The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA has announced that it will send a team to visit the Batch 2 cadets on the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP in the Philippines who have been reportedly stranded and starving in the Asian country in the last two months.
NIMASA noted that it would be sending a fact-finding team to the Philippines over the recent protest by some of the cadets at the Nigerian Embassy in Manilla.
In a viral video some of the cadets lamented that their ordeal was due to neglect and non-payment of their allowances by the NIMASA which made it impossible for them to renew their house rents, procure their visas and other expenses.
The cadets who said they are about 117 in number lamented that they were supposed to complete the course within four years but it is now running into 10 years as there have been several delays and arbitrary extension of some of their examinations.
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NIMASA Assistant Director, Public Relations, Osagie Edward, in a statement said that the Agency was reviewing the cost of direct sponsorship of the cadets as it was aware that the cost of living has increased particularly in the Philippines due to global inflation.
But on Saturday, the statement by NIMASA said it had received Ministerial approval for an assessment visit in October to ascertain, first-hand, the issues to fully and finally address them.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Embassy in Manilla had also released a statement where it justified the action of the Filipino police in preventing access to the estate where the Embassy building is located, due to what it says is the students non-submission of a request to see officials at the country’s diplomatic mission.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
