The Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Commodore Duja Efedua, (rtd) has said that the ongoing efforts at repositioning the foremost maritime institution in Nigeria will position the academy as one of the best maritime academies in Africa in six months’ time.
Efedua who stated this in a goodwill message at an event to mark this year’s World Maritime Day in Lagos recently said that the management of the institution had restructured, implemented and set out milestones out of which sixty percent had been achieved.
He pointed out that the institution, presently, was sourcing for qualified lecturers both from home and abroad adding that they were remodeling the classrooms, the hostels, the library as well as building a new simulation centre which the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) had pledged to equip for them.
According to him,” As at last night, I got a message from NIMASA asking us to set up a few man committee to discuss about it. I believe in the next six months, we shall be one of the best maritime academies in Africa”.
He opined that the academy had gone through a lot of dark moments adding that it was bright some time ago, then, it became dark, prompting the government to do something, leading to the restructuring of the institution.
“People may be wondering what we have been doing there for the past couple of months. We have been working quietly because there was no point flaunting and making noise when we haven’t achieved what we meant to achieve. The goals we have set, even for the press, they have been calling me, can we talk? I said there is nothing to talk about for now but give us twelve months, then we can talk. We are almost there, in the next three weeks, we will be having our graduation but I think I need to tell the maritime stakeholders what we are doing right now.
“We are engaging stakeholders because without them, we can’t do anything. But when you go to stakeholders, they want to know what we are bringing on the table, you don’t just come begging saying come and help us do this thing, they will ask you what you have done. So, while we are talking, we will be able to tell them this is where we have reached, this is what we have done, this is our efforts, so, please what can you bring on board.
“For the stakeholders, we are not going to be begging you to take our cadets on board as soon as they graduate, no, we are going to make our cadets very attractive for you to even come at their graduation and say please we need four, we need five and how do we do it? We are going to involve you in their trainings directly or indirectly, we are going to invite you as guest lecturers to come and present papers and I also wish to beg the maritime administration headed by Dr. Peterside Dakuku at NIMASA to host the next World Maritime Day at the Academy. We are presently remodeling our auditorium which is better than this place, I can boast.
“And for those that will come for our graduation, in the next three weeks, by the time we take you on a facility tour, you will be amazed at what has happened in the last six months. The first person to get the shock was DG NIMASA when he came about three weeks back, he was shocked and for those who have not been there for long, I beg you to please honour our invitation, come and witness our graduation and then witness what we have done so far”, he pleaded.
The Rector continued, “We used to take between 1,500 and 2,000 cadets per stream, that will not happen anymore, we have taken only 88 cadets for ND and for the HND, may be about 150, we want to manage what we can handle and also make sure that they don’t go out flooding the labour market at the end of the day.
“Teaching aids are already on their way, the DG NIMASA has promised to help us pay the salaries of the lecturers we can source for both from abroad and from within. We shall be engaging the Association of Master Mariners, though we have spoken to them in the past informally but after our graduation, we will take the discussion to the next level, their Engineering counterparts too”.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @ptreporters and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
