Bio stresses importance of training in maritime industry

By Ifeyinwa Obi

THE Nigerian Seafarers  Development Programme (NSDP) initiated by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has been flagged off by the minister of transport, Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Bio who said that the Federal Government will not relent in its effort to build a national indigenous fleet with skilled and efficient manpower that would establish Nigeria as a regional maritime power.

According to the minister, the programme is coming at a crucial moment when the maritime industry is being repositioned for enhanced efficiency, that the impact of the training programme to the maritime sub sector is paramount.

He said the national agenda for development of critical infrastructure is required to drive the maritime industry which focuses on important issues like port development, Inland Container Depot (ICD) development, port to ICD rail development and ship building development.

He said: “This has also entails ensuring the viability of the waterways through the dredging of our navigable rivers, implementation of Cabotage Act to grow Nigerian indigenous merchant fleet and boosting the infrastructural capacity of the Maritime
Academy, Oron to meet global standards.”

The Nigerian Seafarer Development Programme (NSDP) is seeking to arrest the dearth of manpower and generational gaps of seafarers that is not just nationa, but global.

“The Nigerian Seafarer Development Programme (NSDP) is therefore a unique programme that consists of a few critical elements of Human Capital Development.