The Nation Newspaper

Category: Jobs

  • Election: Outdoor advert to boost employment

    Election: Outdoor advert to boost employment

    Next year’s general elections in Nigeria will open fresh job opportunities, especially in the outdoor advertising segment. Billboards, transit adverts, posters or arena placement owners are expected to hire both skilled and unskilled labour, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    These are boom times for players in the outdoor advertising segment of the industry. The political parties have just completed their party primaries for various elective posts. Players in the outdoor advertising are expected to witness activities in the industry after a long lull that has rendered the industry illiquid.

    Some players had projected about N20billion for the industry during the election period. They expect that the  fund being devoted to the sector will not only create empowerment for outdoor agencies and hoarding owners, but also for both the skilled and unskilled labour.

    As a result, the boom will open windows for people in areas such as billboard designing, structural engineers and their auxiliaries, planting, account management, media management, field supervision. This will in trun grow government’s revenue.

    Of all these areas of opportunities in the outdoor advertising, the structural engineering seems to have job space for more people because it is tasked with the responsibilities of mapping out the sites where billboards will be sited.  As a result, certain categories of people will be employed to carry out the job on the sites.

    From the cumbersome manual method to the now popular imposing electronic billboard advertising, structural engineers have been creating Jobs for people in the formal and informal sector. The former includes fine artists, graphic artists, printers of large format posters, and computer programmers, while the latter are bricklayers, welders, painters, among others.

    Accountants, media managers, compliance officers and creative experts such as graphic artists will benefit from the fortunes of the outdoor advertising industry during the electioneering period.

    With the recent restructuring and reforms in outdoor advertising also known as the out-of-home advertising medium, experts  say better days await job seekers as states governments have now embraced the new generation billboards.

    The states, which have established agencies to regulate activities in outdoor advertising are Lagos State Signage Advertising Agency (LASSA), Osun State Signage Advertising Agency (OSAAA) and Oyo State Signage Advertising Agency (OYSAA).

    Others are Rivers, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo, Enugu, Delta and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    While these states are generating revenue by approving and collecting commission on every billboard erected in their domain, they have helped in providing job opportunities for people.

    Experts said the stakes are high for job seekers, given that companies are committing fortunes to it. They said billions of naira are being spent on outdoor advertising which has a multiplier effects in the economy.

     

    Job potential

    The Director General, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, Mr. George Noah says the industry holds huge job opportunities as the Lagos market alone currently employs some 100,000 people, adding that the industry would have grown more but for prevailing hindrances which included but not limited to loss of market share to television, radio and social media marketing. He said Lagos currently hosts 100,000 signs and 800 outdoor structures.

     

    Gains for outdoor

    The Media Facts, a key media resource for marketing professionals in West and Central Africa, showed in its fresh report on the industry that the TV sub-sector dominated the media spending for last year. With a total of N47 billion advertisers spent on their advertisements on the TV stations in the country last year, the figure represented 45 per cent of the overall spending by advertisers. The report said with N23.2 billion spent on outdoor advertising during the year under review, the outdoor sub-sector came second after the TV. Similarly, the report stated that the radio and print media recorded advertising spend of N15.1 billion and N18.5 billion, respectively last year.

    “The TV dominated media spends of advertisers – accounting for 45 per cent of the total expenditure of N103.8 billion in 2013. While TV and radio spends dropped by nine per cent and two per cent points, OOH (out of home) and print increased by three per cent and eight per cent, respectively,” the report stated.

    Former General Manager, Tequila Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gbolalian Mosaku-Johnson said newspapers, radio and television advertising have overshadowed outdoor advertising for years, arguing that there is a renewed interest in outdoor advertising by blue-chip companies that can spend a fortune in producing good copies. Tequila is an integrated marketing communication outfit providing services such as brands developments, promotion among others.

    Mosaku-Johnson said many people would be employed either on contract or full-time basis to help in producing outdoor advertising services because some companies are ready to pay a lot of money for such services.

    “This is high time graphic artists, among other skilled personnel must prepare themselves for big opportunities in the outdoor advertising industry. It is projected that outdoor advertising will get more attractions in the next five to 10 years because state governments are showing keen interest in the field by setting up agencies for such needs. Now that we have thousands of billboards in strategic places across the country, there would be more opportunities for job seekers.” he said.

    He projected that at least 5,000 jobs would be created directly or indirectly in a year in each of the 36 states of the federation when the outdoor advertising begins fully.

    He said: “Now mobile outdoor advertising which ensures that bigger buses and taxis are used to promote products/services of companies is on the increase in the country. These advertisements are produced periodically, depending on what the clients pay for. This shows that graphic artists and large format printers would be made to provide more services in the industry. “Also, drivers, among other auxiliary workers would be employed aside the workers needed to produce billboards. With this, a lot of job opportunities would be open for skilled and the unskilled workers in the country,” he added.

    However, the advertising practitioners in the country, acting under the aegis of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, (AAAN) said over N20billion would be spent on political campaigns this year.

    Its Chairman, Publicity Committee, Dr. Celey Okogwu, noted that the N20 billion that would be spent on political campaigns which may however not pass through the organised private sector.

     

    Outdoor advertising guidelines

    Three months to the general elections, LASAA is worried by the indiscriminate ways these campaign posters are being pasted across the states.  It has threatened to sanction candidates and individuals that run foul of its guidelines on the use of election campaign materials in the state.

    Noah, who gave  the warning, said the guidelines on the use of election campaign materials for next year’s general elections in the state were issued in accordance with the agency’s responsibilities, and as provided for under its enabling law. One of these laws is the Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency Law 2006 as amended, which regulates and controls outdoor signage, advertisements and billboards in the state.

    According to Noah, the guidelines were issued to establish sanity and protect the environment from defilement, visual blight and other adverse effects of uncontrolled, unregulated deployment and display of political campaign materials within the state during this electioneering period.

    He said: “The guidelines are also issued without prejudice to any political party, association or aspirant as it is our intention to ensure fairness and equality among all concerned stakeholders, while judiciously performing our duty and applying the rules without sentiment or bias.”

    He explained that billboards and wall drapes political campaigns may only be deployed on existing structures owned and operated by outdoor advertising practitioners who are registered with LASAA and have obtained permits for such sites and structures.

    “Parties interested in deploying political campaigns may contact LASAA or owners of the proposed structure for clarification. 2. A-Frame may only be deployed on road verges, medians on inner streets and must not exceed a size of 1 x 1 meter (big size) and 0.5 x 0.5 meter (small size) and must have a distance of not less than 100 meters between each sign deployed.

    “Banners may only be deployed on inner roads and streets subject to the following conditions: only if the banner is attached to the wall of a particular building limited to inner streets, and it is not to be tied to poles or public utilities (electric and telecom poles).

    “Posters may be deployed on designated surfaces on inner streets only and are not to be deployed on highways, major roads and high streets. Posters must not be pasted on public utility structures such as street lamp poles, transformers, road directional signs, electric poles and other unauthorised surfaces.”

    The agency warned political parties, aspirants and their supporters to refrain from indiscriminate deployment of campaign posters and embrace the use of other creative and innovative platforms including: a stick in the ground, billboards, mobile adverts, among others.

    According to Noah, aside risking prosecution, other  non-conforming political campaigns would be removed without recourse to the owners, even as he reminded politicians that all political campaign advertising materials must be removed immediately after the elections.

  • How to identify your skills

    Employment experts agree that skill identification is essential to a successful job search. Employers want to know what it is you can do for them-not just what you’ve done for someone else. Knowledge of your unique skills is needed to successfully complete an application, write a resume or answer interview questions. Skills Identification is a key initial step towards new employment.

    Webster’s New World Dictionary defines a skill as “a great ability or proficiency, expertness that comes from training, practice, etc.” A simple definition is that a skill is anything you can do right now.

