As part of activities to commemorate the 2017 World Maritime Day Celebration, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has instituted of an essay competition.

The essay competition titled “Connecting Ships, Ports and People”, which is the theme for the 2017 World Maritime Day celebration, is expected to be 1,200 words long and is open to only first and second year students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The winning prizes include education grant of N500,000 for the first position, N350,000 for the runner-up and N250,000 for the third position with a laptop computer for each of them. There would also be consolation prizes of N100,000 for seven participants.

Speaking on the initiative, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside said that the idea of the essay competition was to stimulate youth interest and intellectual discourse in harnessing the potentials of the maritime industry.

According to him, “if we say that the youths are the future of tomorrow, we must get them quickly interested and even involved in proffering solutions to some of the challenges that bedevil our country.

“This competition will therefore provide the platform where students will provide their perspectives on how Nigeria can turn the potentials in the maritime environment into opportunities that will unlock the vast wealth in our blue economy.”

Peterside was optimistic that the essay competition would not only contribute to the robust discourse on realising the potentials of the blue economy but was also an opportunity for the Agency to support scholarship through the Education Grant.

The winners of the essay competition will be unveiled at the 2017 World Maritime Day celebration slated for Monday October 30, 2017 in Lagos. Further enquiries on the details of the competition can be found on the Agency's website atwww.nimasa.gov.ng.

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