By Sami Zaptia
Tripoli, 1 May:
On Sunday 29 April, the two-day Tripoli University Job Fair opened. It is the first time that . . .[restrict]a combination of public sector bodies, private sector companies and some NGOs combined their efforts to interact with students and job seekers to help highlight the issues of training, employment and human capacity building.
The event offered visitors an exhibition space, a conference forum and a training programme.
‘We have in Libya over 400,000 people looking for jobs’
Speaking at the official opening of the Job Fair at the Faculty of Engineering of Tripoli University, Labour Minister Dr Mustafa Rijbani said ‘we are committed in supporting in the areas of training rehabilitation and employment. We have in Libya over 400,000 people looking for jobs, which is a frightening number. It is our responsibility to try and create jobs for them’.
‘The Ministry of Labour has been allocated LD 1.25 billion to help solve this issue’
‘The Ministry of Labour has been allocated LD 1.25 billion to help solve this issue’ he declared. He nevertheless did not underestimate the fact that the task ahead was challenging admitting that ‘some graduates have been waiting for years without work’.
The right person for the right job
Dr Mahmoud Ftesi, Minister of Industry, in his opening remarks said that ‘it is the hope of all graduates to find a job at the end of their studies. In the old days jobs were given based on who you know, which meant that that not the right person was allocated for the right job’. He hoped that in the new Libya this would no longer be the case.
Job Fairs should be held in all Libyan universities
He commended the Tripoli University Job Fair and hoped that the ‘job fair should be repeated in all of Libya’s universities.’ Speaking specifically about initiatives and policies from his department, Minister Ftesie informed the audience that there was available the ‘Industrial Support Fund and the Development Bank’ offering help to those interested in these fields.
‘Encourage entrepreneurship’
‘We need to show youth how to create their own businesses and encourage entrepreneurship’, he stressed. ‘It will take time to end the old bad habits, but this is a good initiative’, he concluded, referring to the Job Fair.
‘The university had suffered from the old regime’
The stand-in Deputy Dean of Tripoli University, Madani Dkheel in his comments lamented how ‘the (Tripoli, formerly Al-Fatah) university had suffered from the old regime which tried to sideline it, and in fact tried to destroy it. But in the new Libya, Tripoli University must have a prominent role through its total redevelopment. This should be on the technological, building, and organizational level. But most of all this should be on the sustainable human resource investment and development level.
We are open to all private sector and public sectors for cooperation
‘Therefore we hope today’s cooperation between the university and the Job Fair will have an important role in this development. We are open to all private sector and public sectors to discuss all the possible ideas and policies for future developments‘ [/restrict]
