Maritime Academy to receive first multifunctional classroom in Africa

The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), said it has received commitment from its Indian partners, ARI, that the first multifunctional classroom simulator that contains high voltage training software, rules of the road, DP, pilotage and blind pilotage fully integrated, would arrive in Nigeria by the end of September 2020.

Rector of MAN, Duja Effedua, who disclosed in a briefing made available to The Guardian, explained that the current management has been able to upgrade the Academy’s equipment by acquiring three state-of-the-art simulators.

The simulators include: the Full Mission Bridge Simulator, the Full Mission Engine Room Simulator, and the Multi-functional Classroom simulator, which are the latest in marine training simulators, and can sit up to 30 cadets in a work station.

Effedua said: “The multifunctional classroom has the ECDIS, GMDSS, Apar Radarm high voltage training software, rule of the road, pilotage, blind pilotage and the DP among others integrated into it. It is pertinent to state that the Academy is the only institution in Africa that has the Multifunctional Classroom. On the 3rd of September, 2020, our partners, the ARI of India assured us that all the simulators will be in Nigeria by the end of September 2020, as soon as the embargo on international flights gets relaxed.

“In order to avoid the mistakes of the past, the Academy has trained 15 of its ICT staff as both users and maintainers at the manufacturer’s facilities in India. The ICT team was fully involved in the training as they can now assemble, dismantle as well as carry out repairs on the simulators. The Academy will therefore not need to fall back to the manufacturers for maintenance,” he said.

In the area of training, the Rector stated: “Apart from cadets training, the Academy is also involved in the retraining/training of staff of the maritime industry. From January 2018 to March 2020, before the national lockdown, a total of 8,508 seafarers including participants for Certificate of Competence were successfully trained. The breakdown of the number of seafarers trained is as follows: Number of Certificate of Competence participants is 1,707; while the number of Mandatory Short Courses participants stand at 6,801.

“The management has been able to buy publications and provide training materials such as free laptops for cadets. The classrooms are now smart classrooms equipped with smart boards and other electronic teaching aids, all air-conditioned. Our hostels are now en-suite. To further boost the quality of training, more lecturers have been engaged for all the schools including a foreign master mariner (Captain) from India and the Academy is looking forward to engaging more qualified international lecturers to support our Nigerian professionals,” he said.