Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, has said that its newly commissioned e-library was equipped to bridge the knowledge gap in the industry.
Jamoh, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, explained that the library would not only preserve the country’s maritime history, but advance the industry with its stock of reference materials.
“As you know, libraries are not just facilities for warehousing books and periodicals, they are also important cornerstones of a healthy community.
“More than just storage spaces for books, libraries are important community hubs that serve as centres of learning, professional development and healthcare, among other benefits,” he said.
Jamoh noted that as a knowledge-based industry with huge opportunities, there was need to encourage research to enable the Nigerian maritime sector attain its full potentials.
“You will agree with me that the maritime sector is knowledge-based and we cannot afford to be left behind. This is why we have upgraded this library beyond physical books to the electronic ones”, he said.
The NIMASA chief executive added that the virtual nature of the library makes access to reading materials seamless from any part of the world with just a touch of the button on one’s phone.
“We believe this would help Nigeria to diversify its economy and reduce tremendously the oil dependency, as this library is equipped to bridge the knowledge gap in our industry,” Jamoh said.
He noted that with the official opening of the NIMASA Knowledge Centre e-library, the agency had once again shown beyond rhetoric that it was committed to bequeathing treasured assets to Nigeria, Africa, and the global maritime community.
On the Agency’s Maritime Resource Development Centre (NMRDC), Jamoh explained that it was designed as a training institution for the maritime industry, saying, “the Centre is like the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, in Kaduna State, which serves as a training facility for the security services.
“It is our hope that the purpose of this centre will be realised, as you can see, it is designed to accommodate students in a 44-apartment guest house, where faculty and students can reside comfortably for a training period.
“It also has a world-class training centre and other facilities that can compete with the best in the world,” he said.
