1.1 Introduction
The seafarer is a person engaged in sailing or working on a ship. Although called in different identities such as sailor, seaman, mariner, the seafarer is a person who navigates waterborne vessels or assists as a crewmember in their operation and maintenance of ships. Capacity building is the core term through which many global actors describe their international engagement today. Capacity building realizes people’s full potential for sustainable development; hence it empowers people for their common benefit in a long-term scope. As a principle, building capacity leads development. The important thing is to find where capacity needs to be built in order not to waste time and resources but rather maximize the available resources to lead for change.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In the recent decades, the shipping industries of Nigeria have been developing and expanding very fast. This has led to the shortage of seafarers become reality which in turn has pushed up the salary level of seafarers and forced the market players to hire seafarers from the “third world” countries. Most shipping companies have resorted to countries aboard to find enough seafarers to operate their ships. One may say that it is not hard to find seafarers but to find well-trained (skillful and experienced) seafarers and to keep them loyal to the company is the real challenges.
The sea-borne transportation shoulders over 90 per cent of global trade and is booming in recent decades (UNCTAD, 2016). In Southeast Asia, the seafarers’ labor market of countries/regions such as Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan developed rapidly in the 1970s and thus had supported a quick development of their shipping industry in these countries. When the economies of these countries regions improved, young people did not join the seafaring career just same as what happened in the developed countries such as UK, Japan, France, etc. However, seafarers are always important to the shipping industry but are in serious shortage in the developed countries. In recent years, the increasing number of fleets around the world has made it difficult for shipping companies to find capable seafarers and. As a consequence, the major source of seafarers has shifted from developed countries to less developed countries, and then to underdeveloped countries (BIMCO/ISF, 2005; Glen, 2007; Lane, 2000).
Kim and Kim (2015) suggest the most academically motivating factors are intrinsic factors associated with self-actualization, suggesting that instant gratification is crucial to the learning process (Neto, 2015). Seafarers perform an admirable service to the society by helping move a variety of cargo from one port to the other irrespective whether, it is day or night; dry or rain; wind or calm. Recognizing the significance of highly competent human resources at sea, MET should be enhanced in terms of facilities and equipment, curriculum design, learning methodologies, quality of instruction and in all aspects of ensuring a pool of high qualified and competent marine officers and engineers to man the world fleet (Baylon et al., 2011).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to Study the relevance of Capacity Building Programme for Seafarers.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed the problems and challenges that a country or region considers to be political priorities. This can be based initially on known incidents and challenges, drawing on the data available concerning incidents of maritime crime, or environmental protection issues, and so on. However, it should also pay attention to the political discourse surrounding such problems, including the political priority that is ascribed to them, and the manner in which they are conceived to be problematic. The shared problem definition and the lack of knowledge have given capacity building activities in the region an inherently experimental and innovative character.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Seafarers Capacity Building Programme in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find out the impact of seminar as capacity building programme among seafarers.
- To find out the contribution of workshop as capacity building programme among seafarers.
- To investigate the factors militating against capacity building programme among seafarers in the area under study.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there factors militating against capacity building programme among seafarers in the area under study?
- What is the impact of seminar as capacity building programme among seafarers?
- What is the contribution of workshop as capacity building programme among seafarers?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There are no significant factors militating against capacity building programme among seafarers in the area under study
- H1: There are significant factors militating against capacity building programme among seafarers in the area under study
1.7 Significance of Study
The research will be beneficial to all management team in shipping company in Nigeria. Service and workers as it emphasized the need and encourage the establishment of policy guidelines on the workers commitment as a resultant effect of effective training and retraining porgramme. It will also help managers of various organizations to generate ideas and solution to problems based on the best way to organize in-service training programme for the workers in order to achieve desired goals and objectives.
The findings of the study will equally be useful to small scale business, large corporations and to the government. It will also help future researchers as a frame work to their studies. Finally, it will be of great value to students as a point of reference and will equally form the basis for lecturers in this field of study.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Examination of Seafarers' Capacity Building Initiatives in Nigeria using Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) as a case study.
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