On this article we are going to look into the difficulties which the Nigerian seafarers are facing in regards of the salaries and jobs.
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Oliver Okeke , is one of the Nigerian seafarers by rank 2nd engineer. he made a large points on how the poor
Nigerian seafarer's salary as major obstacle to 2003 cabotage act . The Cabotage law which was passed into law in the year 2003 , which primarily states that "All commercial transportation of goods and services within Nigerian
coastal and inland waters to vessels flying the Nigerian flag, crewed by
Nigerian seafarers and owned by persons of Nigerian citizenship."
On that act, Oliver narrated how this act was not favorable to many Nigerians due to improper attention to it. below are the points he made, which in the international community, is not done that way.:
"
CABOTAGE TRADE REQUIREMENTS "
"Four pillar
requirements for a Vessel to participate in Cabotage trade are: (i) The
Vessel must be owned by Nigerian citizens, (ii) The vessel must be
crewed by Nigerian seafarers, (iii) The vessel must be built in Nigeria
and (iV) The vessel must be registered in Nigeria. However, a waiver
allows Foreign-Owned Vessels to be eligible for participation in the
Cabotage trade where Nigerians cannot meet up with the four pillar
requirements. Foreign owned vessels are required to obtain this waiver
and a licence for participation in coastal trade (cabotage) from the
Minister of Transport"
CABOTAGE ACT REALISABITLITY
"All of these requirements can be easily available and obtainable in Nigeria with the exception of
#3 [Ships Built in Nigeria], reason being that Nigeria currently do not have adequate capacity ship building yard. We only have ship repair yards and
Nigerdock, the biggest of them, only currently build small capacity vessels.
#1 requirement [Ships owned by Nigerian citizens] should
not be a big problem judging from Nigeria, as a country, being an ‘Oil
Rich Nation’ and many of her citizens carrying big names in and outside
the country as Millionaires and Billionaires, though corruption and
Political instability do not allow them.
Nigerian Seafarers are trying in
#2 Requirement [Crewed by Nigerians]. Though faced with the major problem of not having an indigenous
Maritime Institution
accredited to award higher Competency Certificates (CoC) and no
government training scholarship, many still struggle on their own to
obtain CoC in countries of Europe, America and Asia. As I write this,
there are sufficient number of Nigerian seafarers qualified to
international standard which will be enough to fill #2 Requirement of
2003 carbotage Act.
However, most of these Officers prefer
to stay abroad and work due to Poor salary which is often offered to
them by Nigerian Companies simply because they are Nigerians.
These Nigerian Maritime companies prefer to employ lower certificated
foreigners and pay them high amount of dollars while paying higher
qualified Nigerian seafarers salary barely enough to survive them.
FRESH SCHOOL GRADUATES (CADETS) WORST HIT BY POOR SALARIES
Fresh school graduates (Cadets) are worst hit by the poor salaries paid by these companies.
Nigerian
Maritime companies no longer employ Cadets [NIMASA and Government
should please do something about this. If you don’t train Cadets, how do
you expect to get officers to fill the industry in the future] and
where they are employed, they are paid only 20k Naira per month (convert
it to dollar please because training is in dollars) without a plan or
promise to sponsor them for their CoC. These Cadets now “struggle” to get employed as Motorman(Oiler) and Able Seaman(AB) where they are paid 40K to 60K Naira
With this rate of salary, they find it very difficult to save money, and
with the increasing number & cost of safety and security
training/certificates required by IMO for maritime/shipboard employment,
to go to school and write their first certificate (OOW) which is
required for progression and to fill in the future maritime industry
manpower. These cadets have to struggle for about 5 to 6 years to be
able to go to school and write their 1st CoC. From 1st CoC to 2nd CoC
and to Chief/Master CoC it is the same story because of poor salary.."
EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY
The truth about it all is that "Most Nigerian
maritime companies prefer to employ foreigners and pay them huge amount
of dollars (e.g. Nigerian Captain: 500K naira = 2500USD, Foreign
captain: 6000 to 10000USD). This they do because they believe that
foreigners will be more hardworking and will better protect their
investment. What they do not know is that an equally certificated
Nigerian, if paid the same amount of money, or even three quarter the
amount, will work harder than the foreign counterpart and will protect
that investment more because you know him up to his village and know his
village chief.
I worked in a company where this Chief engineer, who earns more
than 30000USD per month, will wear coverall (working cloth) from morning
till the next morning, every day, 24hours. Most times, he will go under
an engine, smear his coverall with grease just to show that he is
working and to justify his salary. Even his fellow expatriates, who are
paid lower salaries will laugh and talk about him, but at his back. Pay a
Nigerian Engineer half of that salary, you will see productivity."
To me this man made a very big points, in which NIMASA have to work on. because that is what they are there for. please if you support this post, place your comments and share it to reach the DG of NIMASA. thanks.
Reference:
Linkin Oilver Okeke post.
Photo by a Nigerian officer.
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