Interview, News

How Not To Disagree With A Federal Minister By Ovie Edomi

There is nowhere in the civilsed world where a responsible government watches its institutions go moribund.

Since the beginning of this administration, the issue of maritime education and capacity building have been on the frontburner. As part of the reforms and Change agenda, the Honourable minister of transportation, Rt Hon Rotimi Ameachi, insisted that the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron (MAN,Oron) should be restructured in line with international standards. This was after the minister lamblasted the last administration for putting so much money into the Maritime University project at Okerenko, Delta State when the funds ought to be used to fund the over 40 years old Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron.

For his insisting on the adequate funding the MAN,Oron, the Honourable Minister was criticised to high heavens by Deltans and other stakeholders until the federal government insisted that the Maritime University project must continue.

This was after this writer and Asu Beks, a renowned maritime journalist and Publisher had written to  President Buhari and the Transportation Minister  pleading with the duo to allow maritime education and capacity building policy of government to have a meaning by allowing the present maritime institutions to remain and be adequately funded. Not long, after our plea, two bills for the establishment of maritime universities were presented to the National Assembly by Senator James Manager from Delta South and his counterpart from Akwa lbom State.

Just when maritime experts were getting excited that Nigeria is opening up her maritime domain to train more manpower via the possible upgrade of MAN,Oron to a University in addition to the establishment of another maritime university in Delta state, what we have seen in the last couple of days is sponsored protests and negative comments

Indeed, the initial protest against the acting rector and the Chief Sarumi led six-man committee is to say the least undesirable. I know that many have chosen to maintain dignified silence but if indeed we want to build the maritime academy of Nigeria Oron that is acceptable to maritime stakeholders and recognised my World Maritime University, Malmo Sweden, then we must first look at what led to the sorry state that the academy is today and then analyse the present situation.

First, the two host communities of the Martime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, have been at war for decades. A development that made indigenes of one of the communities to abandoned their ancestral homes.

After government took over the vast area of land now used for the academy the villagers had no access road to their ancestral homes so the people of the community have no choice but to pass through the academy gate to get to their village unless they want to go by canoe. The issue of creating alternative road for the host communities to access their ancestral homes has been on for years but nothing has been done. But for an institution of government concern about upgrade, another road leading to the two host communities should be top priority to government.

More importantly, the peace that exist in between the two host communities where the academy is located is indeed the peace of the graveyard. This is basically because of the presence of mobile policemen, the Navy and local vigilante in addition to the cadets. Even then their presence is not enough to guarantee absolute peace. Interestingly, the situation has not stopped the academy from training merchant navy and ratings for the international sea trade but once in a while crisis erupts

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What happens most times is that youths from the host communities including the elders insist on the academy’s leadership providing them with equal opportunities to admission, employment, and local content in terms of local jobs. But what is however obtainable is that the little they ask for are either not available or have been hijacked by top politicians based in Uyo or Abuja. The resultant effect is that when the young adults who live in squalor pass through the academy to their villages  they see affluence all around thus making their animosity against the academy to  increase the more especially when they see the flashy cars of management staff and lecturers. It not a surprise that the youth and elders of the host communities continue to ask for empowerment. But in truth, the academy is the only existing functional federal government institution in the state.So anybody looking for a share of the national cake in Akwa lbom,the academy is their first consideration

Sometimes, the agitations for a piece of the national cake gets worse and violent especially when the rector or administrator of the academy is not an indigene and is not sensitive to the plight of the host communities and the other stakeholders in Uyo and beyond.

In fact the first Nigerian administrator of the academy, after the Egyptians left the academy for an ingenious administrator in the person of Engr Akinsoji, at a time Akinsoji had to flee from the academy when he got wind of a plot to eliminate him in the heat of internal crisis. His successor, Mr Nysen Ebong, an indigene of Akwa ibom State who was appointed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as acting rector for two years before he was confirmed as rector, was however able to complete his two- term tenure owing to his doggedness, charisma, straightforwardness and refusal to be intimidated.

Unfortunately, the  two rectors that succeeded Ebong did not live to tell their stories but those of us that have dealings with the academy for decades know that they did not find it easy running the academy. However, giving the benefit of insight l can say that the issue of the Academy can be resolved in one fell swoop if people see the academy as a federal government institution that must be promoted to achieve the goal of government.

But as long as a federal government institution like the MAN,Oron, is run as if “government work no be your papa work but a place to share the national cake,” there will be a problem especially when those who insist on doing the right thing are either attacked, threatened, petitioned or criticised to high heavens.

To my mind, Amaechi may not have visited the academy since assumption of office but giving the benefit of insight as to how government institutions work, the minister has good briefs from the acting rectors and the Chief Sarumi-led committee. Consequently, if we want a holistic solution to the MAN Oron crisis, we need to stabilise the management of the academy as well as ensure peace in the operational environment.

Stabilising management of MAN Oron is a difficult task considering the struggle amongst top directors for the number one seat especially amongst indigenes of Akwa lbom State from the Oron nation.

