The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has commenced the process of establishing partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to develop human capacity in the maritime sector.
The Head, Corporate Communications of NIMASA, Mr Isichei Osamgbi, said this in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday in Lagos.
According to the statement, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, mentioned the partnership during a meeting in Abuja with stakeholders and Vice Chancellors of those Nigerian Universities where the NIMASA-sponsored Institutes of Maritime Studies were domiciled.
Peterside, who chaired the meeting, restated the agency’s commitment toward growing capacity in the maritime sector.
He urged the authorities of the universities in the country to include maritime-related courses in their curriculum in order to expand the job potentials of Nigerian youths to help grow the economy.
Peterside said, “Maritime is a global business with vast opportunities.”
The director-general said a virile maritime trade was an economic asset to any nation and, therefore, urged the Management of the institutes to continuously improve on their maritime curriculum for economic benefits of Nigeria.
He called on public and private organisations to partner with the agency in ensuring adequate funding of the institutes.
“It would not be out of place for TETFUND to partner with NIMASA or intervene where necessary in funding the institutes as NIMASA cannot go it all alone,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Peterside as saying.
According to him, more than ever, we are open to partnership in order to ensure that our maritime sector continues to thrive and impact positively on the Nigerian economy in the long run.
In his address, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND Dr Abdullahi Baffa, commended NIMASA for the robust and brilliant initiative in establishing the Institutes of Maritime Studies in the universities.
Baffa promised that TETFUND would look into areas of intervention.
Present at the meeting were: the vice chancellors with the directors of the maritime institutes of the universities, among who are; Prof. Rahamon Bello, Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos; and Prof. Muhammad Maiturare, Vice Chancellor, Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State.
Others are: Prof. Humphrey Ogoni, Vice Chancellor, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State; Prof. Alhassan Gani, Vice Chancellor, Federal University Kashere, Gombe State and Prof. James Ogbonna, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,.
NAN reports that NIMASA established maritime institutes in six Nigerian universities with the expectation that the institutes will help grow the needed technical manpower which were hitherto only obtainable from institutes outside the country. (NAN)
AIC/AJA