Why the Dangote refinery hired 11,000 trained workers from India while ignoring young people from Nigeria and other African nations has been explained by the Sub-Saharan African Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network.

The network said on Wednesday that the reason for the neglect was that young people from Nigeria lacked the necessary abilities to do the task.

The Network stated in a communiqué following its two-day conference in Abuja that it had decided that each African nation should create a national skills qualification framework to facilitate labour migration across the continent.

The organisation's regional Secretary-General, Ousman Sillah, signed the statement, which was made public on Wednesday.

In the communique, SASASNET noted that it observed, “The need for SASASNET to engage in vigorous public awareness and engagement to change the negative perception of the public on the value of skills and apprenticeship; the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria under construction has engaged over 11,000 workforce from India, while our youths lack the required skills to be engaged; 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.”

Speaking further about its findings, the network pointed out that there are few options for skilled labour to migrate across African regions as a result of the lack of channels to recognize skills acquired in the informal sector in the majority of sub-Saharan African nations, including Nigeria.

Additionally, it pointed out the poor connection between trade unions/associations and the development of skills and apprenticeships, as well as the bad social perception of skilled workers.

On the way forward, the Network recommended, among others, that “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.

“Integrate NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) into the apprenticeship training programme to promote inclusivity.”

It was also mentioned that Kenya will host the following General Assembly in 2024, while Nigeria would house the Network's Secretariat.