… Set to finalize talks with MAN, Oron
Apparently to further build the capacity of the Port State Control officers, the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central Africa Region otherwise known as the Abuja MOU has signed MOU with the Regional Maritime University in Ghana to start training its officers in the region.
The Secretary General of Abuja MOU, Captain Sunday Umoren who disclosed this in a chat with our correspondent in his office in Lagos recently, revealed that there had not been any maritime training institution that has a training programme for the Port State Control officers in the region before now.
According to him, with the signing of the MOU, training of the Port State Control officers in the region was expected to take off at the University before the end of this year.
“In the time past, we have to go to Italy for such trainings. So, with this, within this year, the Regional Maritime University will start the training of the Port State Control officers in West and Central African countries”, he said.
He added that they had actually made progress with the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN Oron in this regard stating that they ought to have signed an agreement with the institution in December last year but for some certain unresolved issue.
He continued, “We worked very well with the last Rector, we had started the discussion with the last Rector and the current Rector, Dr. Okonna is bent on having to run with us. So, hopefully, we get this agreement signed in the first quarter of this year and also we are targeting starting the same training within the year.”
Speaking on having two institutions run this programme in one region, the Abuja MOU boss said, “This sky is wide enough for the stars to shine. There’s no training institution that is running it. So, having two or three maritime academies in West and Central region running this training programme is a plus for us. In fact, other regions may now consider sending their people down to us because I am sure at the end of the day, it might be cheaper than sending them to Italy.”
On the impact of these training agreements and MOUs in the maritime community in Nigeria, Captain Umoren reiterated that the move was to ensure safety of life at sea, protection of environment, protection of assets as well as the protection of other aspects of the blue economy.
His words, “So, if the highest safety standards is being maintained, we will have less accidents, less incidents onboard ships.In fact, we should aim at no fatality because every life matters. So, nobody should die onboard the vessel and nobody should be maimed onboard the vessel.
“But then again, we are often narrow minded zooming in on the vessel but don’t forget that the operating theatre of the vessel is the port. The vessel gets to the port, cargo operation is carried out and so, even the port workers are also exposed. There have been incidents onboard vessels that the people from the Ports Authority have also lost their lives. So, protection of life, we have less incidents this no fatality onboard the vessel, none at the port.
“On the environment, we were lucky, well, that’s also a product of hard work, there has been no pollution cases reported relating it to foreign vessel being involved in an accident in our region thus losing so much oil or effluent into the sea. Waste dumping is also covered in the Marine Environment Protection Convention. Our Port State Control officers, when they go onboard vessels, they also inspect that.
“Of course, if there’s any incline to the fact that a vessel is no complying, that vessel will be detained. And so, we have also tightened the noose with respect to pollution, waste dumping and so on. Granted, sometimes, we will have errant vessels but when they are caught, the long arm of the law, will work through and of course, they will be apprehended and penalties will be meted on them.
“So, you can actually see that for operational risk because there’s also the issue of proficiency of the crew, we also inspect that too. You can’t employ substandard crew onboard the vessel, so the crew onboard the vessel are all certified and if you have certified seafarers, the chances of making mistakes, just having issues with operational pollution will be reduced. So, yes! We have also, positively, achieved that too.
“We moved to the third level which is the protection of assets. A vessel could cost, depending on whether is is a second hand or new vessel between ten million up to two hundred and fifty something million dollars especially for LNG carriers. Often in tankers, when there’s an explosion, the owner gets knocked out, that’s somebody’s asset lost.
“So, if you have proficient seafarers, complying with all the Conventions, because there’s an eye, don’t forget, Port State Control is an enforcement arm. It’s not just enough having rules and laws and Conventions and protocols or treaties but somebody must ensure that these things are being enforced. So, when you have this enforcement, it means people are much more careful, so ships are protected. That’s why it’s called safety of lives at sea.
“So, lives, vessels are all protected. So, that asset is protected and what happens if asset is secured? Employment opportunities will remain, every vessel that is gone means certain number of people are out of employment.
“Protection of other aspects of the Blue Economy dependant on the safety of sea. If there’s pollution on the Nigerian waters, what happens to the fish? Will you fish? So, the artisans will be out of job, maritime tourism will come back to zero, the port could actually be shut. So, that knock on effect from one, two, three is also taken care of. That’s why in shipping, when you talk about the blue economy, maritime safety is core towards protecting the environment and the maritime clusters.”
Photo: Captain Sunday Umoren, Secretary General of the Abuja MOU.
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