    Everyone has skills, hundreds of skills, many of which employers are looking for in an employee. Yet most people can only identify a few skills and are generally unable to describe them to an employer. Employers need to hear what you can do. If you’re looking at purchasing a product that will cost you thousands of naira a year for many years, you also would want to know that it can do. The more skills you have identified, the easier it is to convince a potential employer that you have what it takes to do the job.

     

    Skills categories

     

    Job skills

    Job skills are those skills specific to a job or occupation. An administrative assistant is skilled in typing, word processing, answering telephones, company correspondence and filing. An accountant would list accounts receivable, performing accounts payable, payroll, figuring taxes, using a 10 keys adding machine and computer accounting programs. A salesperson would include customer service, record keeping, order processing, inventory management, billing and product displays.

    Job skills are important to employers for obvious reasons. These are the specific skills they look for in a candidate to accomplish the duties of the job. Job skills do not always come from employment. Along with the skills you used in previous jobs, you may have developed job skills through education, hobbies, community activities and life experiences. Common activities such as shopping, managing finances, balancing a bank account, hosting a party and teaching a child all contain potential job skills.

     

    Self-management skills

    Sometimes called “personality traits,” these self-management skills are skills you use day-to-day to get along with others and to survive. They’re the skills that you unique. Sincerity, reliability, tactfulness, patience, flexibility, timeliness and tolerance are examples of self-management skills. Employers look for these skills in candidates as evidence of how they will fit into the organisation. How a person will fit in is an important consideration to employers.

     

    Transferable skills

    These are skills that can transfer from one job or occupation to another. They may be either self-management or job content skills, and may or may not have been developed through pervious employment. For most jobseekers it’s very unlikely that they’ll find a job that is identical to their opportunities. It’s also important to look for ways to express this transferability to a prospective employer.

     

    Duties

    Many people have trouble distinguishing between their skills and duties. Duties are the basic functions of an activity. Skills are tools to accomplish those functions. Duties or functions are a part of any organised activity, whether it’s employment, volunteer work or hobbies. A simple example is the management of a lemonade stand. The basic duties of a lemonade stand owner might be to manage lemonade operations including product, marketing, distribution and finances. These are many skills needed to accomplish these functions including: mixing, measuring, planning, sales, customer service, writing, cash handling, record keeping, maintenance, timeliness, dependability, accuracy and motivation. A complete list of skills would be very long.

     

    Writing out the duties or functions of an activity first can be useful way to begin identifying skills. When presenting your skills to an employer, it’s best to tie them to specific activities in which they were used. It’s not enough to tell the employer your skills: you need to be prepared to tell where, when and how you used those skills.

     

    Writing your skills

    Identifying, listing and describing your skills isn’t an easy task. However, it’s critical to job search success and you should plan to invest the time needed. Listed below is an outline for skills identification that has been successfully used by many jobseekers.

     

    • List by title a job you’ve held. Start with your most recent employment and work backwards.

     

    • Write a detailed description of four to five major duties.

     

    • Think of the skills needed to accomplish each duty you’ve listed. Write those skills down on a piece of paper. Remember to look for both job and self-management skills. Be sure to include tools used, machines operated, knowledge applied, etc.

     

    • Repeat the above steps for each activity you anticipate describing to an employer either on an application, in your resume or in an interview. Use this process for other work-related activities including hobbies, volunteer work and community experience.

    Once you’ve completed this process, you should have a long list of skills-A list too long to tell an employer. Go through the list, select and prioritise those skills that match your job(s) target(s).  Three to eight can be optimal, depending on your years of experience and relevancy. These are the skill you will use and sell in your job search effort- deciding what you will like to do, during interviews and in your resume/CV.

     

    EkiniConsult & Associates is organising three free and open workshops, “Knocking on the Right Doors- Strategies for Uncovering the Hidden Job Market” for The Nation readers in Lagos. A free eBook of the same title will be given to those who may not be able to. If you are interested, send-in your name, location, email address and GSM no to 080-8384-3230. Precede with the word ‘ATTEND’ for those who want to come and ‘FREE EBOOK’ for those who want the free eBook only.

  • How renewed NHIS will benefit Nigerians

    How renewed NHIS will benefit Nigerians

    The poor state of the nation’s health sector has been a major concern for Nigerians. This is the reason for the country’s high index among countries with poor health delivery system. One effect of this is the huge revenue, in foreign exchange, lost to medical tourism to European countries, including America and South Africa. But there seems to be hope on the horizon going by the promise of the Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. ‘Femi Thomas,to get international standard for medical services back home and at pocket friendly cost. In this interview with select Health Correspondents, Thomas shares his dreams and plans for Nigerians in getting quality health services, amongst other sundry issues bogging the scheme. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and VINCENT IKUOMOLA were at the media parley. Excerpts:

    the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has not been impactful because many Nigerians are not captured in the scheme. Besides, health workers and professionals are always at logger-heads over sundry issues in the scheme. How have you been able to handle this situation?

    Let me start by thanking members of the Nigerian press, for the sustained interest in the affairs of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has been expressed in the way you have sought to know how we have fared, particularly in the last one year. It is a demonstration of commitment to the progress of the nation and the welfare of our people. Your interest and commitment have not only inspired us, but also challenged us with regards to the public expectations from the scheme. The press has kept me on my toes.

    I sat and looked at the contentious areas of the schemeand travelled abroad to study how things are done in those climes. I consulted a company on how to reposition this scheme for the benefit of Nigerians, and was given two options. These are the Brown and Green options. The green means starting afresh and discarding the old ways of running the scheme. The Brown option involves carrying on with the scheme as it were, and fine tune the rough edges. We went for the latter option and added the merits of the Green options. We reached out to the stakeholders as well, and we were able to get an understanding on how things should be done differently.

    In the last one year, how have you been able to actualise the aims and objectives of the scheme?

    My arrival as the helmsman for the NHIS coincided with two critical challenges before the scheme. One was the target set for the scheme by Mr. President, which has to do with the extension of coverage to no less than 30 per cent of Nigerians by 2015. The other was the emergence of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as a new global objective set for all nations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), towards enhancing the economic prosperity and social well-being of humanity. I was excited on arrival by these objectives, as I found that they fortunately coincided with my personal agenda as I came in as Executive Secretary.

    These were a rapid upscale of coverage, tangible and visible improvement in the quality of care available under the scheme, and the restoration of the enrolee to a place of eminence and pride in the implementation of the scheme. In the last one year, we have completed the moulding of the building blocks, laid crucial structures and have begun the implementation of certain strategies to make health insurance easy and accessible to all Nigerians.

    Our efforts began with a Management retreat in December last year, during which we undertook a comprehensive assessment of the strength, weakness and opportunities of the initiative. At the end of that exercise, it became obvious that we have the capacity, not only to meet the Presidential target of 30 per cent coverage, but indeed, to surpass it. Arising from that, NHIS has set for itself an institutional target of 40 per cent coverage by 2015. Let me assure all Nigerians that it is still our clear view today as it was last December, that this is achievable.

    What are the constraints to the actualisation of these targets and what have you done to address them?

    Time is the number one constraint. The time to achieve more goals is limited. Also, as we set out to pursue these targets, we recognised that we require a corporate realignment and a well-oiled system to proceed at an acceptable pace, delivering an acceptable quality of service. Therefore, we started with the restructuring of the organisation, by unbundling the old Technical Operations Department into full-fledged formal and informal Sector Departments, as well as the creation of a new Marketing Department to enable us embark on an aggressive drive for mass acceptance and enrolment nationwide.

    We have also, in the course of the past year, undertaken a painstaking study of standards, processes and strategies adopted by governments and technical organisations in the past, both locally and internationally, to acquire information and deepen knowledge that will help the scheme borrow a leaf from best practices and avoid pitfalls in the experiences of others.

