Maritime Leaders Demand African-Led Solutions, Accountability in Training

Senior maritime industry leaders have called for an African-led agenda to tackle deep-seated challenges in training, policy direction and cabotage financing, urging regional ownership of solutions rather than reliance on external forums.

Speaking at a high-level Mariners Forum Conversation at the Waterside Centre in Lagos, captains of industry, veteran mariners and engineers stressed that Africa must chart its own course in shaping economic, professional and regulatory priorities for its maritime sector. Chairman of the Waterside Centre and former Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, faulted global conferences held outside the continent for sidelining African priorities, saying the region has the capacity to host and lead its own discourse.

Iheanacho highlighted the need for practical policies and enforceable outcomes, particularly in light of rapid technological change transforming vessels into highly automated systems that require advanced digital and technical skills from seafarers. He said outdated training and certification regimes have left many African youths uncompetitive relative to their international counterparts.

Also addressing the forum, Mrs. Rollens Macfoy Managing Director of OceanDeep Services Limited and President of WIMA Nigeria criticised the long-standing inadequacies in local maritime training and certification. She called for a coordinated pressure group to confront persistent gaps in domestic capacity building, asserting that overreliance on costly foreign programmes disadvantages Nigerian and African seafarers.

By Oshuniran Sheriff Ola