The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State has made public its plans to build what it called a “marine exhibition centre” in the school.
He explained that the centre would go a long way to meets the yearnings and aspirations of those who come on an excursion to the school.
This is coming on the heels of efforts to enhance its profile and provide technical capacity with more stimulators and better remuneration for its staff.
The Rector of MAN Oron, Comr. Duja Efedua revealed this recently while hosting a delegation of Alumni of MAN Oron (AMANO) led by its President, Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa.
He enumerated the strides the school has made since he was appointed just as he pointed out that it was in every ramification.
His words: “The academy now has three major simulators which is one of the latest in the world. Multifunctional classroom simulation system, full mission bridge simulation and full mission engine room simulation”.
The Rector who also received an award of excellence from AMANO assured that his leadership has a goal to restore the academy to its proper place as a world-class maritime training institution.
He expressed delight that most of the problems that bedeviled the institution in the past had been addressed, including the challenges of overcrowding of cadets in hostels and classrooms with a hostel room accommodating up to 18 cadets per room in the past, poor medical facility and poor transportation system.
According to him, the academy was able to carry out an upward review of salaries, especially for contracted instructors with special skills, to be able to attract and keep quality personnel with regular training.
Noting that the academy was expecting more Master Mariners to join it soon, he said this transformation has resulted in the employment of over 100 members of the host community, and assured that more would be employed in future.
He revealed that the academy was now ready to start pursuing international certification as a means to propagate the shipping profession.
The Rector went further to opine that one of the reasons for the recorded failures in Certificate of Competency (CoC) was the participants’ inability to attend classes as most of them tried to juggle between retaining their jobs on a ship and attending the CoC classes.
He informed AMANO that the school has sent about 15 members of staff to India for training that will close most of the gaps limiting the academy.
Efedua seized the opportunity to introduce the newly introduced security certificate that addressed the issue of counterfeits, adding that the certificate could also be verified online.
Maiguwa in his remarks commended Efedua and his team for the reception and excellent work of transformation being carried out in the school.
He expressed confidence that if this is sustained for a few more years, MAN, Oron will have the chance of becoming one of the top maritime training facilities in Africa.
He stated than the aim of the visit was to enable members of the association to assess the progress on the ground and learn from the management how best AMANO could use its wealth of experience in the industry to support the academy.
He stated that the school must seek a special grant to make adequate funding available for it to attract active seafarers who will be motivated to share their work time between ships and the academy without losing remuneration.
“The current compensation is not attractive to attract seafarers and their up-to-date knowledge and skills are required to impact the training of cadets that will compete favourably with their counterparts elsewhere in the world. N600, 000 is far too low to attract a sea-going Master Mariner to forgo a ship”, he said.
