The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has assured Seafarers that the Agency will implement all International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Labor Organization conventions regarding the welfare of the seafarers.
Speaking during an event to mark this year’s Day of Seafarers with the theme; ‘Seafarers Matter’, at Onne, Rivers state, he said that the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) composed of tripartite stakeholders, have met to plan a decent wage and improved working and living conditions for the seafarers in line with the provisions of the convention.
In a statement by Isichei Osamgbi, Head of Corporate Communications, Dakuku was quoted as saying, “It is therefore expected that once the collective bargaining agreement is signed, ship-owners will commence its full implementation”.
The DG stated that the Agency would task ship-owners and seafarer employers on the need to provide gainful employment to qualified Nigerian seafarers in preference to foreign seafarers mainly in Cabotage trade, whose Act he promised the Agency would carry out.
He said, “Cabotage Act is undergoing review and it is the Agency’s position that the review will take care of all the grey areas in the application, processing and granting of waiver to the extent it should be seen to give some level of advantage to Nigerian seafarers especially in the areas of employment and specialized training.”
While assuring the Seafarers of the Agency’s continuous support, the DG stated that NIMASA will continue to give priority to capacity building initiatives in order to actualize its vision of making NIMASA a world class organisation in line with global best practices.
The Agency’s NSDP plan, which was conceived in 2008 to address the lack of seafarers in the country has so far led to the training of 2,259 young Nigerians in various fields of maritime studies in respected Maritime Institutions in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Romania, India and the Philippines.
Among them, a total number of 943 cadets of the NSDP will soon be placed on board ocean going vessels for their mandatory sea time, as facilitated by NIMASA with institutions in Egypt, United Kingdom and Turkey.
In March this year, the Agency also sped up the training of 428 Seafarers on compulsory courses and other specific areas of specialization for career progression.
These include STCW, Oil Tanker familiarization (OTF), Efficient Deck Hand (EDH), ISPS awareness training and specialized training on Dynamic Positioning (DP).
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Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside and some Management Staff of NIMASA in a photograph with seafarers at the celebration of the Day of Seafarers in Onne, Rivers State recently.
