Reps Committee Mulls Improved Funding for MAN 

The House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Friday, said it is poised to arrest the challenge of inadequate funding for the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), even as the committee said it is already in discussions with the management the Academy on strategies to improve its funding.

The Committee Chairman, Hon. Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim who disclosed above yesterday during an oversight visit to the Academy expressed concerns that whereas the bulk of the funding is tied to the 5 percent statutory allocation from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), there’s need to look into the possibility for better alternatives including improved subvention from the federal government..

This is even as Ibrahim said the committee is satisfied with the management’s financial reports and also expressed satisfaction with the number of completed capital projects, as he commended the leadership of the institution together with its management for exhibiting strong financial discipline and for taking the progress and growth of the Academy, seriously.

Represented by the Deputy Chairman, Hon. Uduak Alphonsus Odudoh, Ibrahim explained that whereas federal government subvention to the the Academy is relatively small compared to the criticality of its role, he urged for the timely and complete releases of its budgetary allocation drawn from the 5 percent net earnings of NIMASA.

Odudoh said, “We know that MAN’s subvention from the federal government is small, and also know that NIMASA is the highest funder. And when the funding is dragged, stagnated and not released on time, it poses some problems, we have been familiar with this issue. There are lots of things we came to look at, including their records.

“It’s commendable, because so many agencies are owing their contractors, MAN  had always stood out in terms of payment of its obligations to contractors once they complete their jobs. And I know most of these fundings in short, 90% of their funds come from the 5 percent statutory allocation from NIMASA, and when the releases of the funding staggers, the school will suffer. The training of manpower for our maritime industry by the Academy is very key to our national economy, apart from training for the global seafaring labour market.

“And so it is our wish that NIMASA releases the allocation ontime, you know, so that certain programs and activities of the school will not be delayed.”

Hon. Odudoh however thanked the current leadership of NIMASA for showing appreciable concerns about the financial needs of the Academy, noting that from his previous interactions with the acting Rector, the present leadership of NIMASA has shown very genuine commitment to continue to support the Academy owing to its important role.

In his interaction with the committee members, Acting Rector of MAN, Dr. Kevin Okonna thanked the Hon. Minister of Marine and Blue Economy (FMMBE), Adegboyega Oyetola CON, for leading the struggle to ensure that MAN’s statutory mandate of providing maritime training for seafarers and other specialized maritime, oil and gas personnel continues unhindered.

“I would like to add here that the policies that the Chairman has mentioned…the national policy on marine and blue economy has Maritime Academy of Nigeria as the frontline maritime training institution for human capacity building for the success of the marine and blue economy.

“I just wanted to put that into context, I was a member of the technical committee that worked on that marine and blue economy policy, and I know that Maritime Academy of Nigeria is captured in that policy as a major training arm of the ministry of marine and blue economy. I think with this, you can understand what we have to do.

“The ministry of marine and blue economy provides marine services, fisheries and aquaculture services etc, and the Academy is well positioned to make its contributions to the development of the ministry.

“And we say kudos to the Honorable Minister, the pioneer minister of the ministry, for directing the process for the establishment of this policy, because if you want to operate any system, you first of all have to have policy and strategy. And that policy is at the level of finalization. At this stage it has gone through all stakeholders participation in the formulation of the policy.

“And this is why we also congratulate the Honorable Minister for taking that step first, and then we are going to build the industry based on this policy formulation and the strategies that have been incorporated into the policy. The Academy is captured in that policy document as the training arm of that ministry. That’s how important the academy is to the marine and blue economy ministry”, he emphasized.