Nigeria-Poland partnership aims to empower youth through employment

EuroAfrica, an academic-based Nigeria-Poland company, has announced plans to recruit about 500 Nigerians to work for a Poland-based company, Ditola Spolka. The Founder of EuroAfrica, Olakunle Alayande, announced this during a courtesy visit to the Director, Economic Trade and Investment, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Akinremi Bolaji.

According to Alayande, he has been partnering with private universities in Nigeria and taking Nigerians to Poland for the past 15 years. The opportunity came up with Ditola Group Companies in Poland that they would like to recruit Africans and Nigerians, and they found him as the best person they could partner with that will engage Nigeria and also link them with the possibility of empowering youth in Nigeria and take them to Poland to work in different areas like factories and warehouses. This exercise started in January, and there are already some Nigerians working with the company in Poland.

EuroAfrica Services is bringing foreign expatriates from Poland to Nigeria to develop a bilateral agreement between the two countries. The company will be outsourcing for reputable companies in Poland here in Nigeria, and it is important to go through agencies registered here in Nigeria like the Ministry of Labour and the Nigerian Police.

Segun Ige, the International Representative of Ditola Group, said the company had started by recruiting Nigerians in Poland just to show their engagement in dealing with Nigerians, but the CEO of the company said it is not enough, that they have to go to the source.

Ambassador Bolaji responded that Nigeria has local recruitment agencies that must be registered in the country and must have all the necessary certificates. The country also has international recruitment agencies that they work with, which they have to submit their forwarding address to work with. The Ministry of Labour will be involved in the recruitment exercise.

A representative from the Nigerian Ministry of Labour, Phoebe Kumi, who is an Assistant Director in the Ministry, said this is the kind of collaboration they look forward to in the Ministry to provide labour to foreign countries and to also ensure that Nigerian citizens have jobs. The Ministry registers private employers, both local and international. They have a process, and you have to be licensed by the Ministry before you can recruit Nigerians.