MAN rector writes NIMASA over saboteurs demarketing academy

The rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Commodore Duja Effedua (retd) has revealed that the academy has written to the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), on activities of staff within the agency who have been hired by private maritime institutions to demarket the academy. This is even as he stated that modalities are in place towards the acquisition of a helicopter underwater escape training equipment for the training of offshore personnel from the maritime and oil and gas industry in the academy, noting that the equipment will boost the academy’s chances of getting the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organization (OPITO) certification, an international certification for offshore training institutions.

According to Duja Effedua, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on arrival from Scotland, “I am just arriving from Scotland on our quest to acquire the OPITO certification which will allow the academy to train offshore personnel who work in the maritime and oil and gas industry.

“Towards this effort, we are also acquiring a helicopter underwater equipment that will be used for the training of offshore personnel. This should be accomplished towards the end of 2020.

“On the acquisition of the academy simulator which is already a done deal, we have sent 15 staff of the academy to India for training on how to operate the simulator. Another set of 15 workers will soon be joining them as soon as the Minister of Transportation gives the go-ahead.

“These workers will be the set of workers that will operate the simulator machine when it is installed in the academy. So, it is important that they undergo such training in the country where the simulator is manufactured.

“We shall be receiving the three simulators from mid February to April this year. The first that shall arrive is the Full Mission Bridge Simulator, which 15 lecturers of the academy are learning to operate now in India. We made sure we added the component on training of our staff who will man the simulators in the contract. That’s where we are now.

“We shall also receive the Full Mission Engine Rooms Simulator and the Multifunctional Classroom which can accommodate 30 cadets at a time before the end of April.

“With that, we shall be the first in the sub-continent to own such equipment and this has a multiplier effect in the industry. The equipment is the latest. It is modern, not generic, built for purpose.”

On the report that some workers of NIMASA are demarketing the academy, Effedua stated that the DG of NIMASA has been fully briefed on what is happening in that regard.

“Remember that the DG, when he held a press briefing recently, said I was misquoted concerning reports of somebody in NIMASA sabotaging the academy. Well, the DG by then had not been fully informed of what was really happening. The NIMASA management was not in the know of what really happened. So, it was just fair for the DG to have thought that I was misquoted in that report.

“But now, the DG and the Executive Director of Operators of NIMASA have been fully briefed of happenings concerning somebody in the agency sabotaging the academy, and they are now investigating the matter.

“I have told the DG everything he needs to know concerning that NIMASA staff working against the interest of the academy, and the issue is being handled at the appropriate quarters,” the MAN rector told the Nigerian Tribune.