…Says Agency Records Higher Percentage Of Condition Survey Compare To 2020
The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh has disclosed that the agency recorded a higher percentage under condition survey in the year 2021 when compared to what was recorded in 2020.
Dr Bashir Jamoh said this on Friday at the NIMASA headquarters in Lagos while givimg a breakdown performance and achievement of the agency for the year 2021.
Dr Jamoh said that under condition survey, 489 vessels were surveyed in 2021 which is 43.6 percent higher than the 276 Vessels of condition survey carried out in year 2020.
Which according to him is an indication of the agency’s seriousness in terms of flag state survey despite the global pandemic challenges.
Meanwhile for the port state control functions of the agency, Jamoh hinted that 429 foreign vessels were boarded to ensure that each vessel maintained safety, pollution standards while at Nigeria ports and waters.
The figure of vessels recorded under port state implementation for the year under review stands at 675 which is 24.2 % higher than the 510 vessels
inspections carried out in 2020.
The NIMASA boss also hinted on the worrisome number of failures recorded among Nigerian seafarers who sat for Certificate of Competency examinations in the year 2020.
He said that, in the officers cadre in 2020, 829 sat for the examination while total number of 264 candidates passed and certified forming a percentage of 32%.
He disclosed that the total number of 565 candidates failed which formed 68 percentage and making a total certificates revalidated for year 2021 to stand at 246.
According to Jamoh “You can see a very serious and negative figures in terms of our students seating for professional examinations of different certificates amounting to 68% failure”
He also disclosed that the agency is liaising with various institutions to see how best to address the gap.
In his words “There are so many factors attached to this, and we hope that before the middle of 2022, we would overcome these challenges
“In 2020, Officers examination, the total number that sat for it was 610, and total number that passed was only 251, forming a percentage of 41% pass, while 359 failed, amounting to 59% failure.
“The total number of certificates revalidated was 132, this means that in 2021, we had 246, a considerable increase as being recorded.
“For Officers ratings, the total number that sat for the exams were 1,251, out of this, 926 passed, representing 74% passed. The total number of candidates that failed is 325, representing 26% failure.
“The examination for ratings in 2021, the total number of students who sat for the exams are 1,327, this is a sharp increase against the 2020 figure of 1,251.
The total number of candidates passed is 990 forming also 74% passed.
Total number of candidates failed is 337 with a percentage of failure of 26%” he said.
He said that online seafarers certificates of Competency verification platform has been reactivated, which has helped in reducing the forgery of Nigerian certificates and enhanced the employment of Nigerians in the maritime sector.
According to him “We have been experiencing rejection and discrimination against Nigerian seafarers by shipowners both locally and internationally, this is why the agency decided to introduce the online seafarers certificates of Competency verification platform which allowed shipowners to access these candidates that passed our examinations directly from the comfort of their offices” Jamoh quipped .
