NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
The Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stressed the importance of seafarers in global shipping business, urging their employers and other critical stakeholders to begin to take seriously, issues bothering on their safety, work environment, welfare and health.
Peterside, who spoke on Saturday at the celebration of the International Day of the Seafarer, disclosed that the NIMASA is presently inundated with cases of employers refusing to pay seafarers salaries and allowances legitimately earned by them, and hoped that cases of poor welfare of the seafarers will become a thing of the past.
While delivering an address themed “At Sea for All,” Peterside said “It is pertinent for us to understand that without seafarers there will be no shippingtransportation; thus we ought torecognise the importance and indispensability of shipping to theworld’ssocio-economic setting.”
He pointed out that maritime transportation more than any other mode of transportation, facilitates the movement of huge volume of global trade to various destinations across the world seas. The DG also disclosed that one of the core functions of NIMASA is the development of shipping and regulation of matters relating to merchant shipping and seafarers, which he said, clearly underscores the importance that the agency pays to the welfare of seafarers.
“This year’s campaignis aimedat celebrating Seafarers and letting the world know how and why seafarers are indispensible to everyone.As we mark this year’s day of the Seafarers, the focus is on maritime education and encouraging young people to consider a career at Sea," he said.
In line with Maritime Labour Convention, he identified a Seafarer as any person who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a ship. “Thus from the Captain to the boiler and cook, the Convention applies to them; therefore seafarers also have employment and social rights as contained in Article IV of the MLC 2006.”
He pointed out that over the years,various types of vessels have beenbuilt forthe purpose of carriage of persons and goods from one point to another. Technology has brought about improvement in thetype,size, speed,designandcompartments for carrying passengers and goods on board vessels. However, no matterhow atheistically beautiful andwellconstructedin terms of navigation and operationalcapacity, the vessel will not move without someoneto navigate across the vast oceans of the world.
He described the occasion as arare opportunity for the world to celebrate the Seafarer whoisrarely acknowledged as thecore component in the development of global shipping, which explains why the International Maritime Organisation has as its theme for thisyear’s celebration as“At Sea for All”.
“It is important that stakeholders and the general public appreciate what the Seafarers endure when carrying out their responsibilities such as themany months they spend away from their loved ones under harshweather conditions in the turbulent seas.
“Seafarers can be termed as citizens of the world in the sense that they are constantly on the move on account of the vessel which they are on board; they practically live their lives at sea andsometimes sacrificea lot to ensure that passengers and goods get safely to their final destinations.
“Inrecognition of the abovefactand given the global nature of shipping, seafarers need special protection; hence,the International Labour Organisation in 2006 cameup with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 otherwise referred to as the seafarers’ Bill of Rights.A Treaty Nigeria has ratified.
According to Peterside, NIMASA, in realisingtheemployment opportunity in seafaringas a result of the dearth of seafarers globally, introduced the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) to afford Nigerians theadequatetraining andpropercertification opportunity to get engaged in seafaring on board vessels irrespective of flag.This, he said is a strategic intervention of government as a way of making Nigeriaa major supplier of seafarers likethe Chinese, Indians and Phillipinosthus, contributingto Nigeria’s economic growth.
•Photo shows Dakuku Peterside.