    Another approach we adopted was the wholesome review of the programmes of the scheme, and how they have fared. This exercise resulted in the overhaul and revitalisation of a few old programmes, but more importantly, the conceptualisation and development of certain new initiatives with the potential to help frog-leap health insurance coverage in Nigeria.

    Are there pragmatic actions being taken to address some of the lapses in the system so as to ensure more enrolees?

    Change is a tough thing. But with a resolute mind and team work, we have been able to embark on certain innovations that ginger the interest of more people in the scheme.  One of the most strategic initiatives of this administration, which we are confident, will rapidly increase health insurance penetration in our country, is the National Mobile Health Insurance Programme (NMHIP). It is a novel concept, being the first of its kind anywhere in the world, meaning that great things can also come out of this country.

    It provides for subscribers of the Mobile Network Operators the platform to register, select Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) and Provider, and choose payment options and plans, all on their mobile phone, and at their convenience. To implement this, the scheme engaged a mobile technology and business aggregator, Salt and Einstein Limited, to interface with stakeholders and manage the process. The pilot run for this was launched in Lagos last July 21 on the platform of MTN, as a start-off point. Appreciable progress is being made in testing the process and structures, to determine the weaknesses and advantages. The other network operators, including Glo, Etisalat and Airtel, are all at high levels of readiness for roll out as soon as the national launch of the programme is performed by Mr. President anytime from now. When fully launched, it is expected that we shall be able to give coverage to no less than 20 million lives on that platform.

    The scheme is alleged not to be enrolling the poorest of the poor. How do you react to this?

    We have introduced the Mobile Health Insurance programme. The outstanding component of the Mobile Health Insurance Programme is the Adoption Tree. On this platform, rich and well-endowed individuals and corporate bodies with philanthropic hearts will be encouraged to contribute to a pool of funds from which the poor and the vulnerable will enjoy health insurance coverage.

    There are two varieties of the Adoption platform, including the Specific, whereby the donor specifies who he wants coverage provided for, and Non-specific, which remains open and could provide care for any set of deserving beneficiaries.

    Another new initiative of ours is the Public Primary Pupils Social Health Insurance Programme (PPPSHIP). This is designed to provide cover for about 24 million pupils of public primary schools nationwide, and pre-implementation activities are on-going at various stages. To accomplish this, NHIS will bear total responsibility for the programme in the remaining part of the year, while by 2015, state governments will absorb 60 per cent of the cost of implementation, with NHIS bringing up the balance of 40 per cent.

    It is heart-warming to note that as many as 20 states have made provision for this activity in their 2015 budget. The scheme is also laying strong emphasis on the Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP), which we have since restructured and its blueprint revised. A recent stakeholders’ meeting that considered the revised blueprint of the programme underlined its significance, as administrators and student bodies such as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), lauded the programme, and called for its strengthening. It will interest you to note that the National Universities Commission (NUC) has directed that all Nigerian Universities, public and private, participate in the programme as a matter of policy.

    Currently, a national sensitisation process initiated by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students and Youth Matters, in collaboration with NANS, is in progress, beginning with a flag-off event in Ibadan. It is expected that we will be able to give coverage to virtually all the three million students of tertiary institutions in the country, about 900, 000 of whom are currently covered under the programme. Negotiations are equally in top gear with the Management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), towards rolling out a social health insurance programme for young graduates undertaking national service. I have had the privilege to meet with the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Johnson Olawunmi to fast track the process.

    But Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs), are often the bottlenecks between the enrolees and the facilities. How is this being addressed?

    It is true and we have swung into action to tackle this. Within the year, the scheme completed the first ever  re-accreditation of HMOs. This process, anchored by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) Limited from 2012, was successfully completed in September . Of the 61 old HMOs, 38 were re-accredited, while 15 new HMOs were exempted, as they were newly registered, and not due for re-accreditation. The conclusion of the exercise has brought the number of HMOs operating under the scheme to 53. We can boldly assure Nigerians that the exercise has introduced a new lease of life into the health insurance industry in Nigeria, as it engendered the emergence of strong, competitive and reliable players in the industry.

    Our flag-ship programme in the informal sector, the Community-Based Social Health Insurance, has been thriving. We are now pursuing it with greater vigour, and the results are inspiring. Right now, we are inundated with requests from various communities around the country for the flag-off of their CBSHIP programmes. Within the period under review, we have inaugurated the Community Based Social Health Insurance Programme (CBSHIP) in Emoriko and Egbe both in Kogi State, Nkana West Ward II of Akwa Ibom State and Lamodi-Offa in Kwara State.

    It is observed that Federal Civil Servants are the major enrolees in the scheme. How do you plan to get participants at the state level?

    Your observations are fair. You will observe that there is an evident lull in the folding in of state governments’ work forces into the scheme. Reasons for this range from political will to other factors. However, we are intensifying efforts to release the will of political leadership at the state level for this purpose, as I have paid advocacy visits to no less that 12 governors across the country since I came on board, marketing health insurance and spotlighting the advantages for them and the people they lead. Following our high-level advocacy efforts, several of the state governors have accepted our request for plots of land, as we plan to concretise our presence in the states, by building permanent office structures in the state capitals. Many of the governors have already issued Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to us. So also are we in high level consultation with the leadership of the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA), to facilitate the penetration of the Organised Private Sector, which holds a huge pool of Nigerians.

    From experience, enrolees are denied reception at facilities because they can’t provide their Identity cards (ID) cards and it is frustrating when such people realise that their policy is almost near expiration (maturity) before they can access care. Why is your scheme not addressing this?

    A critical part of our work in the last one year has involved the groundwork for a comprehensive digitalisation of health insurance activity in our country. Our focus has been the attainment of a paperless process and administration of health insurance. This will bring to a final end, the perennial crisis associated with the production and distribution of ID cards for enrolees, which has hindered access to care for many. The digitalisation will be deployed to cover the entire process, ranging from registration to encounter management at points of service, including data administration. It is expected that the digitalisation will eliminate delays in processing eligibility for access and other forms of malpractices observable in the past.

    Human Resource is a key factor in any organisation. How were you able to manage the rank and file of this scheme?

    Well, the Governing Council, management and staff of NHIS, did not only receive me warmly and accepted to share my vision, but had proceeded to work with me at a similar fast pace and with equal vigour. It is to our collective credit that within the last one year, enrolment figure went up by about two million lives, about 40 per cent of total figure for the preceding eight years. As at today, total enrolment figure stands at about 7.2 million lives. I am aware that progress in any organisation revolves around staff welfare and motivation. I, therefore, wish to pledge my unfailing commitment to the constant improvement in the conditions under which the staff operate. This will be in addition to our modest successes in that area in the last one year, especially concerning staff emolument, healthcare, retirement benefits and capacity building, among others.

    There are certain diseases and other life threatening conditions that have been excluded from the scheme from the onset. How are you addressing that?

    NHIS registered a prominent presence in our nation’s centennial celebrations this year. This is by way of offering our enrolees access to services that  were ordinarily on our exclusion list, such as capital intensive super tertiary disease conditions like Oncology, Orthopaedic surgery, Trauma, Open heart surgery and  Renal cases.

    So far, six open heart surgeries, one renal transplant, two orthopaedic surgeries and four oncology treatments have been successfully carried out under this programme. Our objectives for this unique intervention are three. First, it is to reward our enrolees, who kept faith with the scheme, especially in the years of our infancy and difficulties, discourage outward medical tourism and showcase the capacity of Nigerian medical centres and personnel to deal effectively with these complex conditions.

    The scheme’s feet are now firmly on the ground, and we are ready for the race, even as Nigeria relies on us as her major hub for the attainment of Universal Health Coverage by 2020, while Mr. President looks forward to the accomplishment of our target of 40 per cent by 2015. We wish to solicit the partnership of the press in this process of working to remove financial barriers to effective healthcare for our people, as we seek to unlock their potential for economic productivity and social welfare.

