NSDP Appraisal: Ex-NIMASA DG; Dosunmu Gives Dr Bashir Jamoh a Pass Mark On Seafarers Development

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Ade Dosunmu has commended the administration of Dr Bashir Jamoh as current Director General of the agency, saying that Jamoh has sustained the development of indigenous capacity through the National Seafarers Development Program (NSDP)

Dr Dosunmu was the brainchild behind the NSDP Program being spearheaded by NIMASA. He spoke exclusively with DAILY TREND at the weekend in Lagos.

The former NIMASA boss also urged Nigerian shipowners to work closely with NIMASA in order for them to bounce back and start owning vessels again.

He commended Dr Jamoh’s efforts in trying to assist the indigenous shipowners. According to him Dr Jamoh has been able to secure zero duty on importation of vessels, and he is also speaking with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the possibility of getting a stimulus package for the shipowners.

According to him, past DG’s of NIMASA had derailed from the concept of the NSDP Program, but Dr Bashir Jamoh have been able to redirect the program back on track.

While giving his appraisal, Dr Dosunmu expressed satisfaction at the results so far produced by NSDP, adding that many of the seafarers are now gainfully employed, and may of them have risen to become Captain of vessels.

“The NSDP was an intervention we came up with in order to address the gaps that we saw in the industry, most of our fleets in the country then were manned by foreigners, and we felt this was not good enough, we had to Kickstart a program to build our indigenous capacity that can handle these vessels.

“Many of them today have gone through the training, the sea time, and many of them are now doing well, more than twelve of them are in the employment of the NLNG, and so many of them scattered all over, many of them have risen to the position of a captain.

“This shows that the NSDP Program is doing well. I just want to use this opportunity to encourage the leadership of NIMASA to try and sustain the tempo they are currently on.

“Prior the coming onboard of this current management, there was issues of sending out cadets for the training and they don’t get the sea time, so we had a lot of backlog.

“But with the DG that is in office today, haven risen from the system, he has been able to ensure that the education and the sea time goes together. This means that today, when you go for your four years program, one year out of the four years is for the sea time, by the time you are returning back, you have already done your Certificate of Competency exams, this has helped a lot and it is really helping.

“This was the original idea before the former management deviated, but thank God that they are back on track, and every year they are churning out qualified Seafarers” Dosunmu stated

The former NIMASA boss equally advised Nigerian shipowners to get themselves ready to access the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) adding that their capacity and preparedness is what would qualify them for a contract.

“If you don’t have a vessel you might not get a contract, because the person giving out the contract desires performance, so if you don’t have a vessel that they believe can do the job, they would not issue you the contract, this has been the problem of Nigerian shipowners, they don’t have vessels that are good enough to carryout some of these jobs and it is not their fault, it is easy to save up money to buy a vessel, you can only buy of you have the support from financial institutions and the government, this must be done.

“Apart from that, the financial institutions must give these support at very reduced interest rates, bearing in mind that they are very critical to the survival of the country. There is no shipping nation that does not have a vessel, it is an irony for a shipping nation not to have a vessel, particularly by its nationals.

“The only way we can get this done is either through the CVFF fund which is an intervention fund, and through the financial institutions with single digit loans, if this is done, we can change the narrative.

“The shipowners need to work closely with NIMASA, the agency can navigate some of these things for them. I believe the current NIMASA DG is doing a lot to assist the shipowners, he has been able to secure zero duty on importation of vessels, and he is also speaking with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the possibility of getting a stimulus package for them.

“If all these can be achieved, it would help shipowners to bounce back, so they need to work closely with the regulator which is NIMASA.
NIMASA has Shipping Development as one of it’s core mandates, and how would they develop shipping if they don’t encourage the shipowners?” he concluded