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This is because the HDI is one of the ways in which the contribution of human capability to maritime safety can be analysed. It was recently reported that Nigeria ranks 153rd out of 187 countries in the United Nations HDI. It is necessary to subject this report to further analysis as it affects maritime safety in Nigeria.
Life expectancy
According to the World Health Organisation, life expectancy is the average number of years a person can expect to live. Thus, the average life expectancy in Nigeria was put at 52 years in 2011, while it is the 17th lowest in the world. This abysmal ranking, when viewed within the context of this article, was as a result of polluted waters, oil spills, ship wrecks, untreated sewage, heavy siltation, acidification, overfishing and destruction of coastal and marine habitat.
However, as a result of shift to double-hull tankers, oil discharges and spills to the sea have elsewhere been reduced by 63 percent, and tanker accidents have gone down by 75 percent and industrial discharges by 90 percent. This is not the same story in Nigeria as most of the ships operating in the oil and gas sector are single-hull and are very old. In fact, the number of ship wrecks is of major concern to maritime experts in Nigeria. It is a clear demonstration of NIMASA’s inability to cope with its mandate as a maritime safety enforcement agent.
High carbon emissions from ships resulting in environmental pollution and consequently affecting marine life and their ability to recover from extreme climatic conditions increase the cost of human health risk. Most seafarers indulge in various habits injurious to health such as excessive smoking, drinking of alcohol. These are health-threatening habits that may affect life expectancy and performance of seafarers. An assembly of healthy and skilled Nigerians is required as a contributory tool to maritime safety. Consequently, Nigerians must change their attitude towards having a safe maritime environment in order to increase their life-expectancy rating.
Education
With rapid changes in technology and the world becoming increasingly knowledge-based, education has become an important driver of human development. The quality of education is a critical factor for improving the quality of human resources in general and in particular for developing new skills, cultural values and behavioural pattern needed in the marine industry. An educated and healthy workforce is critical to increasing productivity in all sectors of the nation’s economy. In order to sustain shipping, the IMO through the International Safety Management (ISM) Codes frames the Safety Management Systems so that ship owners/operators could meet high training standards. For instance, the Standard of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping (STWC) Conventions 1995 amendment to the 1978 version for seafarers established training requirements for mariners based on the level of their licence, the ship type and minimum standards of safety. According to Ornitz, “The STWC Conventions provide guidance to training institutions as they teach safety and quality management, and also integrate classroom learning with real life experience.”
In Nigeria, NIMASA has accredited some training institutions to train those aspiring to be seafarers in line with IMO requirements. The government has also recently established a maritime university in Delta State, Nigeria, while training others in countries such as the Philippines and Egypt, amongst others. There are other private institutions within the country managed by individuals and the government-owned Maritime Academy, Oron, offering maritime-related courses up to post-graduate level. Whilst it is conceded that an appreciable level of success is made in maritime education in Nigeria, serious questions still remain regarding the quality. This is because in the past decade, the country has drifted to a situation of low academic standard. The proliferation of maritime schools has not helped matters as most students are ill-prepared for the marine profession.
For instance, “in 2012, out of 1,540,250 students that wrote the WAEC examination, only 789,288 representing 51.71 percent obtained 5 credits and above including Mathematics and English”. This has been the pattern in the past few years. The implication is that only few students possess the aptitude to study maritime-related courses which are mostly science-based. Importantly, there are no government-owned ships for those who are just graduating from maritime institutions to develop practical skills in marine engineering, navigation and seamanship. It could be argued that it is not necessary for the government to buy ships when in the last two decades there has been a decline in the number of skilled people to operate Nigerian-owned vessels.
The shortfall between educational provision and demand for places in the nation’s maritime industry is so substantial that many youths spend most precious time searching for work. This is because graduates of maritime institutions lack skills and qualifications that are pro-industry. This has undermined the government’s local content effort as foreign ship owners are not willing to employ most Nigerian seafarers. Instead, it is Indians, Filipinos, Greeks and Chinese that are mostly employed to work onboard most merchant ships in Nigeria. NIMASA therefore has a regulatory responsibility to ensure that standards stated in the ISM Codes are maintained in all institutions accredited to offer marine-related courses. The truth about maritime safety is that seafarers must possess “a culture that is characterised by rationality, inquisitiveness, motivation to learn and acquire new knowledge, focus on quality and deep roots in excellence”, while ship owners and operators must be committed to safety of crew, ship and the environment by ensuring that they provide competent, well-trained and motivated staff to maintain their vessels promptly.
Literacy
In the last 30 years, the number of tertiary institutions has increased exceedingly. Nigeria can now boast of 37 federal universities, 47 private universities, 38 state universities, 21 federal polytechnics, 36 state and 22 private polytechnics as well as numerous colleges of education. There are equally numerous maritime institutions accredited and not accredited by NIMASA in the country. In 2013, however, a newspaper reported that 10.5 million children were out of school. This, according to the then minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike, was “indeed an embarrassing literary statistics on Nigeria”. It was also reported that the number of illiterate adults has increased over the past two decades to reach 35 million. By implication, about 40 percent of Nigerians of working class (15-65 years) are illiterate. Consequently, the nation is not producing technologically-literate citizens who possess the qualities to engender maritime safety. This is because the ship is a complex system whose safety requirements are to be provided by males and females who possess necessary skill, knowledge and experience. Low levels of literacy and education in general can impede human development in a country and indeed the marine industry in a rapidly changing technology-driven world. Improving the nation’s literacy level requires commitment at all levels of government.