  • Jobs of the day

    A Well Reputed Branding AND Advertising Agency Requires the following position;

    1.Graphic Artist

    2. Copy writer/Client Executive

    3. Executive marketers (print&media)

    4. Social Media Expert

    5. Sales Promotion (SSCE) on Contract basis

    REQUIREMENT

    2-3 Years minimum experience, Prior Experience of Advertising and good creative writing skill is a must.

    Interested candidate may send their Résumé to: jsphisaac3@gmail.com.

     

    PERSONAL ASSISTANT URGENTLY NEEDED

    The Managing Director of a conglomerate is in urgent need of a competent personal assistant.

    REQUIREMENT

    1. Applicants must be graduate

    2. Applicants must not be more than 23 years old

    3. Applicants must be female

    4. Applicants must be computer literate

    5. Applicants must be presentable

    6. Applicants must be intelligent

    7. Applicants must an itinerant person.

    Qualified applicants should send an application with C.V to: wolidultimate@gmail.com

  • Preparing them for the future

    Preparing them for the future

    In the last 10 years, the Ovie Brume Foundation (OBF) has placed over 300 students as interns in the financial, oil and gas, telecoms and pharmaceutical sectors, among others. The beneficiaries are equipped with requisite skills that could earn them jobs or turn them to entrepreneurs. The foundation is also partnering with Lafarge Nigeria in its maiden literacy competition developed to hone the students’skills to achieve their career goals, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    Youths are the leaders of tomorrow. The Ovie Brume Foun-dation (OBF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with bias for youth education and empowerment, believes in this attruism. This explains why the OBF is implementing a long-term goal for the youth. The foundation, now in its 10th year, is creating a future for the youth to either build successful careers, or become job creators.

    Executive Director, Ovie Brume Foundation, Mrs. Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, said the firm has helped over 300 school leavers achieve successful careers in banking, pharmaceutical, energy, security, clothing, and other key sectors of the economy.

    Her words: “We take children, place them in different companies, in line with their career aspirations. They learn on the job, after which they go back to school. This helps to motivate them. We also guide them along their career paths and after school, we always place them as interns in these organisations, especially those at the Senior Secondary School level.”

    She explained that many of these students have been deployed as interns to the Bank of Industry (BoI), Flying Doctors, Emzor Pharmaceuticals, printing companies, fashion companies and Marina Securities, among other real sector operators.

    Mrs. Akin-Jimoh expained that they spend at least a month, while some stay longer especially if they find their skills very useful. She  said the body has been doing this for more than 10 years.

    “We place up to 30 kids in a year, that’s about 300 kids in 10 years. Sometimes, we match students’ skills with industry. But most of the students that are placed are those that have passed through the Ovie Brume Foundation. Those we can vouch for in terms of their skills and ability, and the fact that when they get to these institutions, they will deliver,” she said.

     

    Capacity building

    The OBF Director said when organisations invest in capacity building for their workforce, it enables them achieve their objectives. She said a lot of organisations have high expectations about the people coming into their companies, but most times they are disappointed by what they find.

    “So, we also talk about the quality of education that the people are getting. Most tertiary institutions teach students practicals, but they fail to relate what they teach to the Nigerian situation. So, if you get someone, for instance with first class in mathematics, to go and work in an oil servicing company, you still need to train such person on how to deploy his mathematical skills on the oil industry,” she said.

    She said a lot of graduates that are being churned out are not suitable for the jobs that are currently available, adding that it is important that our educational systems are structured in a way that people that are coming out are able to fill spaces that are available.

    On entrepreneurship, Mrs. Akin-Jimoh said the available jobs are not enough to cater for the graduates churned out yearly. “So, it is even better, where people are not coming out and be looking for white collar jobs. They come out with skills that enable them start their own businesses. So, instead of looking for a job, one can be a job creator. We need people to think more along the line of creating jobs, rather than seeking jobs,” she said.

     

    Partnership with Lafarge

    The OBF American Corner Coordinator, Lois Ekeleme, explained the group’s partnership with Lafarge Nigeria on its maiden Literacy Competition and what it intends to achieve.

    She said the project is part of OBF’s strategy to encourage literacy and literacy appreciation amongst primary school students in Nigeria. She said the group is also celebrating its results from the Books on Wheels Project that was carried out in different Lafarge sites around the country. Books on wheels is one of the many literacy programmes put together by the OBF to enhance writing skills, promote reading culture and improve the vocabulary of public primary school pupils within the country.

    The competitions will feature tests to assess reading and writing ability and spelling bees. Selected schools from various regions will provide two primary six pupils as their representatives at the regional level. The first two winners from each region will then proceed to represent the region at the finals in Lagos.

    So far, 250 primary school children have benefitted from the Books on Wheels Project. She said the group is promoting literacy programmes because it sees it as one of the ways it can address the current learning and skills gap in the country.

    “What that entails is taking books to the schools, reading with the students, tracking how they improve with time, in their reading and writing abilities. We tracked the project into a period of about one year, and found that it was successful.  It was in the process of this, that we now have a budding relationship with Lafarge which have bought into some of our literacy projects in the past,” she said.

    Speaking further, she said the firm had suggested putting in some hours to volunteer from their different locations. “In Nigeria, the Books on Wheels is one the initiatives they bought into for their education Corporate Social Responsibility projects. They are implementing Books on Wheels in their locations in Nigeria, which include Rivers State, Ashaka in Gombe State, Ewekoro and Shagamu in Ogun State and in Lagos.

    “We work with the primary schools that they identified in primary five and six, and over a period of one year, we have read short story books of about 20 titles across five locations, and we try to read about two books every month to about 50 children. Across board, we have enabled 250 primary schools children, read about 20 titles. The books are written by local authors,” she explained.

    Mrs. Ekeleme said the group has about 39 volunteers, not only in Lafarge, but also in other organisations. “And if you look at the total number of children that have access to our books, it is well over 800. When we started, we never knew we were going to get a lot of support from corporate organisations. We have held three regional competitions in Nigeria, and because we are implementing it in three geo-political zones: Southwest, Southsouth and Northeast, we conducted literacy competitions in those three units,” she said.

    “In each of them, six states were invited to participate. Only two states declined.We have 16 states participating across board. In the Southsouth, Delta and Akwa Ibom states came first. Southwest- Ekiti and Ogun states while for Northeast, Bauchi and Taraba states. The six states will in December, be in Lagos for the grand finale.

    They will be represented each by a young girl and boy of Primary six status who had competed in the regional competition,” she added.

    Speaking on the educational programmes, Mrs. Akin-Jimoh said a lot of state governments are committed to building physical infrastructure in schools but fail to realise that students need to also learn phonetics, dictions among other modern learning systems.

    Regretably, not many of them are paying attention to type and quality of education the students are getting and what the teachers are teaching. “Some teachers are still doing ‘A for Apple’, ‘B for Ball’, when a lot of primary schools are already teaching phonetics and diction, so that the students can pronounce very well. That is a major problem for all. Those who are doing it, you will see their students excelling in these literacy competitions.  What we want is for the people concerned to pay more attention,” she said.

    Lack of proper teaching, she said has led to skills gap in the country. “We are already in a crisis situation, when it comes to people that are being employed, and not having the right skills. Employers are complaining about poor manpower. The foundation is very important because if you do not get the primary and secondary right, you are not going to get the tertiary right too,” she said.

     

    Prizes for winners

    Speaking on the prizes, Ekeleme said the contestants for the final competition will have to do reading and comprehension writing, spelling, and the marks will be added together and you now have the final scores.

    “But they had written essays, which were collected at the regional competitions. Now, those essays and other assessments will be added to the summary writing scores, spelling at the finals. It is from there we will get the first, second and third winners.

