Nungua (Greater Accra), 28th June 99 --

The Regional Maritime Academy (RMA) said on Friday that it is facing acute financial problems and has appealed for support to save it from collapsing.

Mr Benoni W. Urey, the Liberian Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Academy who made the appeal, called on member countries, individuals and organisations to work assiduously for the survival of the Academy.

He was speaking at a graduation parade of 76 cadets who have completed courses in Marine Engineering, Pre-sea Nautical Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Mr Urey said the RMA plays an important role as the centre for the study of Shipping and Port Management in West and Central Africa which depend on it for their man-power requirements for their shipping industries.

He said as the world enters a new millennium, port operations are going to be more complex while there will be more demands for the use of sophisticated machines.

Ghana, Cameroon, the Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone established the Academy in 1983. It is based at the old Ghana Nautical College which was founded in 1958 for the training of sea-going personnel. Sierra Leone has not been contributing towards its running of late due to the conflict there.

Mr Urey said recently the academy received a number of specialised computers from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to help alleviate inadequacies of its instructional equipment.

He hoped that appeals by Ghana and Liberia for technical assistance from the European Union would be favourably considered.

Mr Emmanuel Ayisi, Principal of the Academy said the graduands have spent both time and energy to achieve goals that they set for themselves and charged them to exhibit qualities of good character, diligence, self-respect and to execute orders and commands given by their superiors.

Prizes were awarded for academic excellence, outstanding leadership and dedication to duty.

GRi?/