Nigeria to Train 289 Seamen in UK, Egypt

• Nigeria to Train 289 Seamen in UK, Egypt

A total of 289 Nigerian cadets and graduates of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme are due to resume sea time training aboard ocean- going vessels in the United Kingdom and Egypt.

The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said this on the sidelines of the G-7++ Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea meeting, which took place in Lagos on Monday.

According to him, NIMASA has sent over 2,500 persons to different institutions of learning to be trained as seafarers and engineers, adding that 1,400 people had graduated and were already plying their trade on international ocean- going vessels.

He revealed that 200 of the 289 cadets would be going for training in Egypt while 89 would be trained in the UK at the end of the year or at the beginning of January.

He said, “Sea time is a global challenge but we have arranged to send 200 of our cadets to Egypt for sea time training on ocean-going vessels and 89 to the United Kingdom before the end of this year, or at most the first month of next year.”

The NIMASA DG pointed out that the training under the NSDP was not the same as the training being done at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, which meant to produce middle level manpower for indigenous vessels.

“The NSDP programme is targeted at getting our people on board ocean going vessels. The capacity of the vessel that you do your sea time training will determine the kind of vessel that you will be employed in. If you do it on small local vessels, nobody will employ you in Maersk Line, for instance,” he said.