The nation’s foremost maritime training centre, the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, has continued to up the ante of its core mandate of providing a competent workforce for the maritime sector and allied industries.
The Academy recently concluded training on IMO Model Course 6.09 for Instructors from JABEEB Consult Ltd., AvantGuard Security Solution, Marojion Marine and Maritech Academy, who all came from across the country to upgrade and sharpen their teaching skills.
The two-week train-the-trainer programme, which graduated about thirteen participants, was designed to facilitate delivery of training in the competence standards as required by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), for Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 1978, as amended, including 2010 Manila Amendments.
The Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (Rtd), who has demonstrated unwavering commitment towards enhancing manpower capacity for the success of the blue economy stated that the aim was to fast track the development of the blue economy in line with presidential priorities, especially now that the future is blue.
He underscored Academy’s openness to collaborations with other maritime institutions that may have the need of utilising the institution’s state-of-the-art training facilities to bolster the learning experiences of their workforce, emphasising that the Academy would continue to expand its horizon to accommodate emerging trends in the industry.
“We are not in competition with other maritime institutions, for the sake of national development of our maritime operations, we are open to discussions with similar institutions that may wish to take advantage of our equipment to improve on their training at discounted rate,” he remarked.
The Rector further highlighted recent developments at the Academy to include the employment of two industry experts of Indian nationals – Commander Narayan Subramaniam and Sudabathula Sravan Kumar to boost Academy’s teaching workforce and
pledged to continuously update operations to ensure the institution meets and exceeds expectations of fulfilling its established mandate.
The Academy’s Helmsman also hinted that being an international institution, the Academy has trained up to forty participants from allied nations and that it is poised to continue doing more to continue boosting manpower development for the maritime industry especially the realisation of the blue economy.
“We have already trained over forty participants from allied nations. We are eager to do more within our capacity to supercharge manpower development that would unlock the full potential of the blue economy.”
“The perception about the Academy is totally different now, if anyone who has not been to the Academy in the last three years comes today, there might definitely be some sort of disorientation, because it has been totally transformed. It is a complete departure from what it was in the past, “ the Rector noted.
One of the participants, Mr. Ojokojo Mattew of AvantGuard Security Solutions Ltd., said, “Academy’s instructors are well grounded knowledge-wise and the quality of teaching facilities are top-notch”.
“I must say, for an organisation of this capacity run by the government, I am really impressed. Even more impressive is the knowledge base of the lecturers. The interactive sessions we had were expository, the lecturers were able to dig into residual knowledge and give us a lot of scenarios and hands-on experiences. Indeed, my expectations have been defied,” he added.
The Managing Director of JABEEB Consult Ltd., Engr. Augustine Juweto, who expressed his admiration for the Academy’s serene and conducive learning environment, comparing it with what is applicable abroad, said, “Years back when I came here for some courses the facilities were moribund, now I can comfortably say that there is one hundred percent transformation of all the facilities, the environment is serene and conducive to learning, this is comparable to what is applicable outside this country. The Rector has done wonderfully well, I want to really commend his efforts,” he said.
It could be recalled that the Academy has a track record of training officials and students of several other organisations and MTIs namely: Bricks Mursten Mattoni, Nigerian Maritime University,Okerenkoko, Delta State and several others.