Don’t get me wrong here. I  support the agitation for a son of the soil to be made the head of the institution for once but it must be done strategically, and on merit knowing that it is a federal government institution. Two, the issue of father, mother, son, daughter and extended relations working in the same academy, is against the civil service rule and makes the academy looks like a family conglomerate. Did the civil service rule day husband and wife can not work in the same organisation? How the ministry of Transportation allowed five family members working in one government institution when millions of yoing adults are on the street looking for employment remains a big puzzle.

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Three, the issue of enduring peace in the operational environment is key and to me, that is another major problem. The Akwa lbom state government has tried to resolve the communal crisis between the two communities for decades now without success, and for a federal government institution to operate in such an environment, more leadership skills and security networking is required which is why l commend Ameachi for appointing a man with a military background for now

The Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Delta State, one of the institutions expected to launch Nigeria into steel production was made to go moribund because of communal crisis and bad leadership as well as policy of government. Today, you will weep for the nation if you visit DSC, Aladja.

Evidently, the MAN Oron issue is beyond street protests and blocking of roads leading to the institution. It is also beyond petition and sponsored write-ups against the Honourable Minister or the 6-man committee.

I do not know why the six-man committee is to work with an acting rector to implement their recommendations to government but we must not forget that the National Assembly needs to first repeal the law establishing the academy as an institution established to train merchant navy/cadets for the international sea trade before proclaiming it a specialise university for maritime studies.

Also, MAN,Oron, as one of the over 500 institutions recognised by the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, for the training of lower and middle cadre officers for the international sea trade, the IMO needs to be fully involved in the maritime university status for the academy. In fact when the president of World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden visited Nigeria in 2013 for the first time, this writer interviewed him exclusively in his Eko Hotel suite and on the issue of evaluating MAN, Oron with a view to making it a maritime university, Prof Bjorn Kjerfvr said, “The Ministry of Transportation brought the issue to us under Senator Idris Umar and since we have the competence to do what the ministry wanted us to do, we agreed. First, we asked the Maritime Academy, Oron to provide us with a self evaluation document. We have received it but it is a confidential document. We hope to come to the academy again with some additional questions. Once we get response to those questions, shortly after we will send a team of two or three  professors to interview the instructors and talk to the administrator who is the rector. From what l have told you, you can imagine that l do not control time but if everything goes well everything can be completed.”

It is now four years since the former president of the world number one maritime university visited Nigeria. The question is what happened to the plan to attain the university status through IMO

Indeed, the problem of MAN,Oron started long before Hon Amaechi became minister of tansportation. Though l am not speaking for him the best would have been for the ministry of Transportation to adequately brief the minister of the various efforts of government to collaborate with the World Maritime University to convert the academy to a university but the bureaucracy of government coupled with the politics of who becomes rector of the academy resulted to several setbacks.

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I know for sure that at a point a professor from Akwa lbom State was being tipped for the headship of the academy, at the end of the late rector’s first tenure but the Buhari administration reappointed the late Dr Joshua Okpo for a second tenure. His death, few months after the renewal of his second term in office, led to fresh struggle for the number-one seat and in so doing rather than build on existing policy framework that was intended to reposition the academy in line with government policy framework for the transport sector especially maritime education fell by the way side.

If indeed the federal government is determined to address the challenges of MAN,Oron, first, the acting rector should serve for a short time paving way for a maritime academics trained at the world maritime university to be appointed as the head of the academy. This is so because the academy is listed among other maritime academies in the world so a world acclaimed maritime expert will relate with the world maritime institutions better. Also lecturers from the Arab Maritime Academy and other maritime academies should be hired along side Nigerian master mariners to kick start adequate training of our cadets at MAN,Oron in line with IMO’s standard.  Some of the lecturers and directors that we presently have have to be seconded  to the federal ministry of Transportation,Abuja for MAN,Oron to start on a clean slate. Besides, the study centres earlier created for the academy in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and so on should be abolished.

This is necessary because MAN, Oron is one of the academies that the World Maritime University, which is owned by IMO, believes it has a stake in just like the Nigeria Customs College, which the World Trade Organisation, WTO believes it has a stake in.  So MAN, Oron must be run in line with global standard

That way, Nigeria will not lose out in the effort to change the status of the academy to a university.

More importantly, MAN,Oron as well as the newly established Maritime University at Okerenkoko, in Delta state  needs a nation carrier and it is the best way to make our cadets to get international jobs and contribute to the nation’s GDP. The agitation for national carrier or an arrangement than fighting for the soul of the academy on one hand and fighting for who becomes rector on the other hand.

For now Rt Hon Amaechi needs the acting rector, his six-man committee led by Chief Adebayo Sarumi and the transport ministry officials to look at how to improve on the teaching kits for cadets, upgrade the facilities to modern technology, merge some departments for effectiveness and more importantly interfacing with the IMO and the World Maritime University if MAN,Oron as a maritime institution must occupy its place of pride. Anything short of these will only be postponing the evil days

– Edomi, a former Media Consultant to the Academy, is a Mass Communication scholar and editor-in-chief of South-South international as well as President of League of Maritime Editors