By Kenneth Jukpor
YoungShip Nigeria, an association of young maritime professionals, is set to lead Nigerian youths to channel their tech-savviness towards solving the myriad of challenges in the nation’s shipping sector.
The National Chairman of YoungShip Nigeria, Mr. Popoola-Taiwo Shehu revealed this at the weekend when the association’s new executives were ratified after an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.
Speaking with newsmen as the event, Shehu said: “YoungShip Dubai recently got inaugurated into the National Maritime Commission of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This shows that the government in UAE understands that there is a place for young professionals. They believe that young professionals can contribute to the nation’s maritime sector.”
“Nigerian government can learn from Dubai in this regard. If the government decides to get the youths involved in the maritime sector, they would be shocked with the innovative approaches to solve age-old problems in the sector. Don’t forget that the youths set up PayStack, Jumai, and other trending tech-driven companies in the nation. Dubai has taken advantage of the enormous potentials among youths by bringing YoungShip Dubai onboard. In YoungShip Nigeria, we will make ourselves more visible to earn the trust of stakeholders in the industry and hope that the government incorporates YoungShip Nigeria in key maritime boards.”
While commending the immediate-past executive board at the association for conducting several programmes that had socio-economic impact and environment impact, Shehu assured that the new team would promote and sustain some of the impactful activities.
“We plan to grow the membership of the association and secure more internship and permanent employment opportunities for young professionals. We want to work with technological experts to address shipping issues and this responsibility lies with the youths because we are move technology savvy. As young maritime professionals, we want to champion this cause in Nigeria,” he added.
Meanwhile, he posited that the reason there are few young Nigerian professionals in maritime sector is lack of awareness and sensitization about the opportunities in this sector as most people think that the maritime sector only entails attending a Maritime Academy and becoming a sailor.
The event also featured the presentation of certificates to the new executives of the association by the immediate-past Chairman, Mr. Usman Shuaibu.
YoungShip Nigeria is a non-profit association of young professionals in the Nigerian Maritime Industry ready to give young people a voice.
YoungShip Nigeria berthed on 10th February 2017 in Lagos, to engage, inspire and work with the industry, to promote the young bright minds in the Maritime industry. It is a branch under the global YoungShip International which is a non-profit professional organization for young people working within the global maritime industry.
