18th May, 2012
Obviously disenchanted by the lukewarm attitude by most state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has decided to go it alone on the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
“A strategic intervention designed to address the manpower requirements in the maritime sector,” the NSDP was floated in 2009 by NIMASA for the training of ratings and cadets.
Hitherto, under the NSDP, NIMASA provided 40 per cent of the fees for training a particular candidate, whose state would have provided 60 per cent in counterpart funding as sponsors.
Unfortunately, in the three years of the scheme’s existence, only a negligible number of the 36 states were active participants. The FCT has also not recorded any participation in the scheme to date.
It was learnt that in a bid to prevent the NSDP from flagging and possibly dying off, the NIMASA management had re-jigged the scheme, expanding the scope of training for candidates as ratings and cadets.
As part of the overhaul of the NSDP, it was gathered, NIMASA is assuming full sponsorship of successful candidates for the scheme, which the agency states “is open to candidates from all states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
Anouncing the procedure for application, NIMASA stated that “prospective candidates are expected to download the form from the agency’s website www.nimasa.gov.ng and fill and send all relevant documents as an attachment to this email [email protected], commencing 14 May, 2012 and closing Monday, 21 May, 2012.
“Names of successful candidates will be published and the date and venue of the examinations will be communicated accordingly,” NIMASA stated, advising those seeking further enquiries to do so through the email: [email protected] or [email protected].
NIMASA explained that “every prospective candidate in the cadet’s category is expected to sit for an entrance examination” in English Language, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, and “must possess” “at least five O’ level credits in English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and other science subject which may include Geography, Technical Drawing, Additional Mathematics etc.”