The President of Female Seafarers Association of Nigeria (FESAN), Koni Duniya, has called for an end to discrimination against its members by ship owners.
Duniya made the call on Wednesday in a statement to commemorate the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD).
Duniya said, in 2019, only five per cent growth in female seafaring was recorded in Nigeria.
She said that at the lower-end of cadetship, FESAN’s record listed 100 junior cadets, adding that only three are currently in the senior cadre of the seafaring career.
“We have several female seafarers whose licenses have expired and they can not renew it because they can’t land jobs.
“The situation is bad because many agencies are directly telling females that ship owners do not want them.
“Many females remain at the bottom because of the gender bias in the maritime industry. Some others can not progress to the senior level because they can’t afford the necessary trainings.
“For those whose parents were able to send them to school for the basic training, they can’t proceed further because of the high costs.
“Nevertheless, if they had been able to go onboard ships, they could utilise their stipends to augment their fees to upgrade their certificates,” she said.
Duniya also emphasised the importance of data for the nation’s seafarers.
“FESAN starts by providing the data of women in the industry. We want to monitor our progress and growth.
“A total of 254 females are in the cadetship cadre as trainees. Several girls are looking for sea time opportunities for female seafarers’ development in Nigeria.
“We are still at an infancy stage because there is a lot of work to do for female seafarers to grow to the senior cadre,” she said.
Duniya noted that over 30 female seafarers who were unemployed until their licenses expired now require financial assistance to pay for mandatory courses in preparation for cadetship, which is the sea time experience.
“We have members who graduated school with mandatory course while 26 of them require placement onboard for sea time.
“Some members with sea time require financial assistance for oral exams.
“There are also members with Certificate of Competence (CoC) and require mandatory courses but are looking for onboard employment opportunities.
“Some other members whose CoC and other certifications have expired.
“When we started FESAN, we were excited that everyone was interested in improving the seafaring opportunities for women; but when we started knocking on the doors of companies, we realised that only few organisations were interested.
“It is the efforts of those few companies that have led to little progress,” Duniya said.
She said that with the creation of a new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the dream of attaining blue economy potential in Nigeria would only be realised if the nation prioritises seafaring.
Duniya also raised concerns over issues with visa approvals in Nigeria.
“India and Philippines are leading nations in seafaring globally and their seafarers have up to 10 years U.S. visa approvals.
“As soon as they have contracts, they pack their bags and travel.
“In Nigeria, we have girls who have crewing employment for vessels that work in U.S. but they can’t get visas to join the vessel.
“A vessel owner can’t wait forever, so, if the Nigerians can’t get visas, the opportunity goes to other seafarers that are more accessible,” she said.
