–Says Maritime needs their synergy

Maritime consultant and chief executive officer of Employment Clinic, Ronke Kosoko has congratulated the President Elect, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu even as she raised optimism that his assumption of office will rally the needed support to transform the maritime industry.

She also commended the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on his second coming which she said is necessary to complete the projects he began.

She noted that the vibrancy of Lagos ports will need the collaboration of the federal government and Lagos State government and such synergy will be good at this time.

The Maritime enthusiast said due to its strategic nature as a littoral state, the federal government needs to work closely with the Lagos government to exploit the gains of the sector optimally.

She believed that the collaboration of Tinubu and his ally Sanwo-Olu will galvanise support for Maritime which was not seen in the last administration.

Kosoko said that the maritime industry has need for manpower and this has been overlooked by successive governments.

She said that her company , Employment Clinic has been in the forefront of capacity building and job creation in the industry which midwifed “Project One Million Jobs,” in 2013 beginning with Lagos State .

Although the project gained traction with the backing of industry doyens like Isaac Jolapomo, it suffered setback in 2015 when the fortunes of the maritime industry began to slide.

She is optimistic that this will change with the coming of the President elect .

Summarizing the need to build capacity and the recent things the company has been doing, including connecting with the government and working to get even Nigerian graduates of other disciplines to be introduced to maritime and increase their employability she said,

“When Lekki port was still on paper, there were conversations about the millions of jobs it was going to create and some of us had high hopes . Over the last ten years, this has not come to be as the industry is rather going down.

“We all know that the reason why things are not working at Apapa port is because of the decisions of governments.

“But Lagos plays a crucial role in the economy of the country with three port cities , so it cannot be ignored.

“There is need first to connect the dots at the governmental level and the second is employment needs. This cannot be achieved in the maritime industry without connecting with the government.

“There is need to build manpower so that if you have a business here in Apapa you could have younger people to work for you at the pace you want.

“When we talk about manpower here, people only mention cadets and master mariners, are they the only manpower needed? There are certainly other areas that need capable hands to handle their business for them.

“Lekki port has started but there are not enough manpower to handle the jobs. Rather the company came to the existing ports to take available hands.

While noting that Project One Million Jobs has the theme“ From impact to legacy, heading to a new frontier in the maritime industry,” she said the focus is Maritime economy and that employment is crucial to this.

With the new government in place and hopes for better business decisions, she said the company has come up with a Maritime Conversion Programme which will see the creation of 5000 jobs in the industry within a short time.

“We have the backing of the Minister of Transportation and from next week we will be interfacing with seven agencies in the ministry as directed by the minister to ensure the project receives proper facilitation”, she declared.

Picture: Ronke Kosoko briefing journalist on the latest plan by Employment Clinic