The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Mallam Habib Abdullahi has said that the authority was prepared to collaborate with the Nigerian Society of Engineers and other Institutions in order to ensure that engineering curriculum of such institutions have relevant specialization and are industry based.
Mallam Abdullahi made this assertion in Lagos while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Lagos state branch which paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
Represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Engineer David Omonibeke, the Managing Director noted that the labour market was saturated with many unemployed engineering graduates due to lack of relevant industry skills required.
Engineer Omonibeke told the delegation that any young engineering graduate with the necessary skill did not need any godfather to secure employment, adding that the authority would soon establish a Maritime Safety Centre for the training of Pilots and other personnel in the fire service.
On request for assistance for the completion of the branch Secretariat and Library complex, earlier made by the leader of the delegation, Engineer Oludayo Oluyemi, Engineer Omonibeke said the Authority has a Corporate Social Responsibility policy for host communities and that in view of the pivotal roles engineers play in infrastructural development in the maritime sector, their request had been noted.
On the roles of the authority’s engineers, General Manager, Maintenance, Engineer Peter Obinomen disclosed that they have been involved in capital and maintenance dredging of the channels, quay wall and fenders construction, installation of navigational aids like buoys, moles and breakwater works, roads and rail networks within the port and other marine engineering that deals with water front infrastructure.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Engineer Oluyemi had commended the authority for its roles in the Nigerian economy and for providing their colleagues with gainful employment, saying that the authority was identified as one of the biggest employer of Engineers in the country.
He informed the representative of the Managing Director that the society would hold its Annual General Meeting in Akure in November this year and that apart from inviting the authority to grace the occasion, he solicited for the financial assistance for the completion of its secretariat and library project.
