The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has made
\nsignificant progress in securing sea time berths for cadets trained
\nunder the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), despite the
\nlimitations of the coronavirus pandemic. Director-General of the Agency,
\nDr. Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this in Lagos following a recent three-month
\nextension granted the 400 Nigerian seafarers undertaking sea time in
\ndifferent parts of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The three-month programme leading to the award of Certificate of
\nCompetency (CoC) to beneficiaries, was extended for another three months
\nby NIMASA, in the first instance, to enable the seafarers to complete
\ntheir training amid the global lockdowns caused by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Jamoh stated that despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the Agency had
\nintensified efforts to secure sea time opportunities for a good number
\nof the trained cadets across the globe.<\/p>\n
He stated, “In the first quarter of 2020 alone we secured sea time
\nberths for over 550 cadets in various countries for the three months
\nprogramme leading to the issuance of CoCs. However, due to the pandemic,
\nwe extended their sponsorship for another three months, which comes with
\nadditional cost, and we are still looking to extend it further as we
\ncontinue to monitor the pandemic and how it affects the programme.”<\/p>\n
The NIMASA DG stated that the Agency was in constant touch with Nigerian
\nembassies in the beneficiaries’ host countries as well as the students
\nthemselves and their leaders to monitor their situations and guard
\nagainst anything that could keep them stranded in a foreign country.<\/p>\n
“We have adapted our approaches to the peculiar conditions of the
\ndifferent countries where we have Nigerian seafarers on sea time
\ntraining,” Jamoh said, adding, “The feedback from the students’ leaders
\nin the various countries have been very encouraging.”<\/p>\n
He disclosed that another set of NSDP cadets had been approved for
\ntraining, but their enrolment was on hold due to the global pandemic.<\/p>\n
Jamoh said the problem of sea time training, which is one of the biggest
\nchallenges of seafarers, was gradually being resolved.<\/p>\n
The NSDP was initiated by NIMASA in 2008 to deal with the dearth of
\ntrained and certified seafarers in Nigeria. So far the programme has
\ngraduated over 2,000 cadets and many of them have undergone sea time and
\nare currently in the employ of various international shipping lines.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has made significant progress in securing sea time berths for cadets trained under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), despite the limitations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n