The Nation Newspaper

Tag: jobs

  • NEXIM’s $60m Sealink Projects to create jobs

    In line with the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda, the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) said the new Sealink Projects billed to take off next year, will create and sustain more jobs for Nigerians as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets become one and Nigeria’s products and services brought to the world. TOBA AGBOOLA reports.

     

     

    • Ship loaded with containers at the Apapa port in Lagos

    DESPITE the commendable increase in trade among African nations in  recent years, there have been growing concerns over the barriers to effective trade, job creation, especially among Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member nations.

    The establishment of the Sealink Project attempts to address the challenges of excessive transit time and lack of adequate transportation infrastructure among states in West and Central Africa, thereby creating jobs through improved trade flows and free movement of goods, people and services.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Managing Director, NEXIM Bank, Mr Robert Orya, said the Sealink Project is a major step in deepening trade within the ECOWAS sub-region and a significant step in enhancing the current trade flows of the ECOWAS member states to create jobs. Other benefits according to him, are to promote increased trade flows and opportunities for the people, considering the huge capital flight from the region through the absence of a sea trade infrastructure.

    Orya explained that by the time the project is fully on ground, it will encourage and enhance Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) operators’ bussinesses because there will be market for their products outside the country

    The project, which is in conjunction with the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI), is expected to commence next year. It is envisaged that the freight and passenger project, when completed would have the following ports of call: Freetown-Conakry-Bissau-Banjul-Dakar; Cotonou-Calabar-Douala-Libreville and Libreville-Dakar

    Orya said the funding requirement for the regional project is $60 million, adding that the project is in line with the Transformation Agenda of the Government, which projects investments in roads, railways, inland waterways, ports and airports development in collaboration with various stakeholders to evolve a multimodal, integrated land sustainable transport system. Emphasis will be on rail and waterways, through an effective Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

    He noted the various efforts by the regional body in the past to promote trade, particularly the approval of the protocol for free movement of goods and services as well as the right of establishments. He said NEXIM bank’s vision was to help provide an efficient transportation system to facilitate economic growth and intra-regional trade flows.

    He said: “To move goods from one point to another within the region, it should take only three days. But, currently it takes about 60 days and at a very high cost, because the consignment has to get to Europe first, before a trans-shipment is done to West Africa.

    “A Sealink Project is a major step in deepening trade within ECOWAS sub-region and a significant step in enhancing the current trade flows of the ECOWAS member states, promote increased trade flows as well as create jobs and other opportunities for the people, considering the huge capital flight from the region through the absence of a sea trade infrastructure.”

    According to him, the project aims to create synergy and ensure an even and nation-wide distribution of gains from the administration’s investments in the key sectors, termed ‘main growth drivers’. This includes the manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, services, trade and commerce.

    He said: “Affirmatively, the Sealink Project will take the gains of the Transformation Agenda beyond the shores of the country. It will immediately open up our shores and immensely contribute to Nigeria’s march to become the premier economy in Africa through creating a seamless export platform for movement of Nigeria’s manufactured/semi-processed goods, services, and personnel with a certainty to boost competitiveness and productivity across these sectors. Also, it will spur more private sector initiative and innovation, enhance the development of the key sectors’ value chain, create/sustain more Nigerian jobs as the ECOWAS Markets become one and Nigeria’s products and services are brought to the world.”

    He identified the need to develop transport infrastructure in the sub-region to boost trade.

    “For instance, it takes about six days to transport goods by road from Nigeria to Ghana, while it takes about 60 days to transport the same goods by sea, to the same destination. As a result, stakeholders endorsed the initiative and role of NEXIM in promoting the Sealink Project. Goods moved by sea from Nigeria to Ghana, first go to Europe before going to Ghana because there are no cargo ships operating within the sub-region; a development, which analysts say is capable of eroding profit margins of export trade credit seekers.

    He disclosed that already, NEXIM has set up a company called Sealink Promotional Company, with a seed capital of $1.5million (about N237million) as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to raise the money. The company (Sealink Promotional Company), according to Orya, has commenced operations.

    He said FBN Capital has been appointed as the Issuing House for this offer, adding that in the next few weeks, the offer document would be issued.

    “In support of the project, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has provided a technical assistance grant to extend the feasibility studies for the Sealink Project to Equatorial Guinea, as well as Sao Tome and Principe,” Orya said.

    Giving the breakdown, Orya said that of the $60 million required, $36 million (or N5.6 billion) will be used to buy vessels, equipment, office space and other infrastructure, while $24 million about (N3.7 billion) is earmarked as working capital to cover general administrative cost.

