- Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo
By Anthony Nwachukwu
Top government officials and maritime industry stakeholders will gather today in the Lagos port city, Apapa, to brainstorm on their bid to create one million jobs in the sector for youths within the next one year.
Tagged “Project One Million Jobs: From impact to Legacies, Heading To a New Frontier in Maritime Economy,” the event was initiated by the group, Employment Clinic, as part efforts to reduce poverty across the country and the nation’s high unemployment rate among the teeming youth.
The Chief Executive Officer of Employment Clinic, Ms Ronke Kosoko, said the event is meant to ensure that government fixes the infrastructural deficit hampering the private sector from multiplying the opportunities that would have helped withdraw jobless youth across the country from the streets.
According to her, “the Federal Ministry of Transportation and its agencies and parastatals, the Minister for Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, the Lagos State Government and several private organisations have declared support for the success of the project and are ready to work with the Lagos State Government where necessary.”
She listed the numberless opportunities where thousands of youth could be practically engaged as “fish trawling, ship building and repairs, cabotage, port and harbour, hydro power generation, offshore and off-dock stevedoring, jetty operation, ferry and boat services, tourism, platforms, and pilot and towage boats.”
Others include “mooring and supply crew vessel, shipping, forwarding agencies, medium and small scale industries, reefers carriers, truck holding bays, refineries, petro-chemical shipping, dredging and marine materials excavation, and supply of bunkers of petroleum and water.”
There are also “cargo consolidation, logistics and distribution, as well as the new opportunities being redefined by the new market opportunities and port developments across the country, particularly in Lagos State, which now houses three port cities.”
Kosoko stressed that it has become imperative to empower the youth in all the sub-sectors of the maritime industry, not only with the right skills but also through the right mentorship processes, internship placement, hand-holding, guidance and in every way necessary to explore the nation’s abundant resources in its waterways and seabed.
She insisted that the industry alone can absolve over five million workforce because of the potentials and opportunities in the industry with its over N90 trillion asset base.
Expected guests include the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Sambo and Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, as well as maritime agencies and stakeholders, among others.
