Section 116: Repatriation of seaman on termination of service at foreign port

(1)
Where the service of a seaman or cadet belonging to a Nigerian ship terminates during the currency of the agreement at any port out of Nigeria, otherwise than by the consent of the seaman to be discharged, or otherwise than in accordance with the training agreement:
(a)
the master of the ship shall, apart from complying with the other applicable provisions of this part, make adequate provision in accordance with this part for the maintenance of the seaman or cadet and for his return to a proper return port; and
(b)
the appropriate officer shall endorse upon the agreement with the crew of the ship which the seaman or cadet is leaving the particulars of any provision so made.
(2)
If the master fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, the expenses of maintenance and of return to the proper return port shall:
(a)
if defrayed by the seaman or cadet, be recoverable as wages due to the seaman; and
(b)
if defrayed by the appropriate officer or by any other person unless the seaman or cadet has been guilty of barratry, be a charge upon the ship to which the seaman or cadet belonged, and may also be recovered in the same manner as seaman's wages are recoverable from:
(i) the owner of the ship for the time being; or
(ii) where the ship has been lost, the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the loss; or
(iii) where the ship has been transferred to persons not qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship, the owners for the time being or the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the transfer, at the suit of the person defraying the expenses or if the expenses have been repaid to that person out of moneys allowed by the Minister as a debt due to the Federal Government.
(3)
When the master of a ship is required under subsection (1) of this section, to provide for the return of a seaman or cadet to a proper return port, the master may, instead of providing the seaman or cadet with:
(a)
a passage or the expenses of his journey; or
(b)
means to pay his passage or the expenses for his journey, deposit with the appropriate officer such sum as that officer considers sufficient to-defray the expenses of the return of the seaman or cadet to a proper retum port.