MAN Oron: Ten Months Of Okonna’s Effective Leadership
By Ovie Edomi
Some men are born great, others have greatness thrust on them. For Dr. Kevin Okonna, the current Acting Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa Ibom State, appears to show up on both. And HE Adegboyega Oyetola, the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, appears to have taken his time to choose a square peg for the square hole.
Before becoming the Acting Rector of Nigeria’s Premier Maritime Training Institution, Dr. Kevin Okonna is reputed for his academic prowess and nobility that is built on professionalism and character. That uncommon characteristic has made Okonna climb to the pinnacle of his profession and administration. A man who crowned his educational prowess with a Doctor of Philosophy, his employment in the Maritime Academy of Nigeria for over three decades, is a reflection of his love for his country and the teaching profession.
After his employment at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron many years later, he got another employment opportunity at NLNG with a salary five times above what he was earning at the academy, but his love for his teaching profession and the cadets/ students made him reject the offer.
Decades after joining the Academy, Dr Okonna, gentle, soft and a bundle of knowledge was picked by the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, HE Adegboyega Oyetola, CON to as Acting Rector.
Oyetola’s choice of Okonna has proven to be the best for the country. Dr. Okonna’s passion for the job at MAN, Oron is incredibly revealing. His managerial expertise is such that in ten months he has something to show as part of showcasing the growth indices of the country’s maritime education and training.
Indeed, in just ten months, Dr. Kevin Okonna led management during the recently held Third Quarter 2025 Citizens’ and Stakeholders’ Engagement provided the Nigerian citizens and industry stakeholders with an amazing trailblazing scorecard that only a few quintessential administrators and leaders with stoic sacrifice could have provided.
First,the Academy as a specialized maritime education and training institution has continued to provide leadership in Management Education Training,MET in Nigeria. The Academy continues to remain focused in delivering its core statutory mandate as the premier maritime training institution in Nigeria, in line with the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978 (STCW Convention) as amended.
Under the supervision of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, HE Adegboyega Oyetola, CON, the current Management and Governing Council of the Academy in alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has taken the Academy whose campus sits on a 100 hectares plot of land in Oron, Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria with a water front opening to the Calabar channel and the Atlantic ocean to another level of excellence.
The Maritime Academy of Nigeria, is famous for grooming Nigeria’s first captain to man NLNG ship, a batch 11 cadet of the academy, amongst others. There are feelings that the Academy has all it takes to match the training standards of the over 500 maritime Academies globally. For instance, the academy’s standard Jetty with the full complement of facilities required for STCW Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats (PSCRB) and other training facilities give fillip to the academy’s delivery of training at global standards.
Also, the courses conducted with drills at the MAN, Oron’s Jetty for seafarers and offshore workers are some of the most popular within West and Central Africa. The Academy acquired state-of-the-art simulators that are being perfectly maintained and utilized for STCW mandatory training of cadets and short courses participants from the industry. The simulators include; a Full Mission Bridge Simulator, Full Mission Engine Room Simulator, Virtual Reality (Ocular Vision) Simulator. There is also the Multi-functional Classroom (MFC) Simulator which has eight (8) part-task simulators including; Radar/ARPA, ECDIS, GMDSS, Navigation/Manoeuvring, Dynamic Positioning, Liquid Cargo Handling, High Voltage, and Engine Room simulators in one classroom, and it is an innovation created through the partnership between the Academy and the globally recognized simulator manufacturers, the Applied Research International (ARI). The simulators have both International and Nigerian Port Areas and navigational channels for exercises. All the simulator-based courses are accredited and many of the courses are always fully booked ahead of schedule.
Other facilities that define the current state of the Academy include: the Academy’s survival pools complex with four covered survival pools, including: two pools reserved for STCW Personal Survival Techniques training, one pool for Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) and Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) and one pool for lifeboat drills. This year the academy installed within the survival Pools complex a functional free fall lifeboat with a launching Davit. This is in addition to a Life-raft repacking workshop which has been functioning and used to repack liferafts in the institution for over two decades.
When this Writer went round the academy, all classrooms in the Academy are with smart boards, computers, Air Conditioners, and public address system.The classrooms were equally equipped for web-based/distance learning.The cadets’ hostels for male and female with total of 260 rooms as well as short courses hostels with total of 100 rooms, are all ensuite with bathrooms/toilets facilities and installed with alternative solar power supply. This is in addition to Engineering workshops and laboratories including; a Marine Engineering workshop with functional marine engines, where Cadets disassemble and reassemble during practicals. In fact there are a total of 19 engineering workshops and laboratories in the Academy.