GDP per capita
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is most times used as an indicator and not as a measurement of a country’s standard of living. This is based on the assumption that all citizens will benefit from their county’s economic production. The standard of living of people in a country is determined by factors such as income, quality and availability of employment, class disparity, poverty rate, quality and affordable housing. Other factors include hours of work to purchase necessities, inflation rate, affordable or free access to healthcare, cost of goods and services, environmental quality, climate and safety, amongst others. But what do seafarers want? They want to live long, fulfilling lives, not just to be very rich.
It is regrettable to state that maritime safety cannot be at its peak in a nation where unemployment is high, environmental quality is below average, incidence of disease is high, and life expectancy is below average. Even, when the GDP is improved or rebased, neither maritime safety nor human development is enhanced. This is because GDP is a measure of economic quantity, not economic quality or welfare, let alone social or environmental well-being. The risk of shipping is high in Nigeria regarding maritime safety, as most ships are very old and not seaworthy. This is evidenced by the number of ship wrecks along the nation’s coastline. It was recently reported that “the nation’s coastline particularly in Lagos area is harbouring about 200 shipwrecks and abandoned ships”. This has posed danger to navigation as well as the environment. The health of people is compromised by the toxic water occasioned by decay of the wreckage. The Lagos State government has requested for N25 billion to salvage these abandoned vessels. In the same vein, NIMASA placed an advertorial in one of the newspapers directing the owners of the abandoned ships to make necessary arrangements for salvage. It is expedient to know how these ships found their ways into Nigeria’s maritime space.
The opportunities available for those operating in the shipping industry are unlimited. However, the prospect of those in shipping providing adequate maritime safety is limited because of shortage of skilled staff. Additionally, factors such as polluted waters, low level of literacy, insufficient knowledge coupled with limited funds have impaired the capability of those who are operating within the nation’s shipping industry to provide maritime safety. Consequently, maritime safety is secondary and at its ebb because Nigerian shipping companies are benefitting only from a fraction of the opportunities available. For Nigerian ship owners and operators to tap into these opportunities, the government must create enabling environment, attitude of individuals must change positively, people must be given quality education, and there must be leadership commitment at all levels to sustaining safety culture. It is only then that human development can be a prerequisite for maritime safety.
Life expectancy
According to the World Health Organisation, life expectancy is the average number of years a person can expect to live. Thus, the average life expectancy in Nigeria was put at 52 years in 2011, while it is the 17th lowest in the world. This abysmal ranking, when viewed within the context of this article, was as a result of polluted waters, oil spills, ship wrecks, untreated sewage, heavy siltation, acidification, overfishing and destruction of coastal and marine habitat.
However, as a result of shift to double-hull tankers, oil discharges and spills to the sea have elsewhere been reduced by 63 percent, and tanker accidents have gone down by 75 percent and industrial discharges by 90 percent. This is not the same story in Nigeria as most of the ships operating in the oil and gas sector are single-hull and are very old. In fact, the number of ship wrecks is of major concern to maritime experts in Nigeria. It is a clear demonstration of NIMASA’s inability to cope with its mandate as a maritime safety enforcement agent.
High carbon emissions from ships resulting in environmental pollution and consequently affecting marine life and their ability to recover from extreme climatic conditions increase the cost of human health risk. Most seafarers indulge in various habits injurious to health such as excessive smoking, drinking of alcohol. These are health-threatening habits that may affect life expectancy and performance of seafarers. An assembly of healthy and skilled Nigerians is required as a contributory tool to maritime safety. Consequently, Nigerians must change their attitude towards having a safe maritime environment in order to increase their life-expectancy rating.
Education
With rapid changes in technology and the world becoming increasingly knowledge-based, education has become an important driver of human development. The quality of education is a critical factor for improving the quality of human resources in general and in particular for developing new skills, cultural values and behavioural pattern needed in the marine industry. An educated and healthy workforce is critical to increasing productivity in all sectors of the nation’s economy. In order to sustain shipping, the IMO through the International Safety Management (ISM) Codes frames the Safety Management Systems so that ship owners/operators could meet high training standards. For instance, the Standard of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping (STWC) Conventions 1995 amendment to the 1978 version for seafarers established training requirements for mariners based on the level of their licence, the ship type and minimum standards of safety. According to Ornitz, “The STWC Conventions provide guidance to training institutions as they teach safety and quality management, and also integrate classroom learning with real life experience.”
