…As Uwadia seeks appointment of professionals to head industry
The Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Maritime Affairs in his second term in office to help advance the course of the industry in the second leg of the administration.
The President of NAMM, Capt. Tajudeen Alao who made this proposition in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos yesterday recalled that the office was never in existence in the political history of Nigeria but had to be created by former President Goodluck Jonathan to underscore the importance that he attached to the industry.
He added that on assumption of office in 2015, President Buhari did not deem it necessary to sustain the office and never bothered to make any further appointment in that regard hence their demand for it to be made in the second tenure of the present administration.
In his words,” Master Mariners, we are demanding that Mr. President should appoint Senior Special Assistant on Maritime Affairs. It was not there before but it was created under Goodluck Jonathan but we are now demanding that there should be Senior Special Assistant on Maritime”
On those eligible to be so appointed into the office, the NAMM boss said, “Not a clearing agent for goodness sake but he should be a technocrat. There are shipping people, you know shipping is international, I am not talking of oil and gas, international shipping, someone who knows everything about maritime matters, not only theoretical but practical player.
“For instance, when they formed the Indigenous Ship owners for national fleet, they needed people like Captain Biu who has been a Managing Director of a shipping company before – Niger Brass, who has been chartering ships in international trade, people like that, people who have been involved in such activity, people like Mr. Chidi, People who have been involved in chartering ships, running international fleet. You need the knowledge of these people.
“If you must make an appointment in the maritime industry, it must be for career people, you must look at the pedigree otherwise we shall be rotating round and not moving forward”.
On his part, former President of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES), Engr. Charles Uwadia while congratulating President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the just concluded general elections called on him to ensure that he run an all-inclusive government as well as put a round peg in a round hole as far as the nation’s maritime industry is concerned.
He urged the President to take a critical look on to rejig the maritime industry in Nigeria so as to attractive foreign investments into the industry.
“And we will like the President to look at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron again and to look at how they can bring MAN Oron to international standard so that Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron should be issuing Certificate of competency up to Class One Mariners and Engineers and then we have the potentials. If you look at the Philippines now, one of the major income earners for the Philippines is manpower in the maritime sector-Seafaring. If you look at most of the vessels abroad, the foreign registered vessels, the first place they go to, to look for manpower is the Philippine because they have invested so much in their training programme.
“I know that there were some persons that were sent to the Philippines for training, I have two incidences of two people who graduated from there but cannot even be issued with the certificate because they don’t have the sea time. So, if they can do a lot to improve the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron to bring it up to international standard, we don’t have to go abroad but we can get our training here, improve our training skills so that at least we can reap the benefit of the training of these our seafarers.
“I will also like the President to look at how they can assist ship owners in the area of increasing our capacity. There are so many things that we will want the President to do but for now we will like him to look at how to put more focus on the industry to make the industry investment friendly. We will have to get it right in this industry and the President has all it takes to get it right and we wish that this second term, he will look holistically into the maritime sector, implement most of the recommendations which most of the committees have sent to them’, he stated.
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