    We want to improve literacy skills. They will get e-readers; the issue of digital technology will no longer be strange to them. They are also getting digital computers for their schools while the teachers will get tablets. The consolation prizes include CDs that will help in teaching phonetics in the schools,” she said.

     

    Funding

    On funding, the OBF Director said: “It is funded by Lafarge, but the foundation has also brought in funds. The project will cost about N15 million for the competition alone. If we want to combine it with the intervention in schools, it will be like between N25 and N30 million.

    “Our mid-line assessment showed that some of the students were at zero level when it comes to reading and writing, before the intervention. But after four months of intervention, it has improved. We have nine per cent improvement in Lagos, 19 per cent in Shagamu, 23 per cent in Onne, 49 in Ewekoro and 62 per cent improvement in Ashaka after reading 20 titles. We forecast that if we do this for 12 months, the figure we will get, you times it by four quarters. I think that’s a major feat,” she said.

    She said the uniqueness of this intervention is that all you need to do is read. “So, once you can read to a child, you ensure that if there is any difficult word, the child is able to pick a dictionary, write down the meaning. That’s all that is needed. So, everyone can implement this intervention, once the person can  read and speak English. In places where the literacy level went up, a lot of teachers actually bought into the project. If teachers are able to go, just an extra mile and read to the kids, and make sure that they follow the tracks, there will be great success,” she said.

     

    Job statistics

    The latest Job Creation and Employment Survey from the National Bureau of Statistics show formal sector employment at 3.24 million in September, this year.

    The survey defines formal sector as consisting of establishments with 10 or more employees, and is based on a sample of 5,000 firms across the 36 states of Nigeria. The total was slightly higher than the 3.15 million recorded in the previous quarter. While the exercise does not report employment totals in the informal sector or public institutions, and even allowing for a median age of 17.2 years in 2013 according to the UN Population Division, we can quickly see why the Federal Government of Nigeria is focused on job creation for Nigeria’s population of more than 170 million.

  • How identify your skills

    Employment experts agree that skill identification is essential to a successful job search. Employers want to know what it is you can do for them-not just what you’ve done for someone else. Knowledge of your unique skills is needed to successfully complete an application, write a resume or answer interview questions. Skills Identification is a key initial step towards new employment.

    Webster’s New World Dictionary defines a skill as “a great ability or proficiency, expertness that comes from training, practice, etc.” A simple definition is that a skill is anything you can do right now.

    Everyone has skills, hundreds of skills, many of which employers are looking for in an employee. Yet most people can only identify a few skills and are generally unable to describe them to an employer. Employers need to hear what you can do. If you’re looking at purchasing a product that will cost you thousands of naira a year for many years, you also would want to know that it can do. The more skills you have identified, the easier it is to convince a potential employer that you have what it takes to do the job.

     

    Skills categories

     

    Job skills

    Job skills are those skills specific to a job or occupation. An administrative assistant is skilled in typing, word processing, answering telephones, company correspondence and filing. An accountant would list accounts receivable, performing accounts payable, payroll, figuring taxes, using a 10 keys adding machine and computer accounting programs. A salesperson would include customer service, record keeping, order processing, inventory management, billing and product displays.

    Job skills are important to employers for obvious reasons. These are the specific skills they look for in a candidate to accomplish the duties of the job. Job skills do not always come from employment. Along with the skills you used in previous jobs, you may have developed job skills through education, hobbies, community activities and life experiences. Common activities such as shopping, managing finances, balancing a bank account, hosting a party and teaching a child all contain potential job skills.

     

    Self-management skills

    Sometimes called “personality traits,” these self-management skills are skills you use day-to-day to get along with others and to survive. They’re the skills that you unique. Sincerity, reliability, tactfulness, patience, flexibility, timeliness and tolerance are examples of self-management skills. Employers look for these skills in candidates as evidence of how they will fit into the organisation. How a person will fit in is an important consideration to employers.

     

    Transferable skills

    These are skills that can transfer from one job or occupation to another. They may be either self-management or job content skills, and may or may not have been developed through pervious employment. For most jobseekers it’s very unlikely that they’ll find a job that is identical to their opportunities. It’s also important to look for ways to express this transferability to a prospective employer.

     

    Duties

    Many people have trouble distinguishing between their skills and duties. Duties are the basic functions of an activity. Skills are tools to accomplish those functions. Duties or functions are a part of any organised activity, whether it’s employment, volunteer work or hobbies. A simple example is the management of a lemonade stand. The basic duties of a lemonade stand owner might be to manage lemonade operations including product, marketing, distribution and finances. These are many skills needed to accomplish these functions including: mixing, measuring, planning, sales, customer service, writing, cash handling, record keeping, maintenance, timeliness, dependability, accuracy and motivation. A complete list of skills would be very long.

     

    Writing out the duties or functions of an activity first can be useful way to begin identifying skills. When presenting your skills to an employer, it’s best to tie them to specific activities in which they were used. It’s not enough to tell the employer your skills: you need to be prepared to tell where, when and how you used those skills.

     

    Writing your skills

    Identifying, listing and describing your skills isn’t an easy task. However, it’s critical to job search success and you should plan to invest the time needed. Listed below is an outline for skills identification that has been successfully used by many jobseekers.

     

    • List by title a job you’ve held. Start with your most recent employment and work backwards.

     

    • Write a detailed description of four to five major duties.

     

    • Think of the skills needed to accomplish each duty you’ve listed. Write those skills down on a piece of paper. Remember to look for both job and self-management skills. Be sure to include tools used, machines operated, knowledge applied, etc.

     

    • Repeat the above steps for each activity you anticipate describing to an employer either on an application, in your resume or in an interview. Use this process for other work-related activities including hobbies, volunteer work and community experience.

    Once you’ve completed this process, you should have a long list of skills-A list too long to tell an employer. Go through the list, select and prioritise those skills that match your job(s) target(s).  Three to eight can be optimal, depending on your years of experience and relevancy. These are the skill you will use and sell in your job search effort- deciding what you will like to do, during interviews and in your resume/CV.

     

    EkiniConsult & Associates is organising three free and open workshops, “Knocking on the Right Doors- Strategies for Uncovering the Hidden Job Market” for The Nation readers in Lagos. A free eBook of the same title will be given to those who may not be able to. If you are interested, send-in your name, location, email address and GSM no to 080-8384-3230. Precede with the word ‘ATTEND’ for those who want to come and ‘FREE EBOOK’ for those who want the free eBook only.

  • Jobs of the day

    HOSPITAL VACANCY

    MAGODO SPECIALIST HOSPITAL LIMITED,

    Magodo GRA, LAGOS

    POSITIONS;

    1. Matron

    2. Experienced Nurse with combined General Nursing and Midwifery qualification

    3. Pharmacy Technicians

    4. Medical Laboratory Scientist

    5. Medical Laboratory Technicians

    6. Experienced Sonographer/Radiographer.

    7. Experienced Optometrists

    8. Drivers

     

    Interested applicant should send their applications by mail to magodospecialist@yahoo.co.uk, with their curriculum vitae (CV) attached.

     

     

    Media Vacancy

    Have you been looking for a job at a newspaper company? Grab your chance to join a newspaper publishing company with headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo state by applying for any of the following vacancy:

     

    1. Editor
    2. Reporter
    3. Page layout designers and web publishers
    4. Marketing and adverts
    5. Accountant

    QUALIFICATIONS

    Minimum of relevant HND/BSC degree, or its equivalent as well as relevant professional qualification.

    REQUIREMENT

    Applicant for any of the vacancies should normally not be older than 35 years and must:

    1. Posses verifiable, relevant and adequate experience
    2. Posses outstanding and demonstrable IT skills.
    3. Posses 0utstanding and demonstrable writing,reporting and interviewing skills
    4. Be creative, innovative, enterprising, problem solving,flexible and able to combine multiple roles.

