FG To Train 6,000 Cadets In Oron

The Federal
Government is to train about 6,000 Nigerian Cadets who have completed their course work at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa-Ibom State.
The Rector of the Academy, Joshua Okpo who disclosed this to newsmen in Oron recently said the training of the cadets who had completed their course 15 years ago was part of the mandatory practical one-year sea time training on board ocean-going vessels.
Okpo said the cadets are yet to undertake the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) recommended compulsory sea time training due to lack of fund, and that the training is in compliance with the provisions of the IMO Convention on standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) 1978.
He disclosed that the federal government last year approved the sum of N8.2 billion to facilitate the training, but it was gathered that for the training of the 6,000 cadets, the government is to spend about N196.8 billion.
The figure, it was further gathered excludes the amount to give a similar training to other cadets, who graduate from the Academy yearly.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, during a ministerial briefing in Abuja last year reiterated the federal government’s commitment towards the training of the seafarers, but from all indications, the dwindling fortunes of the economy is drastically affecting the planned training of the seafarers.