The academy also has a standard medical Centre with two brand new fully equipped ambulances, a standard automated main library as well as an E-library in addition to Computer-station ICT Centre, a standard Guest house and on-campus accommodation for over 340 staff, a marine Exhibition Hall where ship parts and other marine components are on display for cadets especially first timers to see and feel, amongst others.
Most importantly, the Okonna led Management has within ten months in office obtained the Governing Council’s approval for employment of scarce skilled marine experts and other professional lecturers to close existing faculty gaps.
Interestingly, the Academy in collaboration with maritime professional associations and the Alumni of the Academy (AMANO) employed more maritime professionals. For instance, the Academy has since January this year employed a total of seven (7) marine professional lecturers, including: two (2) Master Mariners with Unlimited (Foreign Going) Certificates of Competency. This includes an Indian Master Mariner Simulator
Training Expert who left the Academy earlier but rejoined the Academy in September, 2025. Others employed include One Master Coastal Navigation (with other Foreign Going CoCs), One Chief Engineer (Unlimited), One Chief Mate (Unlimited), and two Deck officers (with Unlimited (Foreign Going) Certificates of Competency).
Similarly, the Academy trained a total of seventy-five staff up to varying levels of qualifications and certifications up to lead auditors in line with ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System) and Educational Organization Management System (EOMS) towards the international quality standards certification of the institution.
The Academy continues to provide leadership to all the other maritime training institutions, especially in the Training of the Instructors in line with the IMO Model Course 6.09 as required by the STCW Convention and training of students from other MTIs in the specialized courses available in the Academy; coming at a time many maritime countries are looking at Nigeria’s role in West and Central Africa, it will create opportunity for expansion in the Academy’s courses and quality of training as well as its’ global rating.
In the last ten months, capacity building of the Academy’s staff and staff welfare in line with the Ministerial Performance Deliverables for the achievement of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been a top priority. For the first time also since its establishment, the Academy completed the development of Conditions and Scheme of Service for staff of the Academy and obtained the recommendations of the Governing Council of the Academy and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Of unique importance equally is the development of a 5-Year Strategic Development Plan for the institution which has been recommended to the Federal Ministry of
Marine and Blue Economy for consideration.
The icing on the cake was when on 16th September 2025, after Academy’s engagement meeting with Citizens and Stakeholders which focused on the “Implementation of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy for Onboard Training of Nigerian Merchant Navy Cadets and the Critical Needs of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria”, the Academy secured the commitments of shipowners and shipowner associations for the provision of onboard training opportunities for the cadets of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, in line with the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy.
Earlier, the Academy through the current Acting Rector obtained support of frontline professional bodies for collaboration/partnership for course accreditation and registration of all cadets in the Academy with different professional bodies including; The Nautical Institute (NI), UK, Institute of Marine Engineering, Science
and Technology (IMarEST), UK, and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).
In response to the request from the Abuja MoU on Port State Control for West and Central Africa, the Academy has completed
the development and approval of Port State Control (PSC) Officers course by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(NIMASA); the MOU for the partnership between the Academy and Abuja MoU on PSC, as approved by the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola was signed recently during the Stakeholders’ Engagement in the gull glare of CitizensandStakeholders.
Also, as part of ensuring that the Academy is at peace with the host community, it purchased 3 new transformers and collaborated with the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) company to intervene on
the Eket-Oron power supply line to reconnect public power to the Academy after about eight years of lack of power supply from the national grid. Now there is improved power supply in the institution and in the entire Oron host community. To say that the current Management has, under the policy direction and committed support of the Governing Council, led by Engr. Kehinde Akinola, has taken strategic decisions to ensure continual improvement in training standards and facilities, infrastructural development is stating the obvious.
This accounts for why the Academy trained a total of 4595 short courses participants in 2024 and by August of 2025 a total of 3217 participants have already been trained in the 48 mandatory short courses and Certificate of Competency preparatory classes in addition to 12 simulator-based courses on offer in the Academy. Interestingly also, the Academy has on offer Seven (7) Regular Cadetship training
programmes with accreditation from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Forty-eight (48) Professional and Mandatory Short Courses in line with the STCW Convention and other International Conventions with accreditation from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
No wonder, the Academy will by November graduate over 200 well groomed cadets who also would have been members of different professional bodies with access to vast resources and networking with the best in their professions. The Academy has been able to prove to Nigeria’s cadets that Nigeria has the talents. The Academy has equally proven that the future is Nigeria and the future starts with Nigeria’s cadets and seafarers. Certainly, these are giant strides for the Okonna led management especially hitting the ground running and coming up with measurable achievements and how to market Nigeria’s seafarers potential within a short period of time.
Dr. Edomi, former Publicity Secretary, Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria, former President, League of Maritime Editors and the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, South South international Magazine is based in Lagos