Shipowners can now verify Nigerian seafarers’ CoC online – NIMASA

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has given assurances that shipowners can now verify Nigerian seafarers’ Certificate of Competency(CoC) online, from the comfort of their location.

Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, made this known weekend, while having a media parley with maritime journalists, in Lagos.

Jamoh said that the online portal for the verification was done to rebuild the lost confidence in the authenticity of Nigerian seafarers’ COC, which has suffered forgery by unscrupulous characters.

“Online certificate verification platform has been reactivated- this has drastically reduced falsification of Nigerian seafarers’ certificate and enhanced the employment of the Nigerian seafarer in the maritime sector.

“We had been experiencing rejection of Nigerian seafarers by ship-owners, both locally and internationally, and the agency decided to introduce the online certificate verification platform, which allows the ship-owners to access directly the candidates that pass the exams, right in the comfort of their office,” Jamoh said.

The Agency is confident that this approach would reduce the issue of forged certificates and improved the standard and confidence of its certification.