Seafarers Decry Ghanaians’ Dominance In Trawling Business

Some disengaged Nigerian seafarers have alleged that Ghanaians have taken over their jobs.
They said that Ghanaians now dominated the trawling business in Nigeria and called for government’s intervention to save them from losing jobs.
They alleged that the ugly trend had rendered so many Nigerian trained sailors jobless, while Ghanaians were having a field day in the fishing business.
The sailors told newsmen in Lagos, yesterday that many of the Ghanaians, who lacked the requisite entry papers, were accepting pay far below the industry average.
A former seafarer, Mr Emmanuel Nwaude said that even some Nigerian trawlers were employing Ghanaians more than their fellow nationals.
Nwaude, who had worked for 10 years on board before he was retrenched in 2017 without compensation, said that life had been a hell for him and his family of four.
The sailor alleged that only few Nigerians made the crew in one of the leading trawlers in Nigeria with 86 trawling vessels, .
“In a crew of 12 to 14 as the case may be, it is only one or two Nigerian sailors that you will see on board, the rest are Ghanaians who are not better than our men.
“It is disgusting that after spending a fortune to acquire certification coupled with on the job experience, one will be displaced by other nationals in his own country,” Nwaude said.
A Marine Engineer, Mr Friday Akpan said that the delay by NIMASA to update seafarers’ documents had denied many of the opportunity to sail.
The engineer, who alleged that he was denied employment on board a vessel in Ghana in 2014 for not stamping entry in his passport, expressed regret over the nonchalant attitude of immigration officers in Nigeria.