The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola has cautioned members of the public on the existence of several unauthorized social media accounts making the rounds and purportedly belonging to him.

Dr Mobereola via his verified X handle @MobereolaD made it clear that the fake accounts are not affiliated or endorsed by him, or the Agency, in any way and advised members of the public to be wary and only communicate with official social media platforms.

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For the avoidance of doubt, any party that puts itself forward as acting on behalf of NIMASA, or any member of the Agency’s Executive Management, for any purpose whatsoever is completely false and NIMASA disclaims and bears no responsibility whatsoever for their action.

Members of the public are hereby urged to treat with suspicion any such offerings and verify their claims in order not to fall prey to these scammers, as NIMASA has not designated any entity or persons to act on its behalf. Please report such incidents to info@nimasa.gov.ng or the appropriate law enforcement Agencies.

The DG thus expressly disclaimed any liability for any losses incurred by any person(s) as a result of reliance on such fraudulent Facebook accounts, LinkedIn, e-mails and other online publications.

The 296 Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), beneficiaries at the Centurion University, India have been assured of adequate capacity development till they qualify as globally employable Seafarers.

The assurance was given on Wednesday in Lagos, by the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dayo Mobereola in a statement.

He described media reports claiming that the Agency plans to withdraw the NSDP cadets from the Centurion University, India as false.

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Dr Mobereola maintained that the Agency was only carrying out due diligence on the existing MoU to align the processes in the best interest of the Nigerian students.

He said, “We are not recalling any NSDP beneficiary from Centurion University. We are only working to close out all identified gaps in the existing Memorandum of Understanding before proceeding to the next stage.

“A situation where the Agency entered into a contractual agreement with Springdale Academy of Maritime Education and Training, SAMET with agreed courses and timelines only to be faced with additional course duration and an alien programme by the agent, SAMET, unilaterally converting the programme without the consent of the Agency as prescribed by the MoU may not be in the best interest of the students.”

Speaking further, he said “There were issues of non-accreditation of one of institution as at the time of the execution of MoU, change of course from Marine engineering to Mechanical engineering without recourse to the Agency, preparing the grounds for additional years of studies and uncertainties for the students, raising issues related to funding, and the various third parties arrangements without duly informing the Agency.”

He also noted that the Management of NIMASA is aware of a sponsored media campaign of calumny against the NIMASA Management stating that it will not deter NIMASA from doing the right thing.

“We are aware of orchestrated media campaigns and petitions against the Agency reviewing the existing arrangement.  We will not give in to blackmail as the safety and wellbeing of our students are paramount,” he stated.

The NSDP was introduced in 2009 to develop capacity by training young Nigerians as seafarers and bridge the gap of dearth of seafarers globally.

Under the scheme, Nigerian youths are trained in specialized courses such as Marine Engineering, Nautical Sciences and Nautical Surveys amongst others, to ensure they qualify as Seafarers, which makes them globally employable.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Abade-Toru Manga Community Development Initiative have adopted Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in a matter before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.

The parties made the resolution on Wednesday, in Abuja.

The Committee was investigating a petition brought against the NIMASA where the Abade-Toru Manga Community Development Initiative, in which it alleged that the NIMASA failed to establish educational and skills acquisition projects in the coastal communities as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

However, when the matter was called up on Wednesday, both parties agreed to seek peaceful settlement through ADR.

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The Chairman of the committee, Mike Etaba, noted that the NIMASA team led by Director, Administration and Human Resources, Isichei Osamgbi, had reached out to the Committee earlier seeking to resolve the matter through ADR.

Etaba pointed out that the move was well appreciated and encouraged by his Public Petitions Committee.

In his words, “NIMASA team met me before the sitting and we have agreed that this matter be handled through ADR for proper implementation. If there is anything we encourage it is ADR. And if parties agree with ADR they will go into it.”

Etaba expressed delight over the harmonious agreement between both parties, stressing that ‘there is nothing like harmony’.

In the same vein, the Chairman, Abade-Toru Manga Community Development Initiative, George Wilcox Noah, said he was satisfied with the resolution, adding that the harmonious agreement goes to show that the community is not at any loggerhead with the NIMASA.

“I am very much satisfied with the resolution since it goes in line with the plea from the agency, just to show that we are not in any loggerhead with the agency. We are not antagonizing the agency” he added.

The Community leader assured that going forward there would be peaceful coexistence between the community and the NIMASA, and that sea piracy that affects both the Niger Delta region and the Gulf of Guinea would be mitigated.