Unemployment: Maersk Line, Amnesty Office Partner On Jobs Creation For Niger Delta Youths

AS part of strategies towards curbing unemployment in the country and creating the two million jobs per year that has been promised by President Goodluck Jonathan, the Presidential Amnesty Programme and Maersk Line, the global container division and the largest operating unit of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate, is forging a partnership that would see to the employment of Niger Delta youths trained under the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme.  

  The partnership, which is still in the works, necessitated the recent courtesy visit of the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, to former head of the defunct Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, in his Ikoyi, Lagos home. 

  Speaking during the visit, Kuku explained that it was meant to seek the support of the elder statesman over the Amnesty Office’s planned partnership with Maersk Line on the engagement of Niger Delta youths trained under the amnesty programme. Shonekan, it was learnt, is the founder of Supreme Offshore Limited, the local content partner of A.P. Moller – Maersk Group in Nigeria.

 “We have made this visit on behalf of the President to talk about how to get young men and women in the Niger Delta under the Presidential Amnesty Programme get post training engagement,” Kuku said. 

  He added: “We have come to visit you today to express our appreciation for your support and also to formally inform you that the office moved to Denmark on official inspection of Maersk facilities to see and discuss with the management with respect to what we have been doing in Nigeria and opportunities and landmark link there exists between our vision and what Maersk represents globally. It is also interesting that you our father and leader partners very properly with the Maersk Group in Nigeria and you have provided a very credible platform for the kind of thing they can do for Africa as they are doing in Nigeria. 

  “We have gone to Denmark, we have seen the facilities and we are so impressed with the facilities we found. More interestingly, Maersk Line is not just talking about bringing our youths into Denmark for training; they have also acquired facilities for training in Nigeria, Port Harcourt to be specific. That is in tandem with the Local Content Law now. It is beautiful for us. A few people based on the need for further training might definitely go to Denmark, but we will definitely partner with them to ensure that the most basic training takes place in Nigeria. That reduces capital flight and it goes a very long way in helping our economy. It is going to engage a lot of people. So, that is a beautiful partnership we are trying to go into and it will help this country.”

  He explained that under the amnesty programme, over 30, 000 Niger Delta youths have been trained but stressed that “it is not enough to train someone without the person getting employed.” 

  “We now have 30, 000 young men and ladies in the Niger Delta we are reintegrating into the society. But we have come to realise that we have got to a very critical point in the programme. It is not enough to train someone without the person getting employed. And Mr. President has come up with his vision of creating two million jobs for young Nigerians in a year. This cannot be possible without people like you. Again, you have to provide that leadership; we know you have always supported this administration and even the previous one, especially in the area of private partnership and development. That is why we are pursuing this partnership with Maersk and we need you to help. 

  “We have trained so many people even in fields that Maersk basically deal with — rope access — particularly in the marine sector, which is in tandem with the Niger Delta and its aspirations and opportunities. We are seeking for support particularly in the area of post training engagement. We believe that partnering with you, we would be able to stabilise the security situation in the Niger Delta.”

  In his response, Shonekan, lauded the initiative and acknowledged that there was he need to empower the youth in order to sustain the gains so far recorded in the region. 

  Noting that youths form a greater percentage of Nigeria’s population currently, he warned that a country that does not train and equip its youths was courting trouble. 

  He said:  “I must say I am really honoured to have this visit from those who are trying to implement the amnesty programme. I say this because we have to train our youths; the youths are in the greater majority in the country at the moment. Thank God the economy seems to be doing very well now. We need to sustain that and in order to sustain the growth, we must train our youths. So, it touches my heart to have this team in my house to seek my support. We have all resolved that we must do something as quickly as possible. I know from experience that implementation of good ideas is not always easy but we must project this work and I hope and pray that it will work.”