Comrade Sunday Avoseh during the interview.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) in conjunction with Bergsen Worldwide Gas (BWG) and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) as represented by the GNS recruitment Services Wednesday morning organised a capacity building programme for seafarers titled: Capacity Building for Crew and Union Workers. The event happened at the main hall of the Rockview hotel Apapa with the training centring on various aspects of the seafarers’ life especially at work and at home.
Akosa Adebola Maduka was the first lecturer of the day and he centered his training on the topic “Managing the Home While Away”. Mr. Maduka emphasised the imperative need for all manners of communications between the seafarers and his home. His words “make video calls always, keep in constant touch to help yourself psychologically and also the home front. Have a budget and good financial plans as these will make a world of difference. Do also review these from time to time”.
Comrade Francis Bunu, the deputy president-general of MWUN fielding questions from the press.
Mr. Maduka advised that “no task should be left undone before leaving the home, one should ensure that all projects and responsibilities are completed before leaving, but any milestone not reachable should be left until your return”. He added that one should secure the home front by making his/her family environment a secure living area and to register with a good Health Management Organisation (HMO) and clinics too and as well as having a trusted person around when absent from home in order to have one’s mind at rest.
Mrs. Olanike Ofole lectured the participants on the topic ‘On Vessel Coping While Away From Home’. She advises the seafarers to always “make efforts to get to know your crew mates, keep busy between shifts and watches, take comfort in your onboard activities, learn to really love your job and also to take up onboard hobby to pass time”.
Mr. Ibrahim Agoro talking to the pressmen after the occassion
The training also touched on the topic “Crew Change: A necessity in Maritime Services”. It dwelt on the vital need to have crew changes and the lecturer stated that crew change helps the individual and the company, she also thought on crew change issues which call for serious attention.
At the end of the training, some of the participants were interviewed, first was Comrade Sunday Avoseh, president of the Seamen/NIWA branch of MWUM who told us that the programme was aimed at improving the knowledge and capacity of the seamen in order to also improve on productivity. Comrade Avoseh added that “an untrained worker is a dangerous worker” and that this makes it vitally important for them to constantly have this kind of programme from time to time. He noted that any acquired knowledge helps one to be on top of his/her job and that the whole essence of this training is for the seafarers to know how to manage the home front while also doing their job at the place of work rather more professionally and efficiently.
Ibrahim Agoro is the general manger of GNS Recruitment Services and he noted in an interview that “continuous training enhances productivity in any sphere of life hence the need to organise this particular training for the seafarers”. He added that this also encourages interactive approach to solving issues for workers and this was why the MWUN initiated it while several organisations which they represent like the BWG and the NYK supported it.
Comrade Francis Bunu is the Deputy President-General, MWUN, he emphasised the need of the training to answer the questions of “how will the seafarers cope with his/her family and his/her job while away on duty”. He said that the positive impact of the training cannot be overemphasised and that it is very good for all the seafarers and that they intend to organise more in Abuja and Port Harcourt and possibly round all the geopolitical zones of the country.
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