In Nigeria, NIMASA has accredited some training institutions to train those aspiring to be seafarers in line with IMO requirements. The government has also recently established a maritime university in Delta State, Nigeria, while training others in countries such as the Philippines and Egypt, amongst others. There are other private institutions within the country managed by individuals and the government-owned Maritime Academy, Oron, offering maritime-related courses up to post-graduate level. Whilst it is conceded that an appreciable level of success is made in maritime education in Nigeria, serious questions still remain regarding the quality. This is because in the past decade, the country has drifted to a situation of low academic standard. The proliferation of maritime schools has not helped matters as most students are ill-prepared for the marine profession.
For instance, “in 2012, out of 1,540,250 students that wrote the WAEC examination, only 789,288 representing 51.71 percent obtained 5 credits and above including Mathematics and English”. This has been the pattern in the past few years. The implication is that only few students possess the aptitude to study maritime-related courses which are mostly science-based. Importantly, there are no government-owned ships for those who are just graduating from maritime institutions to develop practical skills in marine engineering, navigation and seamanship. It could be argued that it is not necessary for the government to buy ships when in the last two decades there has been a decline in the number of skilled people to operate Nigerian-owned vessels.
The shortfall between educational provision and demand for places in the nation’s maritime industry is so substantial that many youths spend most precious time searching for work. This is because graduates of maritime institutions lack skills and qualifications that are pro-industry. This has undermined the government’s local content effort as foreign ship owners are not willing to employ most Nigerian seafarers. Instead, it is Indians, Filipinos, Greeks and Chinese that are mostly employed to work onboard most merchant ships in Nigeria. NIMASA therefore has a regulatory responsibility to ensure that standards stated in the ISM Codes are maintained in all institutions accredited to offer marine-related courses. The truth about maritime safety is that seafarers must possess “a culture that is characterised by rationality, inquisitiveness, motivation to learn and acquire new knowledge, focus on quality and deep roots in excellence”, while ship owners and operators must be committed to safety of crew, ship and the environment by ensuring that they provide competent, well-trained and motivated staff to maintain their vessels promptly.
Literacy
In the last 30 years, the number of tertiary institutions has increased exceedingly. Nigeria can now boast of 37 federal universities, 47 private universities, 38 state universities, 21 federal polytechnics, 36 state and 22 private polytechnics as well as numerous colleges of education. There are equally numerous maritime institutions accredited and not accredited by NIMASA in the country. In 2013, however, a newspaper reported that 10.5 million children were out of school. This, according to the then minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike, was “indeed an embarrassing literary statistics on Nigeria”. It was also reported that the number of illiterate adults has increased over the past two decades to reach 35 million. By implication, about 40 percent of Nigerians of working class (15-65 years) are illiterate. Consequently, the nation is not producing technologically-literate citizens who possess the qualities to engender maritime safety. This is because the ship is a complex system whose safety requirements are to be provided by males and females who possess necessary skill, knowledge and experience. Low levels of literacy and education in general can impede human development in a country and indeed the marine industry in a rapidly changing technology-driven world. Improving the nation’s literacy level requires commitment at all levels of government.
GDP per capita
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is most times used as an indicator and not as a measurement of a country’s standard of living. This is based on the assumption that all citizens will benefit from their county’s economic production. The standard of living of people in a country is determined by factors such as income, quality and availability of employment, class disparity, poverty rate, quality and affordable housing. Other factors include hours of work to purchase necessities, inflation rate, affordable or free access to healthcare, cost of goods and services, environmental quality, climate and safety, amongst others. But what do seafarers want? They want to live long, fulfilling lives, not just to be very rich.
It is regrettable to state that maritime safety cannot be at its peak in a nation where unemployment is high, environmental quality is below average, incidence of disease is high, and life expectancy is below average. Even, when the GDP is improved or rebased, neither maritime safety nor human development is enhanced. This is because GDP is a measure of economic quantity, not economic quality or welfare, let alone social or environmental well-being. The risk of shipping is high in Nigeria regarding maritime safety, as most ships are very old and not seaworthy. This is evidenced by the number of ship wrecks along the nation’s coastline. It was recently reported that “the nation’s coastline particularly in Lagos area is harbouring about 200 shipwrecks and abandoned ships”. This has posed danger to navigation as well as the environment. The health of people is compromised by the toxic water occasioned by decay of the wreckage. The Lagos State government has requested for N25 billion to salvage these abandoned vessels. In the same vein, NIMASA placed an advertorial in one of the newspapers directing the owners of the abandoned ships to make necessary arrangements for salvage. It is expedient to know how these ships found their ways into Nigeria’s maritime space.
The opportunities available for those operating in the shipping industry are unlimited. However, the prospect of those in shipping providing adequate maritime safety is limited because of shortage of skilled staff. Additionally, factors such as polluted waters, low level of literacy, insufficient knowledge coupled with limited funds have impaired the capability of those who are operating within the nation’s shipping industry to provide maritime safety. Consequently, maritime safety is secondary and at its ebb because Nigerian shipping companies are benefitting only from a fraction of the opportunities available. For Nigerian ship owners and operators to tap into these opportunities, the government must create enabling environment, attitude of individuals must change positively, people must be given quality education, and there must be leadership commitment at all levels to sustaining safety culture. It is only then that human development can be a prerequisite for maritime safety.
