By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has commenced moves to ensure the integrity of seafarers’ certificates issued by the Nigerian government in a bid to enhance their employability.
This was disclosed by the Director General of the NIMASA, Mr Dayo Mobereola, while speaking on the sideline of the commissioning of two brand new tug boats in Lagos.
He said that the agency has put measures in place to ensure that the process of issuing its Certificate of Competency (COC) is recognised internationally.
Mr Mobereola also said that the process will make the issuance of the COC accepted not only in the Gulf of Guinea but all over the world.
The NIMASA chief stated that Nigeria has very competent seafarers, but the process of certification is what is currently at stake.
“I have been looking at ensuring that our process of issuing our CoCs is one of the internationally recognized processes so that it can accepted not only in the Gulf of Guinea regions alone but internationally so that our seafarers can go and work on US vessels, UK registered vessels, Bermuda registered vessels and all of those processes.
“It is a just matter of process; it is not that we do not have the competent seafarers, it is not that we do not have a process in place, it is just to ensure that this process is fine-tuned in such a way that it is internationally acceptable to the shipping companies and that is what we are working on,” he said.
This development followed worries raised by stakeholders including the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association (NMNO/WTSSA) which decried the non-availability of a multilateral agreement between Nigeria and other maritime countries.
According to them, such a development has denied thousands of Nigerian seafarers employment in the seafaring sub-sector of the Nigerian maritime industry.
Also speaking, Mr Joseph Yousuo, disclosed that Ghana has mutual agreement with almost 30 maritime communities hence the recognition of Ghana’s Certificate of Competence.
The agreement, according to Mr Yousuo, has also led to Ghana dominating seafarers’ employment in the sub-region and called on NIMASA to open up talks with other nations on the matter.
On the lack of class 2 and 1 certification, the group suggested that Maritime training in Nigeria should have both their facilities and personnel upgraded to meet international standards for the issuance of these certificates to enable Nigerian seafarers to work on board foreign and bigger vessels.
Mr Yousuo also called for tax exemption for seafarers adding that Nigeria is the only country in the world that still taxes their seafarers noting sailors spend most of their time in the sea but tax is levied on the place of abode.
“Most Nigerian seafarers are unemployed. With the Cabotage regime in force, unemployment of Nigerian seafarers will be a thing of the past. A waiver should not be an option, it is inimical to Nigerian seafarers.
“Some shipping companies mostly trawlers terminate sailors’ employment without due process. We urge NIMASA to call the employers of labour in this category to be mindful of the disregard for the rights of an employee.
“NIMASA as the regulatory agency should as a matter of urgency issue a Marine Notice to all seafarers’ employers engaged in this slavery attitude to take caution about the non-payment of wages and under-payment to Nigerian seafarers as this is the current trend in our maritime sector. A sanction should be placed on any company with such an act,” he said.
