Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport
The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has called for a review of the institutional documents of the Regional Maritime University (RMU) to enable it to realign with the changing trends in the maritime sector.
According to him, it was important for the region to take seriously, the manpower requirement and skillsets of individuals operating within the maritime sector to enable individual countries to compete effectively at both local and international levels.
“The maritime industry of today has significantly changed from how it used to operate decades ago”.
The survival of our economies, to a large extent, depends on the effectiveness and efficiency of our maritime transport.
It is therefore important that we take seriously, the manpower requirement and skill sets to enable us effectively compete at the local, regional and international markets,” he emphasized.
The Minister made the call at the 26th meeting of the board of governors of the RMU in Accra yesterday.
In attendance was the board chairman who doubles as the Minister of Transport for Cameroon, Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe, the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure of Gambia, Mod Ceesay, the Chief Executive Officer of the Maritime Authority of Liberia, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, and the Minister of Transport and Aviation of Sierra Leone, Kabineh M Kallon.
Mr Asiamah said more than 40 years of the headquarters agreement was signed between the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and the Government of Ghana (GoG), the overall objective still remained relevant.
However, the dynamics and that prevailed at the time had evolved and this required a considered revision of the agreement and other statutory provisions in line with the changing times.
“This will undoubtedly set a clear path for the university as we gear up to take advantage of the opportunities that abound in the Blue Ocean Economy often described as the new frontier of the African Renaissance,” he said.
Mr Asiamah noted that, the GoG remained committed to strengthening its collaboration with miner states to ensure that there are enough capacities, both technical and managerial for the maritime Industry.
He said a feasibility study to modernize and position the RMU to offer world-class education and training programmes had been completed.
In addition to this, he explained that the application of about $153million had already been submitted to the Korean government under the Economic Development Corporation Framework between GoG and Korea.
Mr Asiamah said under the programme, the university would be provided with a training ship that had been on the drawing board for almost a decade.
On his part the Chairman of the board, Mr Bibehe said the finances of RMU’s for a very long time had not seen any improvement as a result, it was important that member states paid their contributions to enable the university to run efficiently.
In addition, he appealed to members who were members of the board to use their position to impress on their respective countries to honor their contributions.
He said it was only through this that the university could continue to deliver world-class education.
Mr. Bibehe commended the GoG for its continuous support to the university.