When the DANGOTE group advertisement for
graduate drivers was released, tongues wagged, eye brows were raised and there were lots of condemnations from the youths; and a lot of the youths cursed the
Nigerian business mogul for wishing driving on them with their hard-earned
degrees. It is however surprising how higher degree and first degree holders applied en mass for
the job.
A massive 13,000
applications were received by the DANGOTE Group for the Graduate Executive Truck Driver positions; there were six Ph.D, 704 Masters,
and over 8,460 Bachelor Degrees holders.
Chairman of DANGOTE Group, Aliko DANGOTE, while speaking at the mentorship
meeting of the World Bank Youth Forum said that the company only needed 100
drivers, but received the overwhelming applications.
According to him, most
of the applicants were from reputable universities and had the needed quality.
“All these things are
verifiable, and they all graduated from reputable institutions which is
satisfactory; and our plan is to eventually make them self-dependent.
“Despite the fact that
the drivers get trip allowances on each trip along with their salaries, the
arrangement is that they will own the trucks at no interests or repayments
after they must have reached 300,000 kilometres, which is about 140 trips
from Lagos to Kano and a hard
working Driver can complete in two years,
while lazy ones can take maximum of four years,” Dangote said.
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Analysts believe that
the three tiers of government have not done enough to create employment or
create enabling environment for the organised private sector to employ more
Nigerians.
In a growing economy,
it is rather shocking that Ph.D and Masters Degree holders are seeking placement
as drivers.
Martin Onyilokwu of
Media Development Initiative believes that the revelation is a wake-up call for
government to go beyond rhetoric and start the implementation of credible
programmes to improve the living condition of Nigerians as a lot of Nigerians
believe the government has done next to nothing in tackling unemployment in the country.
“It is no longer
enough to claim that the economy is growing by this or that per cent. The truth
of the matter is that Nigeria is not witnessing appreciable development. We
have a situation where the living standard of the people is at an all-time low
as exemplified by insecurity, poverty, unemployment, massive corruption,
executive and legislative recklessness. There is a need for government to wake
up to its responsibility,” Onyilokwu said.
It would be recalled
that in the course of last week, thousands of young graduates staged protests
at the Ministry of Interior in Abuja when officials denied them access to
submit application forms. The ministry has since claimed that no employment was
on-going.
The problem keeps
getting deep-rooted as there are calls for Nigerians to try self-dependence as
the government cannot employ everybody.
Source: Information Nigeria.
This is wat u see or hear wen a coy is nt stable or functional,notin seems workin,frmd economy to political to social,vises,imagine phd holder or even a msc for a driver post,so bad for the country nigeria,only God wil help.
ReplyDelete#smh# May God help us in this country.....Phd holders and masters? haba!! is dis wat we've been reduced to? dis is too bad sha.ppl dt hv studied hard, some even had to travel abroad to get a masters degree and phd...phd? haa!!! dis is bad o
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