    HOW TO APPLY

    Applicant should send their CV (scanned copies of certificate and a cover letter, indicating the position applied for and containing a clear justification of the applicant suitability to debbgoseanhd@gmail.com, not later than December 12, 2014.

     

  • ‘Vandalism, power theft remain daunting challenges’

    ‘Vandalism, power theft remain daunting challenges’

    One year ago, the private sector took over electricity distribution and generation in the country. Things appear not to have changed as power supply remains epileptic while the consumer is inundated with ‘crazy bills’.  The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ikeja Electric (IE) (former Ikeja Electricity Distribution (IKEDC), Abiodun Ajifowobaje, an engineer, says all the inherited problems in the industry are being addressed. He laments that consumers by-pass meters, thereby causing losses to the firm. He speaks with MUYIWA LUCAS and DADA ALADELOKUN on the journey so far, the attendant challenges and how the company has been able to handle consumers’ demands. 

    It is one year since the handover of electricity distribution to the private sector. How has the Ikeja DISCO fared under your leadership?

    Indeed, it has been a very challenging journey. And I will say it has also been interesting, but we are forward-looking. The challenge to make a change in the power sector and by extension, empowering Nigerians, has been the driving force behind the company’s operation in the period under review. When the baton was handed to us on November 1, last year, we immediately hit the ground running and I am happy to say that with the support of our customers and stakeholders, we have established a foundation for enhanced service delivery driven by our contact centre, ongoing infrastructure upgrade, robust customer engagement and deployment of new technologies. The high-point of this first year and one, which I am very passionate about, is our change of identity from IKEDC to IE, which stands for Ikeja Electric. For us, this is not just a change in logo or identity; it is a whole new paradigm shift that promises innovativeness and service delivery at its best.

    What does this change from IKEDC to Ikeja Electric mean to the customer?

    The new logo symbolises renewed dynamism, professionalism and innovation. And we have earmarked several engagement activities to ensure that customers are carried along with the identity change which will be reflected across all our touch points with them. Now, more than ever, Ikeja Electric remains committed to upgrading service excellence within our network. Our new look is a symbol of a new spirit, new energy and a new drive, which promises a brighter future for our customers.

    In fact, Ikeja Electric will soon be known and embraced as a symbol of service excellence and reference point for innovativeness in the sector. I must also add that the change in logo implies new digits and email address for its contact centre operations, which have been widely commended for bridging the gap between the company and its customers.

    Can it be said that the government’s decision of transferring Distribution Companies to the private sector was justified?

    The best thing that could happen to the power sector in this country is the privatisation. Nigerians should give kudos to the Federal Government for the laudable initiative. Prior to the privatisation, the industry was in need of fresh investments to boost capacity and supply. Privatisation has given the sector a boost with the introduction of private sector initiative, which is completely changing its operational framework all over the country.

    In terms of power supply, many believe that there is no difference between the pre-privatisation and post-privatisation periods because electricity supply seems not to have improved. How do you react to this?

    Transition to uninterrupted power supply is work in progress in Nigeria and I am certain that the advent of privatisation will deliver that project in our nation. However, Nigerians must realise that it will take time to reach the desired levels of gas availability, infrastructure, human capital and financial backing needed for complete transformation.

    We all need to work together to make this happen. Every Nigerian must have a stake in the transition; we should work together to stop the activities of vandals and those that specialise in energy theft and destruction of power facilities and installations.

    Inadequate power allocation from the national grid is a challenge to power distribution. What are the options for DISCOs in this regard and how are you handling the situation?

    We have to ration supply to our customers. We resorted to what we technically call load-shedding. Our daily maximum power demand is about 1,250Mw, while what we have got between the day we took over and now on the average is about 300 and 400Mw. What we have to put in place is a sustainable effective load management to ensure that there is equitable power allocation to all levels of our customers.

    We are also looking at alternative sources to complement allocation from the grid. This is what we call embedded generation to feed some customers within the locality outside the national grid system. Plans are ongoing to achieve this. We have received proposals from many companies, which have expressed their willingness to partner with us in generating power supply. We have invested over N1billion in network rehabilitation and expansion in the last one year. We are continuously investing in infrastructure upgrade, new technology and human capital development.  With regard to our installations, I am happy to tell you that the accident rates have dropped within the network following our robust strategy and investment in re-conductoring of weak lines.

    We have also concluded arrangements to carry out safety enlightenment campaigns within the network. Very soon, you’ll be seeing various safety signs along our network to draw public attention to dangerous electrical facilities. The government and the public have roles to play. Living, trading and working under high-tension lines should be avoided to reduce the risk of electrical accidents. We will always be ready and willing to spearhead initiatives aimed at ensuring safety within the sector as the vision of Ikeja Electric is to extend our services beyond the shores of Nigeria.

    The issuance of pre-paid meters still remains contentious as several customers are yet to be allocated same even when they have paid for them. What is your company doing to address this seeming anomaly?

    Metering is a key issue in distribution. We have realised that there is wide gap in customer metering. Over 70 per cent of our customers are either without meters or with obsolete ones. We are poised to fill this gap. For now, we have ordered meters and will start metering before the end of the year. We will be rolling out 500,000 meters in the next three years for effective billings on electricity consumption by customers. We are working on a robust metering model that will promote transparency in billing and eradicate energy theft. So far, about 136,000 customers with the company have been provided with prepaid meters to date.

    The ugly side of it is that some people have perfected the act of by-passing the meters. To date, about 36,000 customers have been discovered to have by-passed the meters, and this poses a serious challenge to the company. We are working with security operatives to enforce prosecution of offenders. We also urge our customers and indeed, the public to report people involved in this act as it affects the network, thereby resulting in throwing more homes into darkness, economic losses from surges and possible death through electrocution.

    “Crazy bill” or estimated billing is rampant in the absence of a pre-paid meters. To many, this is cheating since the bills are usually more than the electricity consumed. How do you address this problem and when is it likely to stop?

    Estimated billing is unavoidable for customers who do not have meters or those with bad meters. We use scientific methodology through energy delivered to the transformer feeding the customers. However, metering of customers will solve the problem associated with estimated billing. This is where we are headed in Ikeja Electric and I am confident that we will achieve this.

    Many communities have accused your company of charging them for transformer installations. Are communities supposed to pay for installing transformer and accessories?

    Ikeja Electric does not charge for transformer installations. We have heard reported cases of communities contributing money to get transformer installed. This, I say emphatically, is not at the instance of the management of Ikeja Electric. We have discovered along the line that there is always connivance between some community leaders and some perceived staff of distribution companies in this regard. In Ikeja Electric, our policy stands; we don’t demand money from any customer to install transformers or other electrical equipment.

    Vandalism of power equipment remains a problem in this industry. How do you guard against this?

    Vandalism is like a virus, which is destroying the power industry in Nigeria. The socio-economic implication of vandalism is colossal. It throws communities into darkness and hit the commercial and industrial activities of the affected areas. By the time we took over, there were 42 transformer substations out of circuit due to vandalism.

    We spent huge sums of money to revive them so that the affected communities could have power supply. Such money spent to replace stolen/damaged equipment would have been better used to expand the network. What we have done is to enlighten the public through the media on the effect of vandalism. We are also partnering with security agencies in Lagos on curbing the menace. We have visited the State Security Services, the Lagos State Police Command and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). We are also in constant touch with the community leaders, propping them to assist in securing these equipment in their domains.

    The people’s perception of the power industry over the years has continually cast doubts on its integrity. How has this affected your business and can this be changed?

    The image problem of the power sector is basically, a result of inadequate power supply. The billing and metering issues are also there. For us in Ikeja Electric, I am sure the public will agree that we are currently moving away from the past in terms of service delivery. This is still work in progress and this is why we are taking on a new identity to help us move the conversation of effective service delivery further. Unlike in the past, customers can now contact us without leaving the comfort of their homes or offices through our call centre. Once a call or e-mail is put through, customers are sure of getting a feed back to their complaints via our call centre, which I have stated above.

