Young S. Sudanese hope oil restart will create new jobs
Since secession in 2011 many people have struggled to earn a living with unemployment among young people as high as 70 percent, officials estimate.
This has left many feeling short-changed by the freedom they fought for. Our government has no plan for its youths and yet during the struggle, late Dr. John Garang said, let every youths go on front line to liberate this region and they will enjoy all the resources available in the country,” said Johnson Lokudu, a young job seeker, referring to the former political leader. Nothing is happening as Dr. John Garang said.”
He added that the only vacancies are in the military, a dangerous career that older people try to avoid.
Professor Samson Wassara, an economist and political scientist at Juba University, blamed the government for the nation’s high level of youth’s unemployment.
We at Juba University and other universities are producing more unemployed youths.”
The high unemployment rate reflects the absence of a clear government policy for youth employment. We at Juba University and other universities are producing more unemployed youths on top of the current big number unemployed youths,” he said, adding that the government should create a proper policy for young people, before they become violent”.
The government is employing elderly employees who have reached to their retirement age, shrinking the opportunities for recent graduates. Even the private sector primarily employs elders and people who have retired from government jobs, he said.
But officials and NGOs have argued that the poor quality of education at some of South Sudan’s universities means that these graduates are not suitable to work at some NGOs, experts say.
Professor Samson also argued that young people tend to be too ambitious in their job aspirations, saying most graduates hope for government and NGO and other white-collar jobs, and rejecting others as too dirty.
Even if oil production resumes as planned, however, he was sceptical that more employment would follow, saying most of the oil firms are foreign and would source their workforce from abroad.
However, Juba University economist Ahmad Young argued that there would likely be more employment for young people, given that the bulk of the young country’s revenue stems from oil. He argued that the government should act soon to reduce the number of unemployed young people, saying they cause much of the nation’s rampant insecurity.
Daniel Anyuon Atem Secretary of the Recruitment Board in the Ministry of Labour blames the problem on the shutdown of oil production. He said, the government has suspended people in its sector because of a lack of money to pay its workers.
Daniel Anyuon urged all private sector and non-governmental organisations operating in the country to employ South Sudanese nationals. He added that the youth unemployment rate in the country is over 70 percent.
After the oil resumption, there will be money for paying their pension after their retirement.”
Currently there are many old workers in the government, but the government has no reserve money to pay their pension,” he said. But after the oil resumption, there will be money for paying their pension after their retirement.”
His optimism is shared by many young people in the country who hope that their fortunes are set to change when the oil production gets into gear again.
In the streets of Juba and elsewhere in the country, most educated youths loiter around public notes board searching for jobs.
Simon Mondi, a graduate of Juba University in the faculty of mass communication, said he graduated since 2010, but has failed to get a job despite repeated applications.
Mondi said, most of NGOs and government sectors employ people basing on tribalism, ethnicity origin and religion.
Similarly Grace Athiang Suzan who graduated from Kenyatta University Nairobi in 2011 said she has had no success in getting a job since she returned to South Sudan. She blames the government, rather than the lack of oil, for her difficulty securing a job.
