The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside on Wednesday, announced the decision of the Executive Management of the Agency to offer automatic employment to twenty (20) beneficiaries of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) Cadets that passed out with distinctions in their various fields of study.
The Director General who made this known during the flag-off ceremony of the first phase of NIMASA fully sponsored sea time training for cadets, expressed delight that hope beckons for the Nigeria maritime sector through this feat.
While acknowledging the fact that sea time berth is a global challenge, which the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also admits, he said the Agency is determined to ensure that all the cadets in the NSDP scheme get the mandatory sea time training in batches.
According to him, “So far the NSDP initiative has produced 243 graduates, 1,600 cadets at various stages of completion of the programme out of which 887 are ready for sea-time training”.
“In the first phase, 150 Cadets under the scheme are bound for Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Marine Transportation in Alexandria, Egypt to commence their mandatory sea-time training, 89 others are bound for the South Tyneside College, United Kingdom for their on-board sea-time training, making it a total of 239 in the first phase of the programme.
“As some of you may already know, berth spaces are not easy to come by, therefore one of the biggest challenges we had was sourcing for berth spaces for the cadets, coupled with the desire of this administration to follow due process in all our dealings. We are pleased that we did not fall into the temptation of taking short cuts at any time, we have therefore engaged various Maritime Training Institutions to provide this essential service”, the DG stated.
The event was graced by key Stakeholders in the maritime industry who gave various goodwill messages; Barrister Margaret Orakwusi, Barrister Mike Igbokwe, SAN, Mr. Aminu Umar and Engineer Emmanuel Ilori, who all expressed delight at the performance of the Cadets with awards of cash prices to the Cadets with distinctions.
They unanimously commended the Dr. Dakuku Peterside led Management of NIMASA and stating that the decision of the NSDP is a step in the right direction as it will further boost the professional expertise in the Nigeria maritime sector.
