The Chairman, Ports Consultative Council (PCC), Chief Kunle Folarin, has called for more practical training of maritime graduates to acquire the requisite professional competence for national economic growth in post-election regime.
Folarin made the call during a Round Table organised by MMS Maritime Newspaper with the theme: “Post- Election Economy: Exploring Strategies for Growth’’, held in Lagos on Friday.
According to him, Nigeria should work toward economic growth to create a viable and sustainable environment for political economy.
“Economic growth will give Nigeria the strength and voice among the comity of nations.
“Employment opportunities, job creation, empowerment and wealth creation should become key for post-election economy.
“There should be a large workforce, skill acquisition, education and capacity development to achieve optimal employment opportunities which will address employment and productive problems.
“For example in the maritime sector, we understood that quite a large percentage of people who got education in the maritime sector could not get the competence to be addressed as professionals.
“There is no opportunity to get that competence, except through practical training. If we have employment opportunities for about 100,000 people, over a million people are ready to compete for the jobs.
“We have over 40 textile factories before independence; the rubber plantation; boat building yards; which means that the industrial goal desires must be anchored on reviving the industrial base,’’ Folarin said.
He said that there was need for incentives in terms of monetary policy in achieving and reviving those industries that would provide employment opportunities in the country.
The PCC boss said that 5,307 vessels called at the Nigerian ports in 2018 but only 0.5 per cent of the vessels were owned by Nigerians.
Folarin said that seafarers that came with those ships were over 300,000 and less than 100 Nigerians among the seafarers.
He noted that investment was key, saying that stakeholders should be familiar with government policies.
Folarin said that in post-election regime, government should be careful about how it would manage money supply as well as money demand, otherwise the effect of the industrial growth would be nothing.
In his contribution, a retired banker and Managing Director, Quiet Dimensions Ltd., Mr Ime Ndoma, said that Nigerians were not investing enough to generate foreign exchange.
Ndoma urged Nigerians to embrace export business in order to have access to foreign exchange.
“Banks’ capital have been eroded by about 15 to 16 per cent and is either they go to capital market to raise funds,’’ he said.
Ndoma, however, said that investors should contribute money into Cooperatives and make the contributions available for reliable investors to borrow from the Cooperatives rather than hoping to get loan from banks. (NAN)
