Officials of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy are increasingly becoming apprehensive over the delay tactics being adopted by the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr Dayo Mobereola, over the suspension of payment of tuition fees and upkeep allowances to no fewer than 500 Nigeria cadets in the Philippines, Greece and India, Shipping World Magazine has confirmed.
This development is coming on the heels of a marching order from the Minister, Chief Adegboyega Oyetola, to the NIMASA helmsman to handle this issue expeditiously and save the country from a possible national disgrace. While there have been pockets of protests at the NlMASA Corporate headquarters this year by some of the affected cadets from Greece and Philippines, the fate of 296 cadets at CENTURION University , India recently prompted a protest letter to the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and The Director General of NIMASA ,which earned Mobereola and his management team a query . Shipping World findings have revealed report that about 150 cadets in Greece ,currently undergoing courses in Nautical Sciences and Marine Engineering, may have been barred from attending lectures and writing their examinations while at the CENTURION University, India about 35 students who are set to graduate next month may have their certificates seized by the Institution due largely to the poor handling of the welfare of the cadets by the NIMASA management. But in his reaction on Monday on the sidelines of the validation session of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy policy framework in Yenagoa, Mobereola told Shipping World that “NIMASA would do everything possible to avert any disruption of academic programs of the affected cadets. We have asked the Vendor,in the case of the Cadets in Centurion University, INDIA,for a letter of commitment to the effect that the program would not go beyond the statutory mandate on the MoU we signed with them . We will certainly not toy with the future of those cadets “, Mobereola assured.
However, Some stakeholders who commented on the development said it was most inhuman to say the least, that NIMASA would send “minors” to Asia and some European countries and abandon them. ” When you send your ward abroad to school and you refuse to pay for his tuition and monthly allowances, it means you have abandoned your responsibility as a parent “,said guardian who spoke to Shipping World on anonymity. He continued, ” Mobereola should take a queue from the magnanimity demonstrated by President Bola Tinubu, who recently ordered the release of some minors who were paraded in court on charges of treason and demonstrate empathy “he concluded .