Indian engineers arrive Nigeria for MAN simulators

Indian engineers will storm Oron, Akwa Ibom State on Thursday to take measurement of where the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) simulators will be installed. This is even as the Academy revealed plans to review allowances meant for lecturers.

Speaking recently in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Duja Effedua (rtd) stated that, “The Indian who are partnering with us to ensure we have the necessary equipments, will arrive Abuja; and by Thursday, they should be in Oron to visit the simulation centre to take note of the necessary measurement. Hopefully, by November 2019, the multifunctional classrooms should be in place.

Osun guber: Oyetola, Adeleke know fate Thursday

“As soon as we complete talks with the Indians and payments are made or Letters of Credits opened, our own staff will go and train where these equipments are produced. We need to have those who will operate this equipment, and those who will maintain them, so that we will not rely on foreigners to man our equipments for us after they have been installed. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past, where equipment were brought in and just dumped here.

“Concerning our lecturers, I am comfortable with the few we have, but not comfortable with their numbers. The numbers of lecturers we have are highly inadequate. So we have made efforts, both home and abroad. Already, some are coming from Egypt. We will be conducting the interview in Egypt since that will be cheaper for us to handle.

“Already, 15 lecturers have been employed so far, mostly for Navigation and Radar Plotting. We have also employed some Marine Engineers, and we will still employ more lecturers.

“As regards the allowances of our lecturers, the Minister has urged us to provide something that will encourage people to want to come here and work with us, while also residing here. It is achievable, and we will surely look into this.

“In the area of sea time for our cadets, we are already in talks with relevant shipowners, and we will be concluding talks with them in two weeks time. We have the money to pay for our cadets to ensure they have sea time onboard vessels.

“We are also approaching the Navy to ask them to place two cadets onboard their vessels. The Navy has over 50 operational ships, meaning 15 ships can take about 30 of our cadets for seatime, which represents one stream of our cadets.”