    He said that NEXIM is spear heading the project because Nigeria is a dominant player in the region controlling 70 per cent of the 300 million markets.

    Nigeria’s Organised Private Sector (OPS) has lauded the project, describing it as a transportation solution to the congested road systems in the West and Central African link roads.

    The Vice President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Prince Billy Harry, lauded NEXIM Bank’s coming up with the Regional Sealink Project and the vigour with which the bank is pursuing its realisation.

    He also agrees that the ECOWAS market is huge and has not been fully tapped as a result of logistical challenges being faced in movement of goods and persons, especially due to the absence of a direct shipping line for the West and Central African corridor.

    “As the apex business association in Nigeria, NACCIMA is supporting the setting up of the shipping company as we did during the establishment of Ecobank Transnational which has become a household name in all the West African states and beyond. We would like to also stress the need for chieftains of industry here present to take ample opportunity by participating in the raising of the $36 million that would form the equity capital for the setting up of the transnational shipping company,” Harry said.

    Recently, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the Sealink Project is of vital importance both to the Nigerian government and the West African sub region.

    She said: “The sealink is of strong interest to us. You know we already have the Nigerian Cameroun road that has just been done and we are looking to more of such.

    “Within the sub region, we are doing this sealink project so that we can trade along the West African coast and Nigeria is taking the lead with the NEXIM Bank to work on this and we hope the others will all come on board.”

    She said there are very many critical projects, but financing is not easy to come by as the continent would need upwards of $100 billion a year to meet its developmental needs.

    “That is what we need and even after you take account of all sources of income; we still need $50 billion to be able to meet our needs.

    “So we have to be very selective in terms of the most critical projects and this is the way we are going to be able to unlock the infrastructure bottle necks. It will take time, this is not what we can do overnight, but we have to be steady on it,” she said.

     

  • Jobs for sale in Cross River

    SIR: All over the world, it is the responsibility of a government to protect and care for the needs of her citizens. If the people get to see that they are priority in government’s agenda, payment of taxes and other levies becomes something that is done willingly and deliberately. It becomes habitual for the people to support the government in any way possible. They will not go on strike or go on demonstration if the pump price of petrol is increased.

    Unfortunately, Nigeria is a country where the welfare of her citizens has become dormant, sacrificed on the altar of greed and wickedness. Over the years, government’s actions or the lack of it has led to the shutting down of many firms and industries. The result is a steady increase in the rate of unemployment. The collective wealth of the country is continually channelled into personal pockets by successive rulers. As if to add salt to injury, the government has now devised a means of duping the citizens especially the unemployed.

    Few years ago, the government of Ikedi Ohakim extorted about two thousand naira (N 2,000) from unemployed indigenes of Imo State on the pretext of giving them jobs in the state civil service. These unemployed persons were shamelessly “419nied” by the very government that swore an oath to protect their interests. What happened to the promised jobs and the money collected is, as they say, history.

    Sadly, the scenario is playing out again today in Cross River State. The government has come up with a phantom desire to employ teachers into the state secondary schools to teach science subjects. Of a truth, there is a dearth of science teachers in most secondary schools in the state. The government has decided to cash-in on this and has asked interested applicants to pay a non-refundable fee of two thousand naira (N2, 000) into UBA account number 1000989395 with Secondary Education Board as account name. This is not the first time that the government is duping the unemployed in the state. Few months ago, some persons who were employed under the UBE scheme and sacked after working for two years, were made to pay one thousand naira each to have them re-instated. Nobody has heard anything from Sylvia Atsu, the chairperson of the Post Primary Education Board, since then. Even those that were recently offered “permanent appointment” after working for about six years as volunteer teachers were made to pay one thousand naira each (N1, 000) before the appointment. The “beneficiaries” have not been paid any salary since December, 2012 when they collected their letter.

    It is bad enough for a graduate to roam the streets in search of jobs after many years of graduation. For the government to use them as a channel to make wealth is a crime against morality, humanity and even divinity. If the government is sincere about giving jobs to the unemployed, why not employ them and deduct the money from their salary? Why should somebody who has no job be made to part with a sum of money before being employed? In any case, why should a form consisting of about three pages cost as much as two thousand naira (N2, 000)? What is the guarantee that politicians will not buy-out the entire positions for their cronies?

    • Undiandeye Jerome Anguel Bedia Village, Obudu, Cross River State.

