With the dwindling crude oil prices, Nigeria is focusing attention in the maritime sector, which also has vast resources to keep the economy going. No doubt, Nigeria has a large coastline of maritime activities including oil and gas. But over the years, the sector has been underutilized in both human and material resources.
In the face of these challenges one institution has been consistently focus on the training and retraining of qualified manpower and personnel for the sector. The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, the nation’s only International Maritime Organization (IMO) recognized institution has been the life wire of producing the needed qualified seafarers for the sector.
At present, the school has been properly upgraded in accordance with the new IMO and World Maritime University curriculum to fully put the school on a sound academic standard to produce quality and qualified manpower for the world international trade.
According to the Rector of the Academy, Mr. Joshua Okpo, the school has been repositioned in accordance with the IMO standards for such a training institution, which made it among the best maritime academies in the world.
He said that the school is churning out qualified manpower that is among the best in the world today.
Okpo reiterated that with the dwindling oil prices, Nigeria could make huge fortunes in the maritime sector by exploring both the human and material resources especially exporting qualified manpower from the academy.
A visit to the school reveals a total upgrade and transformation cutting across infrastructures, personnel training and curriculum standardization.
Joshua Okpo, the current Rector of the academy is managing the limited resources available to the institution in the past three years to achieve these feats. The school, which has been underfunded for the past years, was however given a funding lift in 2007, when it secured a 5% capacity building funds from the revenue accruing to NIMASA in its 2007 Act. But succor did not come to the school, until four years ago, when NIMASA started releasing the funds though in bits to the school.
The Okpo administration has been able to stabilize the academy in all spheres, which today has made the institution a conducive place for learning and character molding.
As the new administration, assume office today, the sea beckons on the General Muhammedu Buhari administration to continue the trend of achieving results with institutions like the MAN, oron.
Joshua Okpo has, like a man on a mission to rescue, put the institution on the world maritime map, despite funding challenges and neglect over the years.
As the new administration take-offs, with its emphasis on using the wealth from the sea to achieve its unemployment and funding strategies, MAN oron, will be a critical institution to look-upon for personal growth, with the right leadership in place.
If the current Rector is given a second tenure, things may even get better as the train is already off the station. The academy is on course, the change is already there, let the good works continue.
