The future demands that professionals work together, not stand apart and not only in Nigeria but world over because the challenges and opportunities across board are too great to face in isolation but by joining forces, accessing one another’s expertise and ambitions, anything and everything is possible.
On October 4-5, 2022 we officially launch the Maritime Conversion Program, a flagship program of the Employment Clinic specially designed to build and train 5,000 young Nigerians for the maritime ecosystem and the company had backed it up by opening a Maritime Innovation Hub at the centre of Apapa, first of its kind in the industry and according to the CEO, Ms. Ronke Kosoko who is also championing the #MaritimeEconomyAndJobs Campaign, she said it is a place to foster ideas and vision development for Lagos youths in its first phase, mentorship, internship, resource mobilization for human capital development, strategic government engagement, policy advocacy and stakeholders linkage focused on partnership in accelerating industry progress in all ramifications.
It is a hub for inter-generational knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer, networking opportunities to nurture and strengthen collaboration across businesses locally and globally.
We all have our individual strength but it is time to put it together for collective gain as the industry faces numerous issues that are impossible to address if we all work in silos.
An end has come to the season where elderly people see young people as a mine to be exploited or a competition to be destroyed but rather to see them as assets to be built into economic powerhouses. If we don’t understand leadership in this clime, at least we can learn from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and see how so many highly educated, highly cerebral men and women kept pushing out records upon records of his investments into their lives even at the beginning of their careers, in their early thirties and see where they all are today I’m their age 50s and age 60s or who amongst them are mediocre in their career path even though operating in the same political environment as their principal so why is the Nigeria Maritime Industry so different and unwilling to change for decades everyone need to begin to ask questions.
Look at Mr. Dele Alake, look at former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola the actualizer as he is fondly called, look at Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Mr. Wale Edun, Dr. Yemi Cardoso, Chairman Citibank, look at Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila you can add yours to the list so how does the Nigeria Maritime Industry think they can achieve any greatness if they don’t consciously build people? Even their own businesses set up by access to government cronyism will soon have nobody left to run them because maritime is technical and in a space of its own where nothing happens by accident. You cannot take it to Tony Elumelu or Jim Ovia or even Adenuga simply because they have money because it is not their space and they won’t be able to do anything about the issues actually because they are not money issues so someone has to fill the gap. For a decade, we tried to carry the old ones along but they failed as you all already know my story and my journey within the industry, some raped while some tried to steal, some invested efforts in trying to destroy thinking how can we rise above them considering that we came in a few years ago but we are thankful to the man who has labored consistently for the industry for over 5decades of his life and has created a platform that built many of those trying very hard to destroy him today who sees the power of leaving the stage for young people to thrive and we do not take that for granted so yes, the centre is opening at the popular Morlap Place which is now in control of the youths in all ramifications, where the destinies of 5,000 “Ronkes” will be built who will in turn build the maritime industry of the future that will outlive each and everyone of us.
You cannot continue to call the government for everything, President Tinubu is not going to be arguing maritime policy for us on the necessary tables he is too busy for that level of engagement and President Buhari is not going to be the one to give young people internship opportunities, they are not going to come and build a new set of maritime reporters for us as basic as that is but who will replace the crop of aging professionals that we have right now across board when the major vehicle meant to handle the technical part of the trainings has been hijacked by fraudulent private sector in connivance with ignorant government officials who doesn’t understand that genuine human capital development can actually build a nation without any drop of oil as a resource.
Do we really know the actual worth of a human being with the amount of giftings that has been deposited in each and everyone of those 60Million unemployed Nigerians out there that are yet untapped.
No single actor can address the evolving needs of ordinary cargo owners, and no one can juggle geopolitical or demographic shifts, the battle of the ports as we are presently experiencing in Lagos, attracting next generation talent, and much more if they don’t find the right partners. But together, leveraging our individual strengths as collaborative partners, we can all achieve truly ambitious objectives and the Employment Clinic Maritime Innovation Hub will be a platform to enable that actualization on all front.
We are the only state today with three port cities namely Apapa, Lekki and Badagry so we have to take the lead in doing the unpopular and the uncomfortable work. I have heard the personally intelligent incoming President of Nigeria saying Nigeria needs a consistent decade minimum of 6% GDP growth even though he is aiming at 10% GDP growth which is consistent with our position at the NESG over the years but I can assure you that Nigeria will generate those results more by the hands of non nationals because they are well positioned in terms of readily available skills, structure, governmental backing and coordination, high tension synergies from their respective host countries while an average young Nigerian had to do it all by themselves so they can’t really get anything done except we help them and I’m privileged to be leading this trans-generational shift.
Leadership is as important as followership so if they give you an opportunity to thrive in life and you pull the rug off the feet of your helper what kind of follower then are you so we need to instill values in the next generation, we need to teach them the really needed skills by the industry and put them at the door of those opportunities, open the doors for them and let them sail into the sky and then watch how their success finally impact ours in an astronomical order so we are putting in the work because nobody else would do it for us.
We will be looking across sectors within the ecosystem, across companies, across industries and across borders to find everything that is needed to build this talent pipeline with the technology and services needed for long-term success.
We invite everyone to get involved and be part of this ecosystem the era of silo big men is over as it is not benefitting anyone anymore.
We need to move from intentions to actions, supporting one another with the knowledge, investment and commitment that gets everyone over the finishing line. The quest for sustainable success shouldn’t be seen as a race, but rather a worldwide movement so this is not a Nigerian movement, we are mobilizing across the globe.
We want to work hand-in-hand with diverse stakeholders to help them navigate challenges, meet market demands, seize on opportunities and build partnerships to both prosper commercially, and achieve sustainable goals. The Employment Clinic Maritime Innovation Hub will help foster closer collaboration and knowledge sharing so you want to get involved?
Find out how by sending us an email on info@employmentclinic.net
