MAN, Oron Trains Cadets to Increase Nigeria’s Contributions to Global Sea Trade- Dr Kevin Okonna
By Ovie Edomi
Acting Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Dr Kevin Okonna at a facility tour of the academy yesterday, Monday told the Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun, his Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Steve Kareem and Senator Sharafat Ali representing Oyo South and member of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport among others that the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron which was established in 1977 as a nautical college and later changed to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in 1988 by the Act of Parliament has remained committed to training middle and low manpower personnel for the Maritime Sector globally. In doing so, the acting rector noted that Seafarers contribute to the sending of huge foreign exchange to their country, a reason he said Philippines which contributes the highest numbers of seafarers globally to the Sea trade, earns the highest national income from seafaring. According to Okonna, “we train our cadets almost free because we know that when they graduate and they get employment in international vessels, they will be paid in Dollars which in turn will be repatriated to Nigeria to increase the country’s gross national income as well as our global rating as a Maritime nation”. Explaining further the academy acting rector noted that ” Without any intention to make money from the cadets, we train the cadets almost for free. It is only for short courses that the academy charges. Even then Dr John Adeyanju emphasised that the fees paid by cadets are tied to accommodation, etc. A reason Okonna said the academy depends on the Federal Government to meet with most of the academy’s training needs.
According to him ” We are able to do what we are doing because of the federal government’s investment in Maritime education/training in line with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed Hope agenda. In 2024 alone the academy trained a total of 4595 cadets out of which 180 were regular cadets and not less than 1000 of those trained by the nation’s premier maritime academy received Certificate of Competence, CoC from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency”. Furthermore, Okonna explained to the visiting Senators that the academy runs 48 courses including 12 Simulator courses.
At the end of the tour, Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun,
commended the academy’s acting rector for the Infrastructural development that has taken place in the academy noting that Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron is a national asset that must not be allowed to go down in standard of training and Infrastructural development.
Senator Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun who requested the acting rector of the Maritime academy of Nigeria, Oron, Dr Kevin Okonna to provide the Senate Committee on Marine Transport with the academy’s budgetary needs, promised to assist the academy by using the Senate Committee’s oversight function as a means to strengthen the Maritime sector stating that the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron has played a vital role in the training of manpower for the global Sea trade and by so doing positioned Nigeria among the commity of maritime countries worldwide.
Meanwhile, how the Senator Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun led Senate Committee on Marine Transport will match words with action will be seen in the months ahead.
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