[dropcap]A[/dropcap] Marine Engineer, Capt. Peter onwordi, has suggested that one way to tackle the problem of getting seatime training for Nigerian cadets is to have the cadets on vessels trading along the West Coast routes, as a start-point.
Onwordi told Marine Network in an interview on Tuesday that it would be better to introduce the cadets to practical sea life by having them go on board the vessels that trade along the coast from Nigeria up to Senegal, rather than remain without sea experience. “We have lamented the issue of lack of seatime training for our cadets for so long, when these cadets can start with as little as going on board trading vessels along the West Coast.
“It is something that the government can do in collaboration with some private partners, to enable the cadets get sea experience. “Let them start with that and get familiar with the practicality of vessels on sea and understand how to even do their charting before talking about vessels that go father to Europe and America,” Onwordi said.
The marine engineer called on critical industry stakeholders to support the cause for standard and complete training for seafarers considering Nigeria’s status as a maritime nation. He said: “The cadets cannot even be called seafarers until they get seatime as part of their training. So, it is a concern for everyone who understands the critical role of manpower capacity, especially for a maritime nation as Nigeria.
“There are so much trading activities along the coasts from Nigeria to Benin Republic, to Togo, even up to Senegal. And government can take that advantage to partner with private businesses for vessels where these cadets can be trained practically,” Onwordi noted.
He added that: “Pilots trained at Zaria start learning how to fly from Zaria to Kaduna, then Jos, Abuja before going on longer ranges. Similarly, our cadets can start in same local trading routes before venturing longer ranges.”