SEAFARING: Angola, Cameroon Throng Nigerian Training Institution
By DAPO OLAWUNI
Coming few weeks after the Rector of Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) in Oron Akwa Ibom State, Duja Effedua announced that the academy was receiving cadets from Republic of Guinea for seafarers training, another Nigerian maritime training institution; Charkin Maritime Academy has announced that cadets from Cameroon and Angola have been coming to its academy for training.
Sir Charles Wami , Managing Director of Charkin Maritime Academy revealed that cadets from African countries like Angola and Cameroon have been coming to the Port Harcourt based academy for seafaring training.
Sir Wami made this disclosure recently at the flagging off of the phase 3 of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) a brainchild of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)
While taking his time to announce his academy’s capacity to handle some of the NSDP cadets, he said the academy has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a German shipping company for the seatime training of 100 cadets yearly.
“We in Charkin Maritime, haven been approved by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and our admissions is through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)
“We have approvals from other international accreditations, and our training institution has won NIMASA’s best maritime training institution of the year two times.
NIMASA is doing a good job with the NSDP, and we would continue to support them.
“As an institution that has been partnering with shipowners, international shipowners, we have an MoU with a German shipping company that has over 200 vessels, and I can say boldly that the German company has given us slots every year to train more than 100 cadets.
“We have also assisted in sailing out of NSDP trained cadets onboard their vessels. Recently, some of them under the NCBMD and NIMASA training, about 15 of them have been given training under that shipping company.
He appealed to NIMASA to look in country in its NSDP Programme, saying that “Some of us have put our training institution to international standards, such that people from Angola, Cameroon come to our facility for training”
“In future, when NIMASA is carrying out these kind of project, they can extend some of the cadets to Charkin Maritime because we have invested hugely to ensure that we meet international standard” Sir Wami stated.
