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Expert seeks accreditation of maritime institutions for post-graduate training

The Rector of the Certified Institute
of Shipping, Prof. Alex Okwuashi, has urged the Federal Government to accredit
some maritime institutions for post-graduate training.
 

Okwuashi, a Professor of Maritime
Administration, made the plea in an interview in Lagos.
He said the institutions should
urgently be accredited to meet the manpower needs of the maritime industry.
“I urge the Federal Government to
accredit some maritime institutions so that they can train people at a higher
level to meet the manpower needs of the industry.
“As a matter of fact, I can say that
there is a shortfall of manpower if it is measured by the industry requirement
for the next five years.
“We may have manpower adequately
trained in the management area but not in the area of technology and other
engineering areas,’’ Okwuashi said.
He said the new focus of the maritime
industry to boost the nation’s economy required every necessary step to be
taken to meet international standards.
According to the rector, to attain
such height in the nation’s maritime sector, there is need to have institutions
training students up to master’s degree.
“At present, even the Maritime
Academy (MAN), Oron, does not train students to attain international standards
in manpower development.
“The training required should,
however, be up to Master’s degree for Naval Architects, Engineers and other
technical areas,’’ the rector said.
Okwuashi said it would be a step
ahead to have an institution like MAN, Oron, serving as a maritime college in
any of the newly-established maritime universities.
He said that such an initiative would
enable the academy to be upgraded with facilities for manpower training to
international standards, better than what obtained in the institution at
present.
Okwuashi said that because only the
government and wealthy individuals could afford to pay for maritime training
abroad, it would be difficult to enlarge the size of manpower needed in the
industry.

The rector said it was important to
develop local institutions offering maritime programmes to train as many people
as possible. 
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