The Nigerian Merchant Officers and Water Transport Staff Association signed a collective bargaining agreement with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, with the goal of boosting Nigerian seafarers’ terms and conditions in the maritime sector and tackling unemployment.
Specifically, the agreement supports Nigerian seafarers and their future in the shipping industry as the unions participating in this cooperation will enhance the existing terms and conditions.
Concerning Nigerian seafarers’ future, local media reported that although about 24,000 seafarers have graduated in the past 16 years from marine academies, not all of them have been deployed in the sector. Therefore, unemployment leads them to illegal seafaring activities.
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Unemployment also led the Nigerian Government abolish seafarers’ overseas training by halting the National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) concerning the training of cadets aboard, as it has costed N20 billion, up to now.
Therefore, in efforts to tackle unemployment and helping the seafarers, the agreement provides unions the chance to take part in additional CBAs with other companies trading on waters in or around Nigeria, which will enable unions enforce the requirement to have Nigerian crew working on vessels moving between Nigeria ports.
