eliminate the long delay in securing sea time training berths experienced with previous set of students,” he said.
According to him, NIMASA comparatively got the most reasonable cost for the training and in countries with mutual recognition of CoC with Nigeria.