NCS’ll priortise training of seafarers

The President of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS), Mr. Andrew Isichei has promised that securing a training vessel for budding seafarers will be a priority of his administration.

Isichei, made this disclosure in Lagos during his investiture as the 6th President of the chamber and the inauguration of the governing council.

“We will do our best to deal with the challenge our seafarers have with sea freight experience. We will work with stakeholders within and outside Nigeria to make this happen. We will collaborate and engage government through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and Federal Ministry of Transport to deal with the challenge”, the new president said in his inauguration speech.

Isichei noted that of the 2,400 seafarers NIMASA trained abroad, majority of the young men are at home. “They cannot get jobs because they don’t have sea time experience, and it’s a major challenge”, he said

“As leaders in a position, we will do our best to tackle that,” Isichei pledged.

In his valedictory speech, the outgone president of the NCS, Adebayo Sarumi, who commended the governing council for bringing in expertise to solving issues in the shipping trade called on relevant government agencies and those in shipping business to support the chamber and also take advantage of all it has to offer.

“We have handed over to an executive that will carry the chamber to the dreamland that we have been expecting. Those we have handed over to will do the very best, its left for Nigerians, particularly those who are in shipping business to take advantage of the chamber and all that it has to offer in advocacy, broadened knowledge of shipping, and assist in research and information gathering with just a paltry amount of money”, Sarumi said.

Vice President of the NCS, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed Ramalan, advocated the collective ownership of a training vessel by the Nigerian shipping community for the training of cadets. According to him, the cost of training over 2,000 seafarers overseas is quite enormous.

“At this level of our development, it is high time we had our own training ship. It is very important because the cost of training of 2,000 seafarers abroad is huge”