MAN: Fresh race to university status begins - The Nation Nigeria

Fresh bid to upgrade the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State to Maritime University has resurfaced at the National Assembly.

In a bill presented on the floor of the Red Chamber by Senator Akon Eyakenyi, titled: Bill for an Act to Repeal the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron Act and to Establish the University of Maritime Studies, Oron and other Related Matters, the senator, who represents Eket Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State, noted that the Bill was read for the first time in the hallowed chamber on December 12.

In a well-accentuated presentation, Eyankenyi noted that MAN is the foremost maritime institution in Nigeria and has graduated about 5,000 merchant navy officers, ratings and others for shipboard and shore-based operations.

She further noted that the institution remains the only one in the country with the mandate and capacity/facilities to award certificate of competency to seafarers.

Sadly, she observed, the drawback of the academy has been that it was designed to produce technicians or low-level personnel, who were the countrys need in 1977 when it was established.

However, Eyakenyi submitted that as a developing country, there is a need for more than technicians to manage the sector. This need, she emphasised, makes the upgrade of the institution imperative.

It is quite unfortunate that Nigeria first mooted the idea of upgrading its maritime institution into degree-awarding but others that started later have long executed it by upgrading their maritime colleges/polytechnics into universities/degree-awarding institutions, whereas we are still in the contemplation stage.

In 1995, the then Head of State General Sani Abacha on a visit to the school, emphasised the need to upgrade the academy to a degree- awarding institution. In 2008, the then Minister of State for Transport, like his predecessor, harped on the need to upgrade the academy into a degree-awarding institution.

His successor, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, who secured the Federal Executive Councils (FEC) approval for the upgrade of the academy, had noted that the primary purpose was to put the graduates of the academy at par with their contemporaries, she said.

Eyakenyi further said it was in line with the plan to transform the academy into a university that the Federal Government took steps to secure and formalise its funding. The National Assembly, in passing the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act, 2007, Eyankenyi explained, made provision for statutory allocation for the funding of the academy. This Bill seeks to maintain the full-funding as captured in the NIMASA ACT, 2007.

Similarly, in 2013, following the International Maritime Organisations (IMO) approval for the upgrade of the institution, N2 billion was approved by the Federal Government to the academy to upgrade its facilities in preparation for the upgrade to university in 2013.

She also said two years later, the Federal Government issued an executive order for the upgrade into a university.

It is also important to note that, the Eighth Senate had passed this same Bill; however, other processes were not concluded for assent of Mr. President before the winding up of the Eighth Assembly.

Act now

Eyakenyis presentation is a timely intervention needed to further boost the feat already being recorded at least, in the last three years by the institution. Before this time students seeking proper training had to attend the Regional Maritime University in Accra, Ghana. For instance, Captain Thomas Kemewerighe, a graduate of the academy, said Nigeria does not have people qualified to provide proper training. He said most of the graduates ended up as okada riders.

Still, in September 2009, the government announced that a project launched by the Federal Ministry of Transport, the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, would send a first batch of 27 students to the Academy of Maritime Education and Training in India to study for Bachelor in Science and Bachelor in engineering in marine-related subjects. Sadly, products from MAN were not considered for this programme by the Indian institution.

Changing fortunes

Stakeholders in the industry have since said the fortunes of the institution, which have been on the rise in the last three years, needs to be sustained. They maintained that the appointment of Commodore Emmanuel Effedua, a retired Naval officer, as rector of the institution, has seen better values and fortunes smiling on MAN Oron.

For instance, before now, stakeholders maintained that the academy had suffered fallen academic standard with competent lecturers seeking jobs with oil companies and other government agencies. Now, efforts were said to be in top gear to increase the academys training curriculum in line with Manilla Convention (Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping, STCW).

There was also the issue of over bloated cadet enrolment that stretched the training of manpower and facilities beyond their limits. This led to fast infrastructural decay with little or no attention paid to maintenance.

Deplorable hostel facilities with crowded rooms not good for students habitation were part of the inherited order begging for intervention and change. About 18 students stayed in rooms meant for four. Today, hostels and better accommodation are available for students to occupy.

Indeed, a great deal of infrastructural improvement, human capital overhaul, improved teaching and learning backed with technological aids and unprecedented degree of discipline pervades the institution.What looked like a makeshift library being used with outdated literature has been rebuilt with up-to-date reading materials in addition to high quality free books given to cadets.

A modern lecturers briefing room and state-of-the-art lecture theatres fitted with teaching and learningaids have been put in place. Transportation and power system within the academy have also been boosted. The academy acquired one unit of 650KVA generator and two units of 250 KVA generator. These are, in addition, to solar lightings provided to illuminate the academy at night.

These efforts, Effedua said in an earlier interview with The Nation, were pointers to the readiness of MAN Oron to produce ICT-savvy, studious and up-to-standard graduates to meet industry demands and international standards.

He said: There is a deliberate emphasis on quality of students above quantity. This is why cadet intake that used to be 1,800 was reduced to 256 for the 2018/2019 academic session.Cadets are enjoyingfree mandatory courses with newly introduced Onboard Seatime training for National Diploma cadets. Also, under this dispensation, cadets are insured and nautical science students are being enrolled as members of Nautical Institute, United Kingdom while marine engineering students are also members ofInstitute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMAREST), also of UK. The enrolment is a further boost to their professional certification.

The Gains

Eyakenyi said the essence of the Bill is to create specialised institutions for specialised field of studies. According to her, with Nigeria as the economic hub of Africa, there is the need to have indigenous and better trained personnel to manage its maritime sector. The upgrade of the academy into a university, she maintained, would go a long way in solving the acute shortage of well-trained manpower in the maritime industry, which is quite worrisome.

In 2018, stakeholders in the maritime sector declared that shortage of manpower in maritime specialties was a threat to maritime sector, this was contained in a communiqu titled Urgent Call to Rethink Maritime Education and Training issued in July, 2018. Year in year out millions of dollars are spent on training our nationals abroad; having University of Maritime studies would put a stop to such wastages of scarce resources. In line with our current developmental needs as a country, we need to upgrade the Maritime Academy to University status so as to accommodate more intake of students, more courses of studies and better training, Eyakenyi said, adding that Nigeria is amongst countries without a functional maritime university or a university that offers maritime courses; while other countries, such as the United Kingdom, have over 10, USA – 10, South Africa – 3, Singapore -2, Philippines -14 and Australia 2, among others.

The Eighth Senate had passed the bill to upgrade the academy into a university. But it was not concured by the House of Representatives. Also, it was not agreed if the academy should be a degree-awarding or a full-fledged maritime university.