Some cadets being trained under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) have staged a protest at the head office of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) at Burma Road, Apapa, Lagos.
The NSDP was created by NIMASA in 2008 with the mandate of training Nigerian youths to become seafarers and naval architects. The programme was designed to train Nigerian youths up to degree level in Marine Engineering, Nautical Sciences and Naval Architecture in maritime training institutions abroad and to position them to compete effectively in the global maritime industry.
However, some of the cadets, who protested at the NIMASA head office last week, said the agency has dragged their training, which should be for four years, to more than twelve years.
“We are here to protest peacefully and demand to know why a four-year programme has turned to 12 years,” one of the protesters said.
Many of the protesters said they have been unable to do anything meaningful with their lives since NIMASA has refused to pay for their training to acquire their certificates of competency.
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