Maritime is big business. Many global shipping passages, including the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, have been subjects of high stake politicking among countries that, in a few instances, wars have been fought over them.
Ziadeke Patrick Akpobolokemi, the director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has a different kind of war. As a key executive in government, he knows his work is well cut out for him. It is the reason why he probably sleeps with an eye open and leaves his brains on autopilot, strategizing on how to make the country’s maritime business enriching for the country.
Akpobolokemi knows what it means to read a newspaper story with an introduction like this one: “Nigerian ship owners are competing poorly despite an import-oriented market, and control only 10 percent of the nation’s N2 trillion business …” This scenario did not start today.
But Akpobolokemi is concerned enough to act, especially because he knows that one major factor responsible for this scenario can be located in a deficient manpower base. For instance, one of the reasons given for the precarious state indigenous ship owners in the maritime business in Nigeria now find themselves is, ‘shortage of skilled crew on Nigerian owned vessels, as required for them to qualify to do business.’
He recognizes the lack of skilled manpower as an Africa-wide problem which is harmful to her economies. “The overwhelming domination of maritime trade and services in most African coastal countries by non-African operators is the main source of capital flight, which constitutes a significant economic drawback for the countries,” Akpobolokemi said.
His understanding of the issue of capacity deficiency in the local maritime industry is at the heart of his concerted effort to correct this shortage as much as he could. It is the reason why it is at the heart of a lot of efforts NIMASA, on his watch, is working to build large capacity to undertake the challenges and opportunities in the industry. He talks about the advantage foreign operators have over indigenous operators.
“They do not only have competitive edge … but possess awesome capacity for market access and oligopolistic growth,” explained Akpobolokemi. “Such access and market tendency,” he says, “ are further facilitated by the usually complex web of commercial interest linking these foreign marine operators and transnational (international oil companies, civil engineering and construction giants and so on) corporations who often are from the same parent countries as the marine service companies,” Akpobolokemi explained further.
The economics are stacked against possible growth for indigenous people involved in the maritime business, he said in what comes across strongly as an advocacy position under the circumstance. “Such a scenario, coupled with the structural weakness of economies of the host countries, has further exacerbated the inability of indigenous operators to compete meaningfully in their cabotage trade. In contrast with the situation in the home countries of the foreign operators, this structural weakness means that access to fund for capital investment in trading, asset acquisition, provision of critical shipping infrastructure and facilities as well as human capital development are often unavailable or in limited supply”, he said.
His advocacy has seen him in the past calling for African states to see such a situation as a failure in their political and economic responsibilities to their citizens. Akpobolokemi speaks about ‘safeguard’ of “strategic national interests” to promote citizens’ economic empowerment. But it is not only in advocacy that he is making the needed intervention. He has also been pushing the agency-managed Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP). Last year, under the programme, scholarships were awarded to 100 newly recruited seafarers for maritime training abroad.
He had described the scholarship awards as part of NIMASA’s effort at laying foundation to make Nigeria the hub in maritime human capacity development in Africa; and notes that the NSDP was designed to provide platform for the socially and economically unprivileged Nigerians to benefit from the government and better their worth.
To those who criticize the programme, Akpobolokemi responds by saying that it’s not a white elephant project. “Mr. President is committed to this programme. NIMASA will not give up on this. It will outlive my tenure; it has nothing tenure attached to it. And I want to use this medium to tell those who have labeled this programme as waste that they are wrong,” Akpobolokemi said. “The industry, world over, is in dare need of seafarers, although the industry has witnessed some decline in recent times,” he added.
NIMASA under him sees itself as a promoter of shipping in Nigeria, thus it comes naturally that the agency should seek to develop adequate capacity to enhance the growth of the sector. In particular, Akpobolokemi has been spearheading the seafarers’ development programme to develop world class human capital for the industry in the country.
It is this desire to produce world class seafarers that has meant looking for the best institutions in the world to send candidates to for capacity development. The scheme, which currently has 2,505 students, has them spread in different institutions, including the Arab Academy of Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt; Amet University, Chennai, India; University of Perpetual Help, Dalta, Philippines; University of Cebu, Philippines; Lyceum of the Philippines University, Philippines; South Tyneside College, Newcastle, UK; Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK; Constanta Maritime University, Romania. The courses of study that are being pursued by the candidates fall into marine engineering, naval architecture; nautical sciences, among others.
So far, 17 Cadets have graduated from the John Moores University Liverpool with B.Sc Nautical Sciences and have concluded sea time training; 11 Cadets have graduated from the South Tyneside College, Newcastle with B.Sc Marine Engineering and will commence sea time training next month; 34 Cadets graduated this week from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport Alexandria Egypt on with B.Sc Marine Engineering and B.Sc Nautical Sciences.
They have already concluded their sea time training; 34 Cadets will graduate from the South Tyneside College Newcastle in April qualifying in Marine Engineering and Nautical Sciences. The agency has also started the process of sending cadets to Malaysia and Philippines (additional cadets and ratings) as a measure of expanding the programme.
Phillip Isakpa
