Early education at Ukala-Okpunor and later in Kaduna; his work after secondary school with Nigeria Airways in Lagos; employment interview by NNSL; process of embarking on the ship; the trip to Hull, then Liverpool; outfitting by NNSL outfitters; enrollment in Riversdale College of Technology for nautical studies; stipends as cadets; classmates and superiors; first working ocean trip aboard NNSL ship; reception in Lagos; ships sailed and cargoes carried; era of containerization; differences between employment in NNSL ships versus foreign ships; problems the company encountered which led to its liquidation; who is to blame; the role played by overzealous office-based staff who had vendettas against seafaring staff; what is “gbagbati” and the effect of it on overall performance of the company; the effect of angst on morale of seafarers; the ill-advisability and regrets of the liquidation; the way he left NNSL, the processes and the memorable voyages on board the Mv River Gurara before it sank; the politics of assigning voyages to officers and their reactions; his nomination by NNSL for a masters degree in marine education and training at World Maritime University through sponsorship of UNDP and IMO, two captains and two engineers; graduated 1986, sent to Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron as NNSL Rep to re-train some Yugoslavia-trained seafarers for the company; became a senior lecturer at MAN Oron for four years; left Oron based on perceived personal safety concerns and unfriendliness of the Acting Rector, Capt Ime Ntiandem; efforts to get him to return to Oron to become the Rector; further education to qualify as a UK School Teacher; employment as a School Teacher in Liverpool and tendering of letter of early retirement from NNSL in 1990; teaching career in the UK and posting to several schools up to 2012; engagement as the Special Technical Assistant to the Head of National Oil Spill Detection and Recovery Agency (NOSDRA) up to 2014; return to the UK on teaching engagements; plans to eventually return to Nigeria to teach in any suitable capacity.
