… congratulates duo on lection win
Managing Director/CEO, Employment Clinic, Ms. Ronke Kosoko, has called on the President elect, Mr. Ahmed Tinubu and the Lagos State re-elected Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to cash in on their positions to maximise the enormous potentials in the maritime industry.
Kosoko made this charge recently in Lagos while congratulating the duo for emerging winners in the last Nigeria elections.
She was of the view that their offices as the President of Nigeria and Governor of Lagos State respectively would afford them avalanche opportunity to critically take a look on how to holistically address issues hindering Nigeria from making the best of the huge potentials that Apapa Port offers.
With a bias for employment, kosoko noted that the maritime industry has a lot to offer in terms of employment generation.
She recalled with nostalgia what Morlap House in Apapa represents and her pioneering role in Nigeria’s efforts to promote indigenous shipping.
Continuing, she stressed that the current trend in the industry must be reversed quickly so as to lift Apapa Port and environ to the former enviable position as an enabler of employment generation and national economic growth.
According to her, the new Lekki Deepsea Port recently created operational problems for Apapa Port, terminals and allied businesses by virtually poaching their skilled staff.
The void created by this must be urgently filled in order to maintain the usual bubble Apapa Port, terminals and environment are known for.
Kosoko equally advised the incoming President not to wholly rely on what his leutenants would like him to hear.
He should appoint only maritime industry experts into key agencies for instant impact and quick turnaround of the sector to create jobs and address the current infrastructure deficits.
Over the last decade, Kosoko noted, the need to realistically resuscitate port business and shipping has become glaring.
Nigeria’s maritime industry with all the potentials to replace oil and gas as revenue earner has suffered untold neglect and mismanagement, a development the incoming government should reverse.
“The entire industry is looking forward to Senator Bola Tinubu and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to revive the maritime industry for the good of the country.
“This is because there has been dichotomy between the state and federal.
“Now, we want to ensure that the center aligns at some level with the state because if Lagos works, Apapa for instance is affecting the whole nation. If Apapa Port, Tin Can Island Port and Lekki Port work optimally, the state and the entire nation will be better for it,” she stated.
Speaking on the ‘Project One Million Jobs’ in the maritime sector, Kosoko disclosed that the employment initiative which commenced a decade ago is to “connect the dots” between the government and the industry in order to create more job opportunities for the nation’s teeming youths.
“The problem of employment is what pushed us into the ‘Project One Million Jobs’ which has a link with government.
“The employment part of the industry is a segment, just as infrastructure, policy, appointment issues are segments and if they are not fused together, the maritime economy is not going anywhere.”
“So, the President-elect and the Governor of Lagos State should understand that there is need to pay attention to maritime economy.
“We have been mandated to interface with the seven agencies under the Ministry of Transportation, and have spoken to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers’Council (NSC) and others. We do not want to go on the journey alone, we need the media along and that is part of the reason we are having this session,” she explained.
She dwelt on NIMASA’s seafarers’ development programme and the angle of cadets being trained at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron.
She also spoke on the initiative “From Impact To Legacies: Heading to a new Frontier in the Maritime Economy.”
Kosoko also used the opportunity to introduce the Maritime Conversion Programme which focuses on getting Nigerian graduates into the maritime sector via industrial training and hands-on experience to enhance their career prospects in the industry.