Foreign- trained Nigerian Cadets stranded as NIMASA fails to pay for Sea time training

Abiola Seun

Despite assurances by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) that some graduates of its National Seafarers Development Programme, (NSDP) will be sent for seatime training at the end of the first quarter 2019, the Agency is yet to pay for the training and sign MoU with the four training institutions.

That was the reason why the cadets are yet to start commencement of the programme.

It was gathered that NIMASA had sent some of its officials to schools in Egypt, India, Ukraine and Singapore last year in preparedness for the commencement but nothing has been done since then.
However, following the visit to the institution in India, Samet Academy, the President of the institution, Captain Vikas Patra, paid the travel expenses of 12 cadets who have already boarded vessels for training in anticipation of the signing of the MoU and payment for the sea time programme.
The source explained, “That of India, the school president himself called 12 students on their own hoping that NIMASA will come for payment and the signing of the MoU.
“Since NIMASA is not forthcoming,they stopped and said they cannot go ahead any more.

“The 12 students called have boarded their vessels in different countries. One of them boarded a vessel at Dubai, another at Singapore and the one that just left now that boarded at Cairo.

“The school president was doing all these at his own expense hoping that when NIMASA pays he will do the plus and minus himself.
“The 12 students he called, he paid their flight ticket, hotel bills and other expenses to ensure that they are comfortable until they board their vessels.

“They were supposed to call 40 of them in two batches of 20 each at SAMAS University. He is even complaining that NIMASA is not doing thing and even those who are on board presently are even complaining that they are not getting their allowances.
“NIMASA is supposed to give the school the allowances and the school will be giving the students every month.

“They are complaining that NIMASA went there for a visit but did not return to sign the MOU as a result their vessels that they kept all long to train NIMASA students have been signed for other official duties.

“For Ukraine, they sent a message to us on the 25th of March, 2019 they connected us to photocopy all our documents to one email. We all hurriedly scanned our documents and sent it to them.
“Some of us who were able to send emails directly to the school, were told that NIMASA has not come for the MoU talk less of payment for the sea time training.
“NIMASA still has a long way to go, they first have to go for the signing of the MoU and then they would have to send to the school.

” Information reaching us is that NIMASA is complaining that CBN do not want to release money for them. I do not know how true that information is though.

“The last time we went for protest there, NIMASA said money was never the problem, I do not know what concerns CBN this time around,” the source noted.