    We also have a rebranded walk-in customer care with properly trained customer service executives, who courteously handle customers’ issues. Moreover, we are constantly empowering our field operations staff to serve customers with respect and courtesy. Our outlook has also changed with our rebranded new service vehicles and properly kitted technical workers while at work and they are always ready to help customers.

    Public opinion about staff attitude in the privatised power sector is not different from what it used to be under the defunct PHCN. For instance, there are allegations that DISCOs, through their staff, extort money from customers before rendering services. Why is this so?

    Ikeja Electric has always been against extortion in any form. This policy has been communicated to all staff and they are aware that any staff caught in the act will be summarily dismissed if found guilty.

    We have also communicated this to customers at various engagement sessions, encouraging them to always demand proper identification from our staff and report anyone who requests money to render duly approved services.

    The challenge we have been contending with is the fact that most customers, who allege extortion, back out when asked to prove it. But the company’s policy is that customers should not bribe our staff while the latter know that they must not demand bribe to do their job.

    We are very resolute when it comes to upholding our integrity and professionalism. We carry out periodic staff development programmes, which border mostly on attitudinal change and a paradigm shift that put the customer first. We have a policy of regular training and learning sessions for all categories of staff. We also hold quarterly town hall meetings where the Board and Management meet with all staff to create harmonious relationship and better understanding of the company’s policy and focus. I strongly believe there is a paradigm shift in staff work ethics and attitude.

    As a company in transition, how have you been relating with your customers?

    Well, in Ikeja Electric, our customers remain the focal point of our operations and we hold them in high esteem. We have made a lot of progress through our regular engagements with customers. In fact, Ikeja Electric comes first in this regard. Since the take-over, we have held series of meetings with Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs) within our network for better working relationship with our customers.

    At these meetings, outstanding problems are solved, while issues raised are amicably resolved and customers are educated on the operations of the company. We have opened channels of communication where customers can reach us and get feedbacks. I just mentioned the call centre, which is very much at the heart of the company.

    The Ikeja Electric call centre is the first of its kind in the power industry to cater for the customers within the Business Units in English, Yoruba and Hausa languages via telephone calls and e-mails for quick response to complaints. We also contribute to developments in the communities through social responsibility initiatives.

    We have had free eye surgeries for customers, media check-ups, malaria treatments, high blood pressure checks as well as awareness missions to schools to educate pupils on how power works and how we can sustainably use power to the benefit of all.

    What are the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives your firm has undertaken?

    We have since established a framework for reaching out to the communities where we operate and already impacting lives positively through our initiatives. We have organised CSR programmes in various communities within our network. We carried out health programmes, which involved free hypertension and diabetic checks and treatment; free eye tests with free eye glasses and surgery, where necessary. We also carried out enlightenment programmes in Senior Secondary Schools on electricity valve chains, conservation of energy, illegal connection and vandalism. Educative gifts were freely given to the participating schools.

     

  • Hidden jobs in agric mechanisation

    For its capacity to create jobs, reduce poverty and increase production in the agricultural value chain, more farmers are embracing mechanised agriculture, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

     

    •Over 200,000 jobs waiting to be grabbed

    The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to increase crop and animal production as part of its wider goal to increase exports and foreign exchange earnings. This is also intended to close the big balance of payments deficit. To achieve this, the government has put in place initiatives aimed at boosting agriculture production and agro-processing.

    The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the government is supporting innovative ideas that have the potential to transform the number one driver of the country’s economy. He noted that the government is developing relevant policies and an enabling environment to foster investment in the agriculture sector. This   will play a big role to boost productivity and performance of stakeholders, especially small-scale farmers.

    Adesina said the government targets  creating about 3.5 million jobs from the agricultural sector annually under the country’s development blueprint, adding that the aspiration could only be achieved through mechanised agriculture. He said the  Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development  has started to establish 1,200 Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHE) centres across the country.

    The scheme, which was launched on August 25 by President Goodluck Jonathan, is targeted at putting hoes and cutlasses into the museums and providing Nigerian farmers affordable mechanised services regardless of their location. To back this up, President Jonathan directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to set aside a N50 billion Agricultural Mechanisation Fund for the roll out.

    Adesina, who performed the official take-off ceremony of the programme in Gusau, Zamfara State, said the AEHEs scheme, with support from the Agricultural Mechanisation Fund, would lead to the establishment of a minimum of 1,200 centres where tractors and other agricultural equipment could be accessed across the nation. This, he said, is expected to happen between now and 2016. The centres will provide 6,000 units of tractors and their implements, 15,000 power tillers and over 20,000 planting, harvest and post harvest equipments.

    “This will be used to mechanise minimum of four million hectares of farm land in the country, with a projection that it will expand food production by an additional 20 million metric tons, and create over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs for youths.

    “Once set up, the centres will provide farmers the opportunity to lease or hire out various types of agricultural equipment for land preparation, harvesting and in the area of post-harvest operations, repair and maintenance of such equipment. There are significant opportunities for job creation in post harvest management. An increasing amount of wild fish stocks are being depleted due to overcapacity and damaging fishing methods. These  depletions are widespread.”

    According to  him,  there is a need to rebuild fisheries where ever possible. This require  initiatives that  would create employment in fish stock assessment, monitoring, control and protection, as well as supporting additional research positions in relevant technologies.

    With rising pressure to mitigate the impacts of climate change,  experts  see   growing biofuel sector  expanding  to  create  thousands  of jobs in related agriculture and industry processes. Already,  experts  are  seeing   job creation for agricultural workers producing biofuels at small and medium capacity scales.  With  mechanisation and  technology,  there  will  be  jobs  for   professionals   to  help  farmers   align information technology (IT) and technology activities with business objectives and ambitions to enhance performance and minimise risks.

    The minister was of the view that the economy will witness  a growing and diversifying agricultural sector,  which will  create employment opportunities across the  value  chain. He said  the  government  is  promoting  farming  activities  across major  commodities  such  as  cocoa, rice, cassava, sorghum and maize.

    This has triggered a flurry of activities  requiring   skilled personnel  in processing, marketing, machinery operation and repair, transport and logistics, and quality control. The  cassava revolution is  also  helping  the  government  to  create more  jobs. Speaking at the inauguration of Oamsal High Quality Cassava Flour Processing factory at Ayede –Ekiti, Ekiti State, Adesina pledged government’s resolve to turn cassava into gold in Nigeria. He stated that government’s  plan is to continually make funds available to support Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs  to upgrade their facilities.

    The Minister said 35 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) would benefit one million Naira each from the Cassava Bread Fund, to enable them achieve entrepreneurial optimum performance, which is made available by the Bank of Industry (BoI). Adesina sees  the  sector  absorbing   large numbers of new job seekers and offer meaningful work with public and private benefits.  For this to happen, constraints to land, capital, and skills are to  be   addressed, providing features to make the  sector  friendly to the needs of young graduates.

    Major food companies that have begun innovative reformation of their supply chains with the intention to improve their operations and create new job opportunities are increasing. These include Flour Mills of Nigeria, Dangote Group and Dominion Group.

    For instance, Kaboji Farms, located in Kaboji Town, in Kontagora, Niger State, has carved a niche for itself in mechanised farming. The 10,000-hectare farm, established by Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) to cultivate maize and other cereals, has investments worth over N1 billion.

    The farm has 2,000 hectares of maize and 1,000 hectares of soya beans, and other cultivated crops such as rice and cassava. The Nation learnt that as part of its expansion programme, the management of the farm has concluded arrangements to increase the cultivated area by 2,000 hectares over the next five years, with a projected output of 7000 metric tonnes (MT).

