The Sub-Saharan African Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network has given reasons why the Dangote refinery neglected Nigerians to engage 11,000 skilled workers from India.
The network revealed that the reason for the neglect was that youths from Nigeria lacked the adequate skills needed to be engaged in the assignment.
It also observed that the absence of pathways to recognise skills obtained in the informal sector in most sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria, has led to a lack of opportunities for skilled labour migration across African regions.
Moreso, it fingered the negative social perception of skilled workers alongside the weak interface that exists between trade unions/associations and skills/apprenticeship development as one of the reasons for the neglect.
This was contained in a communiqué signed by the Secretary-General of the regional organisation, Ousman Sillah, and issued at the end of its two-day meeting in Abuja.
Way forward for Nigerians
The communique read in part, “Africa should avoid a repeat of the same in the upcoming $25 billion Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline traversing the Gulf of Guinea to Europe; the absence of National Occupational Standards in many countries.”
It also said, “Each member country shall develop its National Skills Qualifications Framework with adequate provisions for the informal sector; SSANET shall collaborate with World Skills to promote competition and talent hunt amongst African youths.”
SSANET also called for an integration of NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) into the apprenticeship training programme to promote inclusivity.
Furthermore, the need to engage in vigorous public awareness and engagement to change the negative perception of the public on the value of skills and apprenticeship was named as one of SSANET’s recommendations.
The communique also disclosed that Nigeria should host the Secretariat of the Network, while Kenya would hold the next General Assembly in 2024.
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