Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian seafarers have raised a desperate alarm over what they describe as systemic exclusion and injustice in the country’s maritime sector. In an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the seafarers say they are being sidelined in favour of foreign workers despite being fully certified and qualified — a direct violation of Nigeria’s Cabotage Act.
In the letter titled “Mayday! Mayday! A Distress Call from Nigerian Seafarers,” the group accused officials of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) of abusing the waiver system, which was meant to temporarily fill gaps in local capacity. Instead, they allege, the system has become a loophole that allows companies to continuously hire foreign nationals while thousands of trained Nigerian seafarers remain unemployed.
Among the challenges highlighted are the limitations of local certifications, visa bans in countries with significant shipping fleets such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, lack of medical insurance for locally employed seafarers, high costs of mandatory training, and the unavailability of critical documents such as discharge books and Seafarers’ Identity Documents (SID).
The seafarers also drew attention to the plight of cadets under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP). Many cadets, despite completing their training abroad, are unable to progress because of delays in approving their Certificate of Competency payments.
Key Demands
In their appeal, the seafarers urged President Tinubu to order an upgrade of their certifications to international standards, increase in salary and remuneration, negotiate with foreign governments to lift visa restrictions, enforce compliance with the Cabotage Act, ensure the provision of medical insurance and critical documents, subsidize maritime training costs, and eliminate systemic discrimination in the sector.
They also called for the immediate approval of all pending CoC payments for NSDP cadets and the creation of a pension scheme for Nigerian seafarers who have served the nation’s shipping industry for years.
We Are Ambassadors of Nigeria at Sea
“Your Excellency, Nigerian seafarers are not just workers — they are ambassadors of our nation’s maritime strength, lifelines of international trade, and defenders of Nigeria’s economic sovereignty,” the letter stated.
They expressed hope that the President’s intervention will restore dignity, inclusion and opportunity for Nigerian seafarers and reposition the country’s maritime workforce for growth and global competitiveness.
The letter was signed Letter was written by ENGR Charles David, a Maritime & Security Expert.
The appeal was also copied to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola; the Minister of Transportation; the Director-General of NIMASA; the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority; and the Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria.
