Addax schools universities on its operations

By Bampia Bundu

Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone Limited has schooled university students on the company’s operations in the country and also on when and how they offer jobs to people and the conditions that they require to secure jobs in the company.

The training session which targeted the University of Makeni, the College of Management and Administration, the Sierra Leone Opportunities Industrial Centre (SLOIC), and the Northern Polytechnic among others, was held on May 24 at the company’s Makeni office.

Addressing the gathering, the Social Security and Environment Manager, Mr.  Derek Higgo, noted that the aim of the training was to adequately inform the student union executives on the operations of the company in the region.

He also explained that to acquire jobs in the company one needs to have the necessary professional or educational qualifications and in some cases, have some amount of experience.

He said they were organizing such a programme in order to dispel some wrong perceptions of people, especially university students who might want to work in the company upon their graduation.

He also stated that they target the student union executives because they will go back and explain to their colleagues exactly what they have learnt and prepare their minds on how they should seek jobs in the company.

He explained that they have paid their land lease agreement to the communities, pointing out that they have a very healthy relationship with the people.

In his remarks, the Project Development Officer, Mr. Ibrahinm K.M. Fornah, encouraged the students to take the training seriously as they were going to serve as ambassadors to educate their colleague students in their various universities in the region.

He revealed that the company has introduced the Graduate Advancement Programmed (GAP) in recognition of the fact that in the long run they might want to sustain their project and the company needs to promote more Sierra Leonean staff into senior positions. The programme, he said, will attach young graduates to each of the major disciplines that underline the successful running of the sugar cane estate and factory. He revealed that the aim of the GAP programme was to absorb trainees into the management spine as ethanol production is an entirely new sector in the country.

The programme was climaxed with a conducted tour of the company’s operational areas in the region and its facilities.