     

  • 10,000 jobs coming in Niger Delta

    The Forum of South-South Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (FOSSCCIMA) is set to create about 10,000 jobs yearly  for youths in the Niger Delta region.

    President, FOSSCCIMA, who is also the Vice President, Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) Prince Billy Harry, disclosed this to The Nation.

    He said there is an on-going project, which the chamber is putting together to reduce the rate of unemployment in the region, adding that the forum’s goal was to ensure that the economy of the oil-rich region is set on the right track, with the potentials available within it being harnessed and maximised.

    Harry said the chamber had taken it as its upon itself to see to the development of the region. This, he said, would be achieved through the creation of jobs, support for the Small Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) training and empowering the youths, among others.

    He said FOSSCCIMA is set to provide the platform and the private sector partnership for the South-South states to realise the needed investments that would spiral into economic development of the oil-rich region.

    He added that the potentials had hitherto not manifested for the well-being of the people.

    On the British government’s proposed demand for a £3,;000 bond as prerequisite for the issuance of a six-month visa for visitors from Nigeria, he said this is unacceptable to the Organised Private Sector (OPS).

    Harry added that it will jeopardise the relationship between the two countries.

    “And as for the diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and the UK, that is the issue at hand. The Nigerian government should take it up amicably with the British government because of their cordial relationship. The British also do business in Nigeria; hence it is a two-sided coin.

    “I don’t think the British government would intentionally jeopardise this cordial relationship. It would spoil the cordial relationship between the two countries. The airlines will suffer because passengers will be few, the economy in Britain will suffer because tourists will become few and money wouldn’t be made in hotels and other places,” he said.

     

  • Ajimobi promises jobs for ‘area boys’

    Oyo State Governor,AbiolaAjimobi has promised that his administration will provide jobs for street urchins, popularly known as area boys, to completely rid the state of crimes and criminal activities.

    This pledge came even as Nollywood actors and actresses hailed the governor for his ‘brilliant performance’ in the last two years, describing it as unprecedented in the history of the state.

    Speaking at the popular Mapo Hall in Ibadan shortly after completing the third edition of the monthly fitness walk tagged ‘Ajumorin Walk’,Ajimobi said that arrangements have been made to ensure that the area boys are gainfully engaged so that they could contribute meaningfully to the development of the state.

    The Ajumorin Walk, which took off from Challenge and terminated at Mapo Hall, was led by the governor.

    The exercise also featured top government functionaries, a large number of Nollywood actors and actresses, local government chairmen, politicians, market men and women and the general public.

    The governor, who expressed his government’s commitment to improving the lots of the state in all ramifications through the creation of wealth, stressed that there would be no particular segment of the society that would be left behind in the scheme of things.

    Some of the Nollywood actors and actresses who participated in the Walk included Muyiwa Ademola, Fathia Balogun, Femi Adebayo, Olaniyi Afonja (Sanyeri) and others.

  • SMEDAN to create 5m jobs through NEDEP

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN plans to create five million new jobs through its National Enterprises Development Programme, NEDEP before 2015.

    Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Bature Masari, disclosed the plan on Wednesday at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, stating that with NEDEP, it would be easier to implement the One Local Government One Product, OLOP scheme nationwide.

    “NEDEP would cover all states of the federation and Abuja with a view to conducting survey of every products being produced in each local governments as part of the strategies mapped out by SMEDAN to achieve the goal.

    “Our objective is that within the few years of implementing NEDEP and other programmes to be initiated, we will generate an estimated five million direct and indirect jobs.

    “I came here with a mission. My mission is to contribute immensely to the growth of MSMEs all over the country. MSMEs play the lead role in creating additional employments, wealth generation and poverty reduction, ” the DG stated.

    He added that SMEDAN, which will identify skills of each youth, would work in conjunction with the Industrial Training Fund, ITF which would train them and the Bank of Industry, BoI for finance.

    The D-G disclosed that the pilot scheme  started in Kano and Niger States will developed to create jobs, generate wealth and eradicate poverty in the country.

    He said this would be done through the micro, small and medium enterprises, MSMEs sector for effective skills training and acquisition as well as business services development.

  • LAWMA: Clearing waste, creating jobs

    Its mandate is to keep the metropolis clean, but the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has gone beyond that to empower the people by creating jobs for them. Assistant Editor Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie reports.

     

    Many entrepreneurs and would be investors are faced with a challenge and that is epileptic power supply. The power problem has also affected job creation. But the resourceful can get a job or create one where there is none.

