NIMASA asked to establish skills centres in 5 Niger Delta states after building facilities in Kaduna

A petition has been forwarded to the National Assembly, demanding that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, establish skills acquisition centres in its operational areas in five Niger Delta states – Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers – after the agency built similar facilities in ‘landlocked’ Kaduna State.

In 2023, NIMASA, an agency set up by the Nigerian Government to regulate the maritime sector, built a skills acquisition centre in Zaria, Kaduna State. The agency equally built and donated a twin lecture theater to the Kaduna State University.

The agency noted that the gesture was part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.

However, in response to the development, the Abade-Toru Mangal Community Development Initiative, has petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives, insisting that NIMASA must replicate the gesture in its core operational areas.

The Abade-Toru Mangal Community Development Initiative, in the petition forwarded through the House Committee on Public Petitions, alleged that NIMASA had neglected its corporate social responsibilities to the Niger Delta coastal communities, where it carries out its core operations.

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The petition, dated 23rd May, 2024, and signed by Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, Secretary of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, is titled, ‘An Urgent Petition Requesting For The Implementation Of The Long Overdue Corporate Social Responsibilities For The Niger Delta Coastal Communities From The NIMASA Via The Global Maritime Security Conference (GMSC) Memorandum Of Demands’.

Parts of the petition reads: “For the avoidance of any doubts below is a summary of the demands the petitioner is demanding of NIMASA.

“Within three months from June 2024, NIMASA to complete the building of one mega skills acquisition centre within the campuses of the state owned university in the five states wherein NIMASA is operational namely: Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states, similar to NIMASA’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in Kaduna State, as reported in NIMASA’s website.”

The petitioner also demanded that, by October 2024, NIMASA should provide not less than N1 million as venture capital for each of the pioneer graduates of each of the five skills acquisition centres.

The petition further demanded that, by June 2024, a list of beneficiaries of the five proposed skills acquisition centres should be submitted to NIMASA through the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.

“By July 2024, NIMASA to obtain waiver from Bureau of Public Procurement to publish advertisement for expression of interest for construction of the five skills acquisition centres. The local content shall apply as only consultants from the five states of the Niger Delta wherein the skills acquisition centres shall be sited.”

The petitioner, in the same vein, demanded that by August 2024, NIMASA should provide N25 million to ALDRAP, its legal consultant, for hosting of ‘Train The Trainer’ workshops for the petitioner in each of the five states and publication of 1,000 copies of a Toolkit For Coastal Communities On How To Submit Petitions And Ventilate Their Grievances Through Legal, Legitimate Channels (Instead Of Sea Piracy). The petitioner said this should be done through the National Assembly or public petitions committees of state assemblies.

The petitioner further demanded that right of first refusal in terms of employment into NIMASA should be given to indigenes of the five states wherein the agency is operational.