Global Maritime Academy Builds Manpower Capacity for Marine & Blue Economy in N-Delta
By Favour Keme
Global Maritime Academy (GMA) located at Agbowhaime community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State has reaffirmed its commitment to tackling the manpower capacity challenges in Nigeria's maritime industry.
The institution also restated its goal to sustain production of world-class human resources required in the maritime industry.
The President and Proprietor of the institute, Mr Ejiro Dennis Onakughotor while addressing journalists on Thursday stated that "this is part of the institution's strategic plans to address national developmental needs and proffer solutions to global challenges".
He noted with delight that "Global Maritime Academy is currently one of the fastest-growing maritime academies in Africa due to its sustained production of highly skilled professionals capable of meeting the demands of the maritime industry, just as the products are competing effortlessly in the labour market".
He said, "This has been achieved through quality research, knowledge dissemination, and well-set-out policies that offer a professional certificate and a mandatory certificate of entrepreneurship, as all cadets are expected to graduate with a skill and have, over the years, emphasized the strength of the institution.
"We have a running entrepreneurship scheme on iron bending, catering, fashion, hairdressing and a welding/fabrication department which is presently trying to create a local content project with the use of local materials to manufacture garri processing plant so that it can be at an affordable cost to communities that are interested. Its major advantage is that it increases massive production".
Onakughotor disclosed that Global Maritime Academy is fully approved and accredited by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA), and the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), among others.
"These accreditations enable the institute to offer certificate courses designed for shipping practitioners and professionals in various areas of the Maritime industry as well as industry-standard training for seafarers and we have a local and international affiliations with St Martin College, Canada; Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI)".
According to him, "so far, the institution has produced manpower for almost all the maritime industries within and beyond".
He maintained that "one of the major goals of the institution for this year, besides equipping the Library, is to acquire a Higher National Diploma (HND) certification, which has been initiated".
The Proprietor later conducted journalists on an assessment tour of the campus during which he highlighted some of the frameworks that are fundamental in complementing and addressing the emerging trends arising from global issues even as he solicited support of the Federal and State Governments to fund infrastructural projects that will add value to the students.
