Strategies have been mapped out on how best to boost employment opportunities in the Niger Delta region.
Experts who held a job fair in the week in Port Harcourt suggested the return of an attachment scheme whereby fresh graduates are sent to companies to work for two years as apprentices.
The director of employment in the Rivers State Ministry of Labour and Employment, Jonathan Akpe, said the scheme was good and helped train fresh graduates.
Akpe spoke at the job fair in Port Harcourt organized by the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly at the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) secretariat on Danjuma Drive off Peter Odili Road.
Akpe however urged employers to go further and employ the apprentices instead of just paying allowances and pushing them back to the employment market after such strenuous efforts.
He said over 2000 applicants troop to his office everyday in search of jobs, saying the job situation has become worrisome.
Reacting to the appeal, the South-South Chairman of NECA, Chris Biriowu (PhD), said unemployed graduates from the Niger Delta trained in a two-year apprenticeship scheme organised by NECA have been employed even outside Nigeria.
Biriowu said during the two years, the attachees were paid a stipend per month (N50,000) but they worked to learn, not necessarily to earn.
On growing cases of unemployment, Biriowu said: “Our way of helping out is by partnering with governments to place already trained ones to now acquire skills.
“Those we trained are now employed all over the world; in Congo, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, etc.”
Rivers labour law is dead – Agorom
Some persons pressing for more job quotas to indigenes of Rivers State were reminded that the law they were quoting had since been shut down in the court.
Godfrey Agorom, the CEO of the new RIVOC and first vice-chairman of NECA in the South-South, said some government officials do not know what laws existed.
He said when the Rivers State House of Assembly passed a law that all jobs of junior levels must be reserved for the state, NECA drew the attention of the government to it that labour laws are in the exclusive list and cannot be legislated upon by state houses of assembly.
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“At last, the law was challenged in court and the law was set aside. So, referring to that law is wrong,” he said.
He commended NECA for the job fair, saying this is the best gift anyone can get especially in knowing how to craft one’s CV in the way employers want it. “It is the first step in getting a job, Any day a job comes up, you are sure to grab it. It is employers that know what applicants lack.”
Agreeing with Agorom on CV matter, the GM of ChampionX Oilfield Solutions Nigeria Limited, Daukoru Fasakin, said; “Your curriculum vitae say much about you. We can take you and train you. So, boost your career.”
She advised school leavers to use the opportunity to develop themselves as they proceeded. “Take up professional courses. Keep on pushing.”
Promoting employability, skill development & decent work
In his paper presentation, an expert, Akpos Adonkie, said global mega trends such as the rising role of technology, climate change, demographic shifts, urbanisation, and the globalization of value chains are changing the nature of work and skills demands. “To succeed in the 21st century labor market, one needs a comprehensive skill set composed of cognitive skills.”
He explained the concept saying it encompasses the ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, learn from experience, and reason. Foundational literacy and numeracy as well as creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving are cognitive skills.
He said socio-emotional skills help to describe the ability to navigate interpersonal and social situations effectively, and include leadership, teamwork, self-control, and grit.
On technical skills, the expert said it refers to the acquired knowledge, expertise, and interactions needed to perform a specific task, including the mastery of required materials, tools, or technologies.
He described digital skills as those that draw on all of the other skills, and describe the ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate, and create information safely and appropriately.
He said the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines decent work as “productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity”.
He said: “In September 2015, some 193 countries came together at the United Nations to adopt and commit to a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle the world’s greatest challenges related to global sustainable development. The result was the sustainable development goals (SDGs), a list of 17 goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.”
Explaining why the SDGS are important, he said: “While each goal matters on its own they all interconnect, incorporating social, economic and environmental sustainability, or as the UN puts it, a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future.
“According to the professor, Jeffrey Sachs, director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, adopting global goals is important for the following reasons: Encourage social mobilization; Create peer pressure among political leaders; Spur networks of expertise, knowledge and practice into action; Mobilise stakeholder networks across countries, sectors and regions, coming together for a common purpose.”
