Career Counsellor’s Empowerment Workshop

Introduction

The Maiden Career Counsellor Empowerment Programme of the Vision 2020: Youth Empowerment and Restoration Initiative was held in Lagos on June 10, 2009 at the Cedar Centre, Lagos. The workshop commenced at 9 a.m. and was well attended by District and School Career Counsellors from the six educational districts in Lagos State and two representatives of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Child Guidance and Counselling Services.

The event was coordinated by the Project Coordinator, Mrs. Folasade Adeniji.  The Welcome address was delivered by the Project Consultant, Dr. Ibilola Amao.  She said the inspiration for the Vision 2020:  Youth Empowerment and Restoration Initiative came about when she was involved in a recruitment exercise where over 1,000 applicants assessed were short-listed to 30 candidates for interview and of the 30 Nigerian graduates interviewed, only 5 of them were able to defend their Curriculum Vitae convincingly enough to gain employment with a multinational company who had flown in expatriates from Europe for the same purpose.  She then realized that the Nigerian educational system needs urgent redress.

The zero tolerant Oil and Gas industry will continue to be dominated by foreign companies and contractors and professionals because of competency related issues wherever technology is key.  The Nigerian worker does not earn as much as his foreign counterpart, for lack of requisite skills and competence.  The deplorable living conditions in the Niger Delta, and the need to develop proactive leaders and managers of our oil and gas resource resulted in the development of the Initiative.  The catch-them-young initiative will bring out qualities of leadership, professionalism and entrepreneurship, with the students in Senior Secondary Schools 1-3 and Years 1 and 2 undergraduates of universities and polytechnics being the focus of the programme.

The workshop was centered on equipping the Career Counsellors with information on the workings of the Oil and Gas Industry and the career opportunities available so as to enable them better guide the students in their care on career options.  The information was disseminated through various film shows, presentations made, materials donated and vibrant interactions.

Goodwill messages/Interactive Session

• Mrs. Toyin Olayinka of the Child Guidance and Counselling Services (CGCS) expressed gratitude to the Principal Consultant for her initiative and stated the willingness of all present, to support the initiative.
• Mrs. Akingbola of District 3 suggested that the Vision 2020 program be organized on a zonal or district basis, so as to reach more needy children. 
• Mrs. Abdul of District 4 said that not all schools have career counselors, but that if those schools that have counselors can be given the opportunity to be trained and then pass the knowledge to the teachers that serve as counselors to the children, this would be beneficial to the students.
• Mr. Adetona of District 3 asked if there is any training for the children to enhance their careers.  Dr. Amao explained that Lonadek Oil and Gas Consultants proposes to establish a School of Oil and Gas Technology. Graduates will be empowered to work and school concurrently.

Activities, Issues and Challenges

As an ice breaker and fact finding exercise we requested the Career Counselor’s to share their work experiences i.e. their typical day. The following obliged:

• Mrs. Omomoyesan, Creek Senior High school counselor, said that her typical day involves listening to and sharing experiences with the school children.  Some young children have had nasty experiences such as Womb removal/Abortion and Sex for rewards as little as N200 to supplement their feeding.
• Mrs. Kienka, Epetedo High school counselor, said that there is not enough time for her to act as a full time counselor, so her typical day is devoted to teaching. 
• Mrs. Durotoye of Education District 1 reported that, she counsels colleagues who experience marital challenges and suffer depression. To get the best educational performance, counselors have to mediate when students’ parents are not in good educational or financial standing.
• Mrs. Adelaja also of Education District 1, stated that as a full time counselor she liaises with students daily at assembly and addresses them on matters such as discipline, punctuality, etc.  At the gate, late comers are interviewed to discover reasons for their regular lateness, and then counseling follows. Matters such as theft, misdemeanor, incomplete class notes, and petty financial needs are often addressed in the course of her duty.
• Mrs. Peters of Education District 6 is a full time counselor who attends and delivers talks on emotional and academic issues at seminars held in different schools.  Some senior students have parents who mandate them to undertake courses that they do not necessarily like and others have family problems.
• Mr. Kazeem of Education District 2 mentioned that some NYSC corps members cannot even write application letters correctly, exhibiting poor communication skills. Also some teachers, too. He delivers topics on morals on the assembly ground.
• Mrs. Adeleke, Jubilee Model Senior Grammar school counselor, advocated regular motivational talks on sexuality, discipline and contentment.
• Mrs. Akaeze of Education District 2 pointed out the importance of parents in counseling and informed that counseling work extends into the market-place and churches.
• Mrs. Ekundayo of Education District 5 . She develops relationships with the children to build trust. She suggests that Counselors act as intermediaries between children and their parents/guardians once trust is established.

