The Rector, Maritine Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Commodore Duja Effedua (rtd), has called for sanctions, including jail-terms for operators who discriminate or abuse female workforce onboard ships in Nigeria.

This is even as the Rector urged shipowners to employ more females in their workforce in line with the theme of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) 2019 Day Of The Seafarers which states “Onboard with gender equality”.

Speaking to Maritime journalists on the sideline of the 2019 Day Of The Seafarers organised by the Nigerian Maritine Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in Lagos last week, the MAN Rector explained that the Academy is onboard with gender equality.

According to the Retired Naval Commodore, “Anybody that believes that men are still intellectually superior to their female counterparts is still living in the past. We have seen female pilots, Generals, Admirals, Air Vice Marshals. We have seen female Captains commanding very large merchant ships. These should be role models to the younger females that we have now.

“On my own part, I am onboard with gender equality. I have always encouraged it at the Academy. In our last admission, 29 female cadets applied for admission, and we took 28 out of the 29 that applied. The only one that was not taken was down to her medical condition. In the process of admission, we did not lower the bar just to get them in. The girls were academically sound. They were not inferior to their male counterparts..

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“They have been there for about eight months now and they are doing quite fine.

“I will advise shipowners to consider more women in the new design of ships they are acquiring. Even old ships could be refleeted to accommodate for more females accommodation onboard.

“The issue of sexual harrasement against female workers onboard vessels should attract jail-terms. I don’t think it’s fair or right to abuse women in whatever form. Many of us have wives and children who are girls.

“In this regard, I think the Nigerian Navy ought to be commended because the Navy has been at the forefront of campaign against abuse of women onboard vessels.

“We are the first organisation (Nigerian Navy) in Nigeria to have introduced females onboard. I use the word “We” because I am still part of the Navy. Females working onboard Naval vessels have been a success sto- ry thus far. There has not been any record of abuse or harrasement against females while working onboard Naval vessels.