    Since its coming a few years ago, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has been creating jobs while battling to make the metropolis clean.

    It employs artisans whose shops were demolished for the ‘New face of Lagos’ and those who monitor the environment, plant trees, flowers and their supervisors.

    The waste management agency is also considering demographic policies and strategies targeted specifically at women graduate drivers and advocacy personnel who move around town and far-flung places to advise residents on environmental issues.

    LAWMA Managing Director Ola Oresanya said the 46 female drivers initially engaged to drive the waste evacuation trucks have shown an uncommon tenderness in handling the vehicles. This, he said, has encouraged the organisation to consider hiring more hands.

    The job creation services of the agency is also targetting divers and swimmers to clean the ocean views and the riverine areas.

    The process of job creation at LAWMA is evolving, according to Oresanya, who also disclosed that the agency has established a recycling plant at the 20-year-old dumpsite at Olusosun, Oregun, Ikeja. He said the plant can create jobs for thousands of youths directly and indirectly.

    He said: “The 42.7 hectares site has been efficiently re-fitted with the installation of plastic/nylon recycling warehouse, odour neutralisers and mobile atomisers and construction of fuel bay and access roads to make the site convenient for those who will work there.”

    He explained that the landfill site receives an average of 300 trucks of waste daily, which are weighed at the weigh bridge to ascertain the quantity of waste coming into the site per truck. He said every aspect of LAWMA activity creates jobs.

    The LAWMA boss said the waste-to-electricity project in markets is a job spinner as people will be employed to collect the waste and also work in the conversion process that will generate electricity to all the markets in the state. He said Ikosi Market is benefiting from it as it has been energised from wastes collected. He spoke of the readiness of the agency to replicate this in other locations.

    He said: “These infrastructural developments have been of tremendous benefit to the proper management of waste at the landfill. It has helped in the upgrading of the site and improvement of the accessibility of refuse trucks and compactors servicing the site. This has resulted to the reduction of the traffic congestion on adjoining roads and, in the process, creating huge employment opportunities for Lagosians.”

    Oresanya stated that at the handover of newly-purchased skip trucks by the state government to LAWMA, the female drivers had recorded zero accidents with the vehicles compared with their male counterparts.

    Besides, he said the female drivers were more friendly and considerate of other road users. They are also enthusiastic about their job. He noted that the decision to engage them was in line with Governor Babatunde Fashola’s focus on women empowerment in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    “Three years ago, we brought in women to drive our trucks on an experimental basis. I am proud to say the experiment has been a huge success,” he said.

    The LAWMA boss said the female drivers were trained for six months at the Lagos Drivers’ Institute before they were given the vehicles to handle, adding that the organisation was using them as models for their male counterparts.

    Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello, who handed over the vehicles to the LAWMA female drivers, said the skip trucks would be suitable for evacuating waste in inner and narrow streets, and from communal pick spots where compactors could not easily get to.

    He said the state government was an ‘equal opportunity employer’ and would support the female drivers, who would operate the skip trucks, to explore their potential with adequate healthcare facilities and insurance packages.

    Bello said: “To Lagos residents, this is your tax in action. When we started our environmental revolution efforts, a lot of people doubted us. But we have been waxing stronger. We are not only interested in the highbrow areas, but everywhere in the state.

    “The residents owe it a duty to pay for the evacuation of their refuse so that we can reinvest the money in building capacity to serve them better.”

     

  • 3.5m jobs coming

    The Federal Government has said it would create 3.5million jobs between now and 2015.

    It said the recently-launched National Industrial Skills Development Programme is one of the schemes developed to steer the country’s commitment towards achieving the National Industrial Revolution Plan of its transformation agenda, in line with vision 20:2020.

    The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, said this in Gombe during the launch of the skills acquisition programme for the state where 1,000 youths have been recruited to undergo three months training.

    Wapmuk said the skills acquisition programme is expected to train and develop a highly-skilled workforce for small and medium scale enterprises, thereby improving the economy, especially the manufacturing, agro-allied business and construction sectors.

    According to him, this is what the youths need to be empowered and take them away from restiveness and other vices.

     

     

     

  • Make minister’s jobs open

    Make minister’s jobs open

    The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has raised the alarm on threats to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria.

    It urged President Goodluck Jonathan to close the gaps and restore hope to Nigerians, particularly in the health sector.

    The association also enjoined the government to allow a qualified health worker to be appointed as the Minister of Health, rather than reserving the job for medical doctors alone.