Film Show/Presentation of Career Handbooks

• History of Oil and Gas in Nigeria
• The Bonga  
• Chevron Agbami Project
• Vision 2020:  “Our Youth, our Future”

At the end of the films, Dr. Amao expatiated on the film, “The Bonga” , adding that it was this film that challenged her, thus committing Lonadek staff to compile the Technical and non-Technical editions of the Oil and Gas career handbooks as it will assist prospective career choice for the students. She explained the contents of the books and their relevance to the students.  She believed that students could get up to six different disciplines per subject combination which they can discuss with their parents and friends with a view to choosing their future career.

Suggestions

Mr. Kazeem of District 1 suggested that a list of higher institutions and the courses they offer be included in the handbook in the subsequent copies to be made; to which Dr. Amao responded that a visit to the website of JAMB and NBTE if referenced in the career handbook will suffice.

Career Counsellor Skills Assessment Exercise

This session of sharing was followed by the film show ‘Chevron Agbami Project’.  Towards the end of the film, Mrs. Joy Owo (Training Coordianator, Lonadek) distributed a form to the counselors, designed to gather information about their particular skill sets and showed them how to go about filling the form.

Dr. Amao then delivered a presentation on careers in the oil and gas industry where she explained the logo of Vision 2020 that the child model represents the “unknown child” that the project aims to empower while the zero around the child indicates the zero tolerance of the oil and gas industry.  She gave out the technical and non-technical career handbooks to each counselor to guide them in career choices for the children. She advised that they need to reach out to the other counselors.

Question and Answer Session

This presentation was followed by a brief question and answer segment anchored by Dr. Amao.

The following questions were asked:

• What is gas flaring and what are its effect?
• What does offshore and onshore mean?
• What is wrong with Nigeria that we allow a lot of this gas to waste instead of using it for our electricity?

• Gas flaring is the process by which gas produced during the separation of crude oil escapes to the atmosphere. The effects are many ranging from cancer, excessive heat, depletion of ozone layers etc.
• When land is referred to, it means onshore, but anything that has to do with water, ranging from swamp region to shallow water region to the deep shallow region is referred to as offshore.
• It is only the grace of God that would touch our leaders’ minds to maximize the usage of the gas to develop our nation’s economy instead of allowing it to waste.

Closing

Closing remarks were made by Mrs. Toyin Olayinka who announced a provision from the Principal Consultant of the sum of N1,500 for each Counselor as transport expenses.   This information was very well received and loud cheers were raised.  Souvenirs - Career Handbooks (Technical and Non-Technical), writing materials, newsletters and posters were distributed in branded cloth bags. Also copies of the book “17 Secrets of high flying students” were given to each attendee.  The book was authored by Mr. Fela Durotoye, published by Visible Impact Multimedia Group and a unit costs N1,500.  The news of the book gift received loud claps of appreciation.

Mrs. Somoye gave the vote of thanks.  She thanked the initiator of Vision 2020 and prayed for the project team that the project would move forward ever, backward never.  The programme ended at 2:00pm.

Information Technology (IT) Empowerment Exercise

At the end of the programme interested Counselors were invited to have email accounts opened. The opportunity was well utilized.