Oluyinka Onigbinde
The Chief Executive Officer, Employment Clinic, Ms. Ronke Kosoko has explained how the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports terminals and shipping companies are losing about 50% of their workforce to the newly-completed $1.5billion Lekki Deep Seaport.
Kosoko stated this during a press conference with journalists on Wednesday. She informed that owing to the completion of the deep seaport, many of shipping companies and terminals have recorded a high transfer of qualified maritime workers in search of a better working environment.
She stated that there is an urgent need to replace the existing workforce so as not to create a lacuna in the Apapa and Tin Can ports environment.
Kosoko, while congratulating the new President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, urged them to pay attention to the maritime industry, while also admonishing the in-coming President to ensure the appointment of experts into key agencies for the quick turnaround of the nation’s maritime industry.
She added that the problem of employment is what pushed her into the Project One Million Jobs which has a link with the government. She explained that the employment part of the industry is a segment, just as infrastructure, policy, appointment issues are segments and if they are not fused together, the maritime economy is not going anywhere.
She urged the incoming government to resuscitate the port business and shipping industry so as to sustain the economy.
She said: “The entire industry is looking forward to Sen. Bola Tinubu and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to revive the maritime industry for the good of the country. This is because there has been a dichotomy between the state and federal. Now, we want to ensure that the center aligns at some level because if Lagos works, Apapa for instance is affecting the whole nation. If Apapa Port, Tin Can Island Port and Lekki Port work optimally, the state and the entire nation will be better for it”.
“The problem of employment is what pushed us into the Project One Million Jobs which has a link with the government. The employment part of the industry is a segment, just as infrastructure, policy, appointment issues are segments and if they are not fused together, the maritime economy is not going anywhere.”
“So, the president-elect and the governor of Lagos State should understand that there is a need to pay attention to the maritime economy. We have been mandated to interface with the seven agencies under the Ministry of Transportation, and have spoken to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and others. We do not want to go on the journey alone, we need the media along and that is part of the reason we are having this session,” she said.
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