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Business News of Thursday, 1 July 2021

Source: tribuneonlineng.com

Fair treatment of seafarers must remain a priority — Amaechi

The photo used to illustrate the story The photo used to illustrate the story

Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has challenged ship-owners and other stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime industry to device creative means of ensuring improved welfare for seafarers, while proffering permanent solutions to issues that affect their work. Amaechi stated this in Lagos in his address at the 2021 Day of the Seafarer, with the theme, “Fair Future for Seafarers.”

The Minister extolled seafarers in Nigeria and the world over for their enormous contributions to global commerce and economy, generally, saying seafarers “contend with perils of the seas and sometimes put their lives on the line just to ensure that goods are safely delivered at designated ports. This is one of the reasons we celebrate the seafarers every year.”

Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, spoke in a similar vein in his welcome address. But Jamoh also insisted on a reconsideration of the war risk insurance premium charged on cargo headed for the Gulf of Guinea.

He was reacting to the response of the Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a specialist business information service dedicated to the global maritime community, to his earlier call for review of the high insurance based on improved security conditions in the region.

“As we celebrate the seafarers’ day, let us further identify and proffer workable solutions to the issues that will still be relevant to the seafarers after the pandemic, such as fair treatment, living and working conditions of the seafarers, etc,” Amaechi told maritime stakeholders.

He highlighted the harrowing experiences seafarers endured in the course of their job, especially at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“I am, however, glad to inform you that Nigeria, as a member state of the IMO, was one of the first countries to declare seafarers essential workers in order to ease their sufferings,” the Minister stated.

He added, “The nation through the Federal Ministry of Transportation and its Agencies will continue to ensure that government policies are tailored towards improving the welfare and working conditions of the seafarers in line with international standard and statutory conventions.”

The highlight of the event was the presentation of Certificates of Competency (COC) to cadets of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) who recently graduated from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandra, Egypt, by the NIMASA, Director-General.

June 25, every year is designated as the Day of the Seafarer by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to celebrate seafarers and their contributions to human progress.