MARITIME UNIVERSITY ORON RECEIVES A BOOST IN THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE

A Bill for an Act to Establish the Maritime University of Nigeria,Oron,to transfer the properties of Maritime Academy of Nigeria,Oron and for other connected matters related therewith has scaled through second reading on the floor of the house of representatives today following a convincing argument put forward by your representative.

Excerpts from my speech today:

SPEECH ON THE BILL TO ESTABLISH THE MARITIME UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

The shipping industry is vital to any nation, so much so Nigeria. It is the bedrock for our oil and gas industry, particularly off-shore. It is the vehicle of our petro-based exports and also the importation of raw materials and finished goods. This is why the ports are self styled gateways to the nation’s economy.

Nigeria has a vast potential of 853km of coastline and about 9,000k

m of inland waterways (of which almost a 3rd is navigable). Nigeria has 8 major sea ports namely Apapa, Tincan Island, Ro-Ro Container Terminal, Port- Hacourt, Onne, Calabar and Delta (Warri).
Participation of Nigerian nationals and companies in the shipping industry is in its infancy, exhibiting a potentially fledging ship building/ repair industry, a dying and almost non-existing seafarer corps.

A vibrant fully indigenous seafarer corp. must have been the mission and vision of the Nigerian Government as it set out in 1979, 35 years ago and about four decades now to establish what is now known as the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron.

Its act under s. 3(b) clearly states that the function of the Maritime Academy amongst other things is to train technical manpower for ports, marine engineering, workshops, piloting and navigation, marine insurance, hydrography and other related services.
35 years later this objective has not been achieved. The Nigerian Parliament concerned about the near absence of indigenous seafarers in the Maritime Sector in 2003 threw a legislation at this problem by enacting the Cabotage law which in Section 3 states that vessels within the coastal and territorial waters of Nigeria must be wholly manned by Nigerian Citizens.

However the reality remains unchanged as man power supply in our domestic and coastal territorial waters remains dominated by foreigners. This posses security and economic threat (through the loss of employment opportunities) to our dear country Nigeria.
The solution to this problem is not far-fetched, it lies in bridging the gap in the supply of seafarers to the nations dying seafarers corps.

For years now the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration Agency (NIMASA) has tried unsuccessfully spending over 5 billion Naira annually in a desperate attempt to close this gap. This move analyst have repeatedly described as a waste of tax payers money, capital flight and a drain on the country’s external reserves.

Local training and certification of seafarers remains that smartest, fastest, efficient and most economical avenue of training the various levels of personnel required for the running and operation of the nation’s maritime industry.

Maritime Academy Oron, is well positioned to meet this demands once converted to a university. Hence I present before parliament today a bill to establish the Maritime University of Nigeria.

Over 10,000 Nigerian cadets who have graduated from MAN Oron still cannot support the Nigerian Maritime Industry as IMO standards render them unemployable since the academy still lacks standard certification and accreditation which this bill seeks to provide for. However all hope is not lost as an upgrade of the academy to a university will grant them the opportunity to be retrained and properly certified.

This bill clearly seeks to encourage further development in a key sector of our country’s economy by recognizing the need to quickly address a human capacity deficit in Nigeria’s Maritime Industry that has resulted in a situation where foreigners dominate shipping operations.

I encourage my honorable colleagues to support this patrotic bill.