The Honourable Minister of Transportation is set to engage the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on a possible review of the accreditation processes for accreditation and registration of maritime academies and institutions.
Recall that while taking journalists round the simulators, the Indian Captain heading the Simulator Unit of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Captain Ram Doss, had told listeners that in the United States of America and India, acquisition of a training simulator is always critical to the accreditation of any maritime academy or institution in these countries.
Addressing newsmen during the commissioning of the three training simulators at MAN, the Honourable Minister explained that he would be asking the Director-General of NIMASA to furnish him with all relevant documents as regards the criteria for accrediting maritime academies and institutions in Nigeria.
According to Amaechi, “It is very important that we set the standard in line with global best practices when we want to register maritime academies and institutions in Nigeria. I will be engaging the DG of NIMASA to furnish me with all relevant documents concerning the criteria for acreditation of maritime academies in Nigeria.
“We need to sit down and set a particular standard for accreditation of maritime academies. People shouldn’t just wake up and decide to set up a maritime academy without meeting up with global best practices. Maybe I will need to let the DG know that all approvals for the accreditation of maritime academies and institutions must now end at the table of the Minister.”
The Minister also gave a hint on the possible upgrade of the Academy to a degree awarding institution. In his words, “You know that the Academy is lucky because they are paid five per cent of whatever NIMASA generates, so funding has never been their problem but capacity to manage the institution and the funds.
“It’s good that the Rector listened to me because when I came here and he was doing well in infrastructure, I told him anyone can do infrastructure; that what most people cannot do is to focus on faculty. I am glad to come here and to see improvement in faculty. They have been able to purchase and put in place simulators and I have also asked him to please train his staff because it is shameful that this institution started at the same time with the one in Egypt and Philippines and yet, ours is still like a secondary school.
“With improvements in faculty, I have told the Rector that there should be a way we can upgrade this place to a university. If he continues to expand on infrastructure, not necessarily hostels and classrooms but laboratories and other instruments for maritime activities, application to the National University Commission (NUC) will not be difficult.”
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