The Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), an initiative of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has graduated 130 cadets from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria, Egypt.
This brings the total of Seafarers in the sector to 1,045 graduates from the NSDP project, representing 42 percent graduates of the over 2,500 NIMASA sponsored beneficiaries.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony in Egypt, The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside said that NIMASA sponsored over 2,500 aspiring cadets to the best maritime institutions around the world including Egypt, Romania, The Philipines, United Kingdom as well as India.
Giving a breakdown, he said that 226 graduated from the Arab Academy in Egypt, 76 from South Tyneside, Newcastle in England while 743 graduated from various partner Universities in The Philippines.
The Director General who was represented by the Executive Director of the Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services of the Agency, Gambo Ahmed congratulated the graduands who had their degrees in various maritime related disciplines, ranging from marine transport and logistics, nautical engineering and enjoined them to bring to bear the knowledge acquired to improve on the fortunes of the Nigerian maritime industry.
The Director General said that the school has offered to partner with NIMASA in providing sea time training for the graduating students and other NSDP graduands from other schools, which has hitherto been a challenge. This he noted will further complement the Agency’s other efforts in getting sea time training for graduate cadets.
Dakuku said that NIMASA is also exploring other avenues to enrich the NSDP programme and reiterated that the impact of the programme would be felt world over, as Nigeria would soon start exporting Seafarers like the Philippines and other reputable maritime nations. This he said will reduce unemployment in the country and attract the much needed foreign exchange.
The graduands were full of appreciation for the opportunity granted them to excel by NIMASA and pledged to use the knowledge acquired to enhance the Nigerian maritime sector.
Speaking with the Coordinator of NSDP scheme, Barriater Victor Egejuru, Deputy Director of Maritime Labour in NIMASA, the youths thanked the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and Management of NIMASA for the opportunity given them to progress in their chosen career and in growing capacity in the maritime sector. [myad]
