The Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) has produced 130 cadets graduates from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria, Egypt.
NSDP is an initiative of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said this in a message to the graduation ceremony in Egypt, made available by the Head, Corporate Communications of the agency, Mr Isichie Osamgbi, on Sunday in Lagos.
Peterside was represented at the graduation ceremony by the Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Mr Gambo Ahmed.
According to Peterside, this feat has further increased the pool of seafarers in the sector; as it brings to 1,045, the total number of graduates from the NSDP project.
He said the number of graduates represented 42 per cent of the over 2,500 NIMASA-sponsored beneficiaries.
According to the director-general, NIMASA sponsored over 2,500 aspiring cadets to the best maritime institutions around the world including Egypt, Romania, The Philipines, UK as well as India.
He said 226 cadets graduated from the Arab Academy in Egypt, 76 from South Tyneside, Newcastle in England, while 743 graduated from various partner universities in The Philippines.
Peterside congratulated the graduands, who had their degrees in various maritime -related disciplines ranging from marine transport and logistics, nautical engineering.
He advised the graduands to utilise the knowledge they acquired to improve on the fortunes of the Nigerian maritime industry.
The director-general said that the school had agreed to partner with NIMASA in providing sea time training for the graduating students and other NSDP graduands from other schools, which had hitherto been a challenge.
He said that this would further complement the agency’s other efforts in getting sea time training for graduate cadets.
Peterside said NIMASA was exploring other avenues to enrich the NSDP programme.
He said that the impact of the programme would be felt worldwide, as Nigeria would soon start exporting seafarers like the Philippines and other reputable maritime nations.
“This will reduce unemployment in the country and attract the much-needed foreign exchange,’’ the director-general said.
The graduands expressed appreciation for the opportunity granted them to excel and pledged to use the knowledge acquired to enhance the Nigerian maritime sector.
The youths spoke with the Coordinator of NSDP scheme, Mr Victor Egejuru, Deputy Director, Maritime Labour in NIMASA and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Management of NIMASA for the opportunity to progress in their career and in growing maritime capacity.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NSDP initiative was floated by NIMASA in 2008 to curb the dearth of trained and certified seafarers in the country.
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