The president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been advised to partner with the Lagos State government so as to harness potentials of the maritime sector, especially, in creating job opportunities for the teeming youths.
Chief executive officer (CEO), Employment Solutions, Ronke Kusoko, made this call on Wednesday in Lagos in a congratulatory message sent to the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for their victory in the recently concluded election.
She noted that the need to harness the potentials of the industry has become necessary following the declining fortunes of the industry since 2015.
Kusoko explained further that the industry has the potential of employing many Nigerians but that the youths are not being groomed to take over from the older generations of maritime practitioners.
According to her, maritime sector is technical and has it’s own skill and jargons acquired over the years of constant practice and it needs to be bequeathed to the youths so as not to create a vacuum.
The CEO stated that, already, the company has gotten approval of the Federal ministry of Transportation, to partner with transport parastatals including; Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA).
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) amongst others, with a view to engage graduates to learn more about technicalities of the maritime industry based on some terms of agreement.
She disclosed that, in the first phase of the project about 5,000 graduates drawn from various disciplines and Universities will be temporarily engaged in select public and private organizations to learn about technicalities of the industry.
According to her, during the period of the temporary engagement the graduates will be paid stipends after which they can be employable adding that some of the graduates of maritime academy and cadets sent abroad for training by NIMASA are not employable because after graduation they don’t have sea time training.
“What we are trying to do is to introduce Nigerian graduates to maritime sector and improve career prospect solutions at the micro level”, Kusoko
She averred that the Lekki deep seaport has been commissioned but that where is the required manpower to operate the port?
