Captain Catherine Haizel, Country Inspector for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and lecturer at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) on Wednesday charged founding members of the Maritime institution to invest in the school’s development.
On her accord, the Regional Maritime University needs all the support it can get to improve upon the quality of education given to its students.
Speaking with Y107.9FM’s Rev Erskine on the Yleaderboard Series, Captain Haizel said, “The Regional Maritime University needs a lot of support for the training of our officers. It would be great if the Ghanaian government can come in and support us with equipment and maintenance”.
Although the university occasional receives support from other organisations, Captain Haizel believes the continuous support from the school’s founding members will go a long way to develop professionals for the international market.
Citing the Philippines as a country capitalising on its maritime training to rake in high returns through foreign exchange, she said, “The training of quality professionals will go a long way to develop the nation. The Philippines has encouraged this and they train and export maritime professionals for foreign exchange earnings”.
She believes the support from the Ghanaian government alone will not be enough to make the Maritime University the pride of the sub-region but urged the other founding members to do the same. “The five founding states of the school need to treat it as their baby and chip in regular support”, she intimated.
The Regional Maritime University (RMU), Accra, Ghana, is an international tertiary institution. She attained full University status on the 25th of October, 2007 and was launched as such by His Excellency, John Agyekum Kufour, President of the Republic of Ghana.
The College was then named The Regional Maritime Academy (R.M.A.). The formal inauguration of the R.M.A. took place on Thursday 26th May, 1983 with the following countries as founding members: Republics of Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The overall objective for the establishment of RMA was to promote regional co-operation in the maritime industry focusing on the training to ensure the sustained growth and development of the industry.
By: Joel Sanco