    The nurses and midwives, who addressed reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, after the International Nurses Week celebration at the University of Ibadan (UI), listed the threats as inadequate funding, leaving grossly inadequate infrastructure in the healthcare delivery system and lopsidedness in the administration of healthcare in the country.

     

     

     

     

  • UK to create more jobs in Africa, Asia

    UK to create more jobs in Africa, Asia

    Ms Diana Noble, Chief Executive Officer of CDC, a British Government-owned development finance institution, on Friday said that the organisation would create more jobs in Africa and Asia.

    Nobel said in a statement in Lagos that the organisation was satisfied with its businesses worldwide, and therefore, would increase the number of jobs it provided on the continents.

    “CDC’s new strategy is focused on making investments to grow businesses and create more jobs in Africa and Asia.

    “ CDC wants to demonstrate to other investors that it is possible to invest successfully in harder places, where the private sector is weak and jobs are scarce”.

    Noble said  that the number of jobs provided by CDC increased from 976,000 in 2011 to 1,109,000 in 2012.

    “In 2013, we will build on these achievements to create more jobs at no cost to the taxpayer.

    “CDC also plans to provide expansion to businesses and projects to support local employment,’’ she said

  • Govt urged to create jobs

    The Federal Government has been urged to provide employment opportunities for the youth through the establishment of cottage industries in the country.

    The Medical Director of Rabban Medical Centre, Mosan Ipaja Lagos Dr Raphew Abayomi Balogun gave the advice as chair of the inauguration of Westland Hotels and Suites Limited, Ijegun in Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development area of Laos State.

    He said: “It is only when an individual has no genuine work to engage in as a source of livelihood that he has time to think of alternative means to get the necessities of life. Since an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, the individual may be tempted to engage in criminal activities to keep body and soul together.”

    He urged the government to strengthen its agencies like the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in its efforts to create jobs, even as he said the private sector should also be encouraged to complement government’s efforts in reducing the unemployment rate. This, he’s aid, could be achieved creating the enabling environment that would enable players in the private sector of the economy to establish companies that would employ some of the graduates that are churned out in large numbers from the universities.

    Dr Balogun stressed that “government’s role in creating a brighter future for the youth is very vital. It is pertinent that government’s policies and programmes should be youth-friendly. Certain infrastructural development and establishment of industries should be pursued with vigour so much so that the army of unemployed youths would have jobs provided for them.”

    Decrying the monolithic nature of the country’s economy and its over-dependence on oil, the medic expressed his fears that if there is no serious and genuine diversification of the country’s economy, there are, he said, tendencies that the economy would experience more retrogression than expected.

    He stated that one of the sectors of the economy that its potential has not been tapped is the tourism sub-sector under which the hospitality industry falls.

    On the contributions of the hospitality industry to the well-being of the economy, Dr Balogun said that the preponderance of some anti-social behaviours resulted from frustration. He said: “Hospitality industry is meant to take off stress from any individual because one is useless if one has stress. It gives one the opportunity of being home away from home. The hospitality industry ought to be doing well but because of some policies; it is not contributing as it should to overall national economy.

    “The Ministry of Culture and Tourism should be strengthened so as to develop a good road map for the hospitality industry to thrive. They contribute to the growth of the economy through the patronage of other companies; for they will need drinks, beds, television sets, chairs, tables, foodstuffs, among others. These are products of other different companies. Through this exchange, the different companies would still be in business and would not fold up. Government should focus attention on the hospitality industry,” he said.

    Also speaking, the proprietor of the hotel, Prince Khalid Oyeniyi Olabisi said he established the hotel as part of his commitments to help in the growth of the economy and to complement government’s efforts in creating jobs for the growing number of unemployed youths.

    He said one of the ways to improve the nation’s economy is through diversification, even as he called on relevant authorities to encourage the tourism sub-sector to enable it to play its role as a major revenue earner for the country. He added that tourism should be made one of the vibrant aspects of the economy; and in doing this, you have to put in place facilities to enable tourists have a comfortable home away from home.

    One of the reasons that propelled me into this is helping government to fight unemployment that has become a one of the social problems in the country.

    “I thought deeply on how to help government in reducing unemployment rate by creating job opportunities. I decided to, in addition to my other existing going concerns, to build this hotel which has given employment to over 25 people for a start. I am satisfied that some hitherto unemployed people have been engaged,” he said.

    He advised government to provide the necessary infrastructure to boost small-scale enterprises. He specifically urged government to show more commitment to the improvement of the power sector which he said is the main factor that drives the economy.