    The farm’s Manager and Agric Technical Adviser, Mr. Kobus De Jager, said Nigeria needs large commercial businesses to transform her agriculture and food-production ability. He said the key to profitable commercial farming is good yield and control of key input, hence the farm uses the latest farming techniques and highly mechanised approach, which in the last two seasons, has guaranteed increased yield of more than 50 per cent.

    With this, De Jager said the management of the farms is optimistic that sustained and dynamic agricultural growth initiatives such as those it has embarked on, would contribute to food security and sufficiency and help Nigeria realise its huge potential as an economic giant in Africa and beyond.

    On its part, the management regularly upgrades its farming implements and machineries by using tractors, seed planters and combined harvesters. This has created jobs for the youth of the area. Apart from farm workers and labourers, heavy tractor, trailer truck drivers are  in  great  demand. Because of this, tractors, harvesters and  seed  planters  are indispensable tools of  daily life in  major  farms owned by  the private  sector across the country.

    Besides these categories of workers, mechanised farms create jobs for office production planners; agronomists; accountants; breeders; machinery and agricultural parts coordinator; business managers; human resources managers; finance manager; agric and mechanical engineers; agric extension officers; procurement managers; transport managers and  farm technicians though on very small scale. There is also the demand for reliable, responsible and motivated people, who can combine technical knowledge with practical skills in such farms.

    Young people are being employed and trained to use tractors to plow and get the fields ready for planting. For school leavers, the company gives  them  the  opportunity to learn basic tractor operation and helps complete some  work. As a requirement, they  need to be physically fit and have drivers’ licences. Although not essential, some of them  are  graduates of  agricultural colleges.

    As  tractor drivers, they  undertake a variety of different jobs including ploughing, drilling or harvesting. The role may also include maintaining and cleaning the tractor. In  Kaboji town, most women are no more full time housewives, but strong contributors to family standard of living. These women,  on a monthly basis, earn competitive income as their counterparts in the civil service because they work and contribute in various ways to the farms.

    For instance, as early as 6am, they assemble in hundreds, clad in  farm clothes, with their lunch packs and be ready for the farms. They also earn income from picking leftovers of maize and soya beans from the harvesters’ machines.

    Kaboji Farm’s Crop Manager, Babatunde Hamed, said there are usually intense competitions among the women as they earn their income based on the number of bags harvested per day. Markers and clackers, at point of delivery, record harvest of each of them. At the end of the month, the women go home with between N18, 000 and N25, 000 or more.

    One of the pickers on the farm, Asmau Suleiman, said she has a target of N160,000 for herself before the end of the harvesting period. “I want to replace the thatch roof of my house with corrugated sheets and buy more goats for my farm,” she said, adding: “My son can go to school now without worries.”

    An aged mother of six, Halima Sani, said she  was on the farm to support her weak husband, who has been suffering waist pain for years. “I’m happy I can make some money to support my family and buy books for my last child, who is still in school,” she said. Besides, Kaboji women still cultivate other lands for their families’ food needs. All of them still maintain their traditional farms in the locality.

    While they work and make a living from the commercial farm, their husbands are also beneficiaries of the company’s out-growers scheme. They are supported with seeds, techniques and fertilisers to grow crops, which the company buys from them at the end of the harvest season.

    Besides the pickers on the farms, there are women, who make a living by just separating the corn from the cob using the traditional methods. These women are part of the larger workforce that makes a living from Kaboji Farms. The agricultural activities in Kaboji have transformed the living conditions of the people.

    According to the Director, Africa Region, Cassava Adding Value to Africa (CAVA), Dr  Kola Adebayo, agriculture will likely continue to be the dominant sector of employment for most young people over the next few decades. Fortunately, the increasing  high demand for agricultural products is  helping  to  create  such  opportunities. He said agriculture provides the  largest and most ambitious social security and public works programmes  that  can  guarantee  participating adults in rural households plenty days of paid manual labour each year.

    According to him, agriculture helps  the  economy  achieve inclusive growth by generating employment and reducing poverty in rural areas, providing livelihood security to the rural poor through guaranteed wage employment, rejuvenating the natural resource base,  stimulating  the local economy, and increasing  women’s empowerment.

    He explained that  job opportunities on  farms abound, but they are still unrecognised by or inaccessible to most young people. “This  is  because  a lot  of them  don’t  see  agricultural employment as a viable career, seeing  the reality of their families’ situation,” he added.

    Despite this, he  noted,  the  sector represents the  most immediate opportunity to realise gains in growth and create employment for young people. A combination of pooled off-farm earnings, a shift to higher-valued and more commercial products, following  the  efforts of the  government  through  the  agricultural  transformation  agenda, he  said,  would   allow more  small farms employ  more  youths.

    According  to him, higher-valued agriculture  will create employment opportunities following  increasing  demand for transport, plant protection, veterinary services and mechanised field operations.

  • Job search when you have to be discreet

    When you don’t want your employer to find out that you are job hunting, there are steps you can take to keep your job search confidential. The last thing you need to have happen when job searching is for your employer to accidentally find out that you’re looking for a new job. It could jeopardise both your current position and future references from your employer.

    Here are some suggestions on how to effectively job hunt on the sly, so that the wrong person doesn’t find out that you are looking to make a move.

    Stealth job hunting do’s and don’ts

    E-mail address

    Do not use your work email address for job hunting. Use your personal account or set up a free web-based email account specifically for job searching.

    Office equipment

    Don’t use your employer’s computers or phone system. Many employers monitor Internet usage and review phone call logs. Keep your resume, your email correspondence, and anything and everything related to your job search on your home computer.

    Your resume

    Be careful where you post your resume. If you don’t want your current employer to accidently find your resume when searching for candidates, post on job sites where you can keep your employer and contact information confidential. For example, if you post your resume on Monster, you can make it confidential and your contact information and references won’t be displayed. You can block your present company’s name by entering an end date of present for your current position.

    Additional resume options

    Other options for protecting your privacy (aside from blocking) include listing a generic company name and job title, rather than a specific one. You can also leave off company contact information. Do the same with your contact information and phone numbers. List your job searching email address and cell phone number.

    Telephone tips

    Do not use your work phone number for job hunting. Instead, put your cell phone number and/or home phone number on your resume. Be sure to have voice mail or an answering machine in place so you get the messages in a timely fashion.

    How and when

    If you can’t job hunt from work, what other options are there besides evenings and weekends? Visit a bookstore, cafe or library with internet access on your lunch hour and bring your laptop if you can find a wireless connection to use.

    Use your phone to job search – there are lots of job search apps available. Lunch time also a good time to return prospective employer phone calls, especially if you can take an early or late lunch to catch them in the office.

    Interviewing

    Try to schedule interviews for either the beginning or the end of the day or on your lunch hour. If you have vacation time you can use, schedule multiple interviews for the same day.

    Dress the part

    If you typically wear jeans to work, don’t wear a suit when you have an interview scheduled. Someone will start wondering what the occasion is for dressing up.

    Be discreet

    Be careful who you tell that you’re looking for a new job. If you tell co-workers, you can be sure that it will get back to your boss, one way or the other. Do tell your family, so they can take messages for you and so they don’t inadvertently spill the beans to your work colleagues and leave you a message that someone is calling about an interview.

    Social networking sites

    Be really careful what you post on social networking sites. Don’t tell your Facebook friends or your LinkedIn connections that you’re job searching. Don’t tweet about your job search activities either. Even if your boss doesn’t follow your updates, someone else may and the word that you’re job hunting could get back.

    EkiniConsult & Associates is organising three free and open workshops, “Knocking on the Right Doors- Strategies for Uncovering the Hidden Job Market” for The Nation readers in Lagos. A free eBook of the same title will be given to those who may not be able to. If you are interested, send-in your name, location, email address and GSM no to 080-8384-3230. Precede with the word ‘ATTEND’ for those who want to come and ‘FREE EBOOK’ for those